Here's the core of researcher D'Amato's paper on the striking decline in rape incidence from '73 to 2003 in the US that has occured despite the explosion in the availability of pornography :
[ excerpt from D'Amatos' full paper. follow link in top paragraph for PDF of study ] It has been a decades long staple of Christian right claims that pornography, as a part of a trend depicted as rampant immorality, has been connected with an alleged crime wave. In fact, national rates of murder and violent assault have dropped dramatically since the early 1980's, divorce has been dropping since the mid 1980's and rape has been dropping - it seems - since the early 1970's. As with many of the Christian right's factual claims, the best operant practice is : take the claim and reverse it 180 degrees and you'll likely arrive at the empirically demonstrable truth. A few months ago, I released preliminary findings from a study I've been doing on the alleged claims by the Christian right that same sex marriage would harm the family. The truth ? - Well, after 2 years of same asex marriage in Massachusetts the Bay State's divorce rate has dropped 8-10% in that period and the stately likely retains its title as the US state with the lowest divorce rate. ( see: Christian Right Wrong On Gay Marriage In Massachusetts However, most of the handful of US states with divorce rates that rose significantly in the same period were states that have passed state constititutional bans on same sex marriage : the Oklahoma divorce rate was up over 15%, Utah around 5%, and Alaska a whopping 35%. Go figure.
New Rape Statistics Challenge Christian Right Claims On Pornography/Rape Link | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 hidden)
New Rape Statistics Challenge Christian Right Claims On Pornography/Rape Link | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 hidden)
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