PornMagaztnes Study Reveals Promote SexualAbuseof Children

udith Reismanhas finished her study of Playboy, Penthouse,andHustler maga- JudithA. Reisman,Ph.D. A. Judith Rr zines. It is full of compli' ' 'child magnets,' Childrenwere depictedin photos, cated phrases: "pseudo-children,""adult receiver," illustrations, cartoons6,004times! and "I hadanticipated halfthatnum"pairing of stimuli," and "child/adult only juxtaposition." ber when we startedthe study," Reismansaid.'And I wasvery shocked that What? had in A dictionary not help.A remedial children emerged thesemagazines will so early-that they were there in 1954. And English course wouldbe useless. a That shocked me." wouldbe a wasteof degreein syntactics time. But don't worry, when all the is the scholarly verbiage strippedaway, ttT conclusion the report is quite simple: of pornographic The nation'smostpopular magazinespromote the sexual and violent abuseof children. In a studyfunded the Department by of Justice,and which took nearly two yearsto complete, Reisman researched issuesof. Pent373issues Playboy,184 of house. and 126 issues of. Hustler magazines. Her findings?

materials have I hese the heenvalidating concept thechild of

and asbeing seductive

wanting with adults;' sex

Reisman was referring Playboy issuethat to a 1954 a depicted smallboy offeringmoney anaked to woman in bed for sex. in "Even if the children thesemagazineswereneutral-that is, evenif they and and werein little dresses gowns tops and were not committingsexualactsBut concern. we thatwould of enough be found that of the 6,004 images, the childrenin a sexualor majorityshowed violentcontext. "These childrenwere much more likely to be associated with havingsex with adults.And the childrenwere portrayed as unharmedand enjoyingthe sexualinteractions. Amongthe 6,004child depictions: . 1,675childrenwere either nude or displayed with a nakedadult. . 1.225 children were involved in some type of genital activity. . 989 children were involvedin sexual activity with adults. . 792 adults were portrayed as

60

FundamentalistJournal

Oneof the most disturbing findings was the use of pseudo-children the in magazines. On the front coverof Playboy's April 1976 issue,for instance, adultfemale an is dressedin a party skirt, holdinga stuffedrabbit, surrounded rag dolls by andteddybears,sittingin a white rocking chair,andwearing Mary-Jane shoes. Sheis wearing nothingfrom the waistup. Typically,the producers the magaof zineshavea numberof waysof displaying the pseudo-child. The adult may either be in diapers, fetal position,an a oversized rockingchair,or sucking a on pseudo-children, that is, adults were finger or thumb.More often, the adult dressed appear children. to as is surroundedby children'sobjects. 592 childrenwere featuredin vioFisher-Price toys,babybottles,coloring lent or forcefulsituations. books,toy trains,lots of stuffedanimals. . 267 childrenwere associated Occasionally, adultis castin a fairythe with animals objects. or tale setting. One of the more 'AIl of this is communication," elaborate-andexpensive-fairy-tale setReisman said."All of this is educationtings appeared a Hustlerpublication. in an education that hasbeen delivered The settingwastitled, "In the l-andof to this society for over 30 years. Aaahs."The scenario showed Dorothy (of the fictionalclassic"Wizard of. "The core of that education this: is Oz") Childrenare seductiveand cravingfor in manysexually explicitinteractions with sex. the Lion, Tin Man, and Straw Man. "These materials have been Reisman believes that displaying validating-over and over, month after children-or adults dressed as month-the concept of the child as children-in these magazines tends to being seductiveand wantingsex with createa sexual arousal real children. for adults.This is not accurate informa- In moretechnical sex terms, Reisman says, "The presence childrenin a sexually tion. But it is the sex education that of thesemagazines delivered three have for explicitcontextis very dangerous. The pairing of stimuli can potentiate an decades." But when the statistics numbers arousal the onestimuliwhenthe other and to are sweptaside,what did Reisman find? is not present."

ttI I wasveryshocked that children hadenerged in thesemagazines so early-that they werc there 1954." in

I 100 r050 | 000 950 900 850 800 750 700 650 600 550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 25

THREETOPSELLING E/P' PUBLICATIONS

NEWSSTAND AGGREGATE

650 % Increase

2,600% Inctease

16 DEPICTIONS 1954

412 DEPICTIONS 1944

170 DEPICTIONS 1954

1102 DEPICTIONS 19A4

'Erotc/Pornography: Thr@ magaine aggregate

[]l cnuo DEprcroNS tr

ADULr ANo cRrME vroLENcE DEprcroNs

THREE TOPSELLING E/P' PUBLICATIONS

NEWSSTAND AGGREGATE
1.2 Lt

0.9 E 0.8 3 o.t o c 0.6

.Eo.u 2 o.n
0.3

0.1

54 55 56 57 58 59 80 6t
'Erolc/Pornography

52 63 64 65 56 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 7a 79 80 8r
vetr

a2 83 84

Three magarne aggregate

cnto oEprcroNs

lourr cRrME ANDvroLENcE DEprcroNS

Another disturbing finding is the apparent the discallousness magazines played toward violentsexual the abuse of children. instance, anAugust1975 For in issue of Playboy, advertisement an for (ownedby Playboy OUI magazne atthat time) stated:"How OneFamily Solved Its Discipline Problem." Pictured above this heading a nakedyounggirl handis cuffed sittingon a bedwith unusually and battered bedposts.The text reads: "This is Jane. Whensheis nice,sheis very,verynice.But whensheis naughty, shehasto be punished. htely, Jane has been very, very naughty. "That's why,in the currentissueof OUI magazne,Jane is pictured in a varietyof posesthat restrict her movement.It wasmovement gotJane into that troublein the first place.Soyousee,it's for her own good.And not incidentally, your pleasure." The advertisement suggestssadomasochistic towardsiblings. sex Equallyrevoltingare the numerous cartoonsthat desecrate children. (December 1977) In a Penthouse cartoon, toddleris shown a splattered on

I f thepublic becomes aware of whatwehavefound, wewill see a dnmaticchange in theacceptability

ttI

magazines." of these

the floor,riddledwith bulletholes.Santa standsabove him, holdinga machine gun, and saying,"That'll teachyou to be a goodboy." In Hustler's December1976 issuea doctoris showncrushingan infantwith his handsafter a womanhasjust given birth.The doctorasksthe mother."So. youcan'tpayyourbill, heh,Mrs.Jones?" findingsincludeinOther disturbing (two such cestin cartoons pictorials and "Father examples include features, the KnowsBest" in Playboy, "Mother and andDaughter"in Penthouse),' useof he fairytale themesin cartoons-including PeterPan,Santa Claus, SnowWhite,Little RedRidingHood;andthe promotion of bestiality, sadomasochism, drugs. and For example,a Playboysatire on the Boy Scoutssuggests merit badgefor a ' 'free-basing.' ' report (whichbearsanexReisman's haustivegovernment title, "Images of Children, n CrimeandViolence Playboy, Penthouse Hustler'') recommends and, that her findings disseminated pubbe to policymakers, lic agencies, educators, parents, juveniles. and "If the publicbecomes aware what of we havefoundin thesemagazines, we in will seea dramatic change the acceptability of thesemagazines," Reismansaid. "I Shepredicted, thinkwe wouldsee a tremendous boycott.I think we would responseby the see an overwhelming publicto takeaction.Wewouldseecommunities protecting themselves from This reporthas thesekindsof materials. the potential fermenting tremendous of a amount of community concern and change." I Martin Mawyer