From this article https://thoughtcatalog.com/chris-haven/2014/02/heres-how-porn-makes-you-a-rapist/:

Most men who consume alot of porn will rape a woman if they feel they could get away with it.

In a study, 356 male students were asked: “If you could be assured that no one would know and that you could in no way be punished for engaging in the following acts, how likely, if at all, would you be to commit such acts?” (Briere and Malamuth, 1983). Among the sexual acts listed were the two of interest to these researchers: “forcing a female to do something she really didn’t want to do” and “rape” (Briere and Malamuth, 1983). Sixty percent of the sample indicated that under the right circumstances, there was some likelihood that they would rape,use force, or do both.

Here’s more:

In a study of high school males, 50‰ of those interviewed believed it acceptable “for a guy to hold a girl down and force her to have sexual intercourse in instances such as when ‘she gets him sexually excited’ or ‘she says she’s going to have sex with him and then changes her mind’” (Goodchilds and Zellman, 1984).

Say what? These studies were conducted over 30 years ago. Can you imagine what kids think today now that the average age of exposure to pornography is 8-years-old?


The No. 1 reason why most men are not running around raping every women they fancy is social inhibition. If society was to fall apart in 2014, the rape that would follow would be the most endemic in the history of the world- thanks to pornography.

I admit a twinge as I read this. I think he is right - I think every man I know would use an opportunity like this to commit as many rapes as possible. Is he right?

[SoftGameHunter]

This is pretty unlikely. There were studies done but they should be taken very lightly. The respondents may have said what they don't mean just because they thought it was cool. I mean come on, high school guys shooting their mouth off about sex? And even if they meant it, there's no way to gauge if they would actually follow through given the chance. Surveys have to be treated very carefully, and with such a loaded topic I would be wary of taking it at face value.

As for that site, it looks like a lot of hysteria. Oh, it was so bad then and so much worse now because of naked pictures. I see causal connections wherever it suits me!

[Broken_Rose]

No I don’t think so. I’ve been in situations where I’ve been drunk and very vulnerable and almost all the men that have found me in that state haven’t acted on it. The only one who did try was an Asian taxi driver, and luckily I did wake up before he got to do it.

I think it depends on the man, those who frequent nightclubs and dating apps looking for quick hook ups will put that need beyond most things and may act on it not thinking of the consequences of their actions. So I think they need to be reminded of what rape is exactly.

Stranger lurking in the bushes is rare though not rare enough we can’t be scared of walking alone at night or day in some places.
Most rapists though are like murderers though and usually someone you know. Someone who can get close to you, manipulate you and gain your trust to the fact you’d never suspect them to act on it.

That’s just my thoughts, but a great thread in my opinion for discussion.

I'd say a woman walking alone at night in the street was at a far greater risk of getting assaulted in late 19th century than today.

Read Bram Stoker's Dracula very carefully in that place where Mina has to go out because Lucy is sleep-walking. When she's found Lucy in the churchyard and is taking her back home, she gives Lucy her shoes and daubs her own feet in mud so anyone (hopefully a patrolling commissionary) they meet won't notice Mina is barefoot.

And she writes, "thankfully, we didn't meet anyone". I think at one point, someone is coming and she quickly hides. You can really feel her sense of danger.

This leads me to think that social conditioning of men is a lot stronger today in the Western world than it was 100+ years ago. In one story of Edgar Allan Poe, a damsel forgets her gloves where she just crossed a stream on a small boat manned by three or four ferrymen. She innocently goes back by herself to fetch her gloves, and those are somewhat secluded woods; the ferrymen gang-rape her.

Back in 18th century, pirates would usually gang-rape any attractive passenger they'd find on a merchant ship. This tells us how dreadful the life of a woman could get in the past centuries... but it's also great stuff to make stories from

[Marie85]

I don't believe that watching porn promotes assault. It's more a question of opportunity.

No one should ever say never. History shows that with the breakdown of any social order, things get out of control.  Of course there will always be individuals who don't become perpetrators, but in a time of impunity, as in war, inhibitions fall. Always. No matter which continent. No matter which side.

... see Yugoslavia ... See Ukraine ... See Abu Ghuraib ... and so on ... and so on ...

[Yukito]

I don't believe that watching porn promotes assault. It's more a question of opportunity.

No one should ever say never. History shows that with the breakdown of any social order, things get out of control.  Of course there will always be individuals who don't become perpetrators, but in a time of impunity, as in war, inhibitions fall. Always. No matter which continent. No matter which side.

... see Yugoslavia ... See Ukraine ... See Abu Ghuraib ... and so on ... and so on ...

I never believed any kind of media was a trigger for crimes. I remember all the times the media here in Brazil started demonizing games due to violence, and even the current president did the same.
There is a single reason why the mainstream media demonizes everything, it's because they lose viewers the more the other media grows, such as games or Twitch streams. I can think of a few situations that happened along the years:
Globo v Japanese Animation(Anime in Brazil)(mid 2000s): Globo is the leading mainstream media in Brazil, kind of like a NPR/CNN, it's majorly state-funded. They tried to demonize the japanese animation, due to a case where a young couple ran away from home. And why they did? Because the young couple was a fan of japanese animation. Globo was and is a DEI-compliant media.

The Pesseghini Murder: The Pesseghini Murder was another case of mainstream media demonizing games. First showed by Record and then by Globo once it picked up steam. In this piece of news, Marcelo Pesseghini, a son of a cop couple, killed his parents and took his own life. Searching through the boy's Facebook, they found several artworks of the game Assassin's Creed and started to claim that the game was a trigger for it. This was promptly shut down by Ubisoft, who released the hounds on Globo and Record, saying that games should never be linked to murder cases.

"There is no game about love"-Lula, 2023: This case, which happened a few months after corrupt president Lula took office, he let out "There is no game about love" during one of his speeches. He used the same old line that games are triggers for violence and, of course, was criticized and became a meme. Happened a few months after he announced an initiative called LulaPlay, which involved games.

Great topic as people say. I think Rose is right that horny men presented with a clear opportunity to rape a woman would take advantage - as many do already.

But I don't think the scenario the article presents is realistic because compassion and guilt would not suddenly vanish for most men.