NCJ Number
118177
Date Published
1989
Length
102 pages
Annotation
Telephone interviews with women in metropolitan Toronto, Ontario formed the basis of this analysis of the role of pornography in woman abuse in Toronto.
Abstract
The research was an effort to replicate the 1978 findings of Diana Russell in San Francisco. A study on woman abuse added the question, "Have you ever been upset by anyone trying to get you to do what they'd seen in pornographic pictures, movies, or books?" A random-digit dialing procedure was used in January and February 1987 to reach 604 currently or formerly married or cohabitating women between ages 18 and 50. Results showed that 35 percent of the women reported having been physically abused, and 6 percent reported having been upset by a partner asking them to imitate acts that the partner had seen in pornography. Moreover, a significant association was found between the women's history of physical abuse and their reports that they had been upset by being asked to imitate pornography. Furthermore, women who had been physically abused were three times more likely to have been upset by being asked to imitate pornography (10.4 percent) than were women who had not been physically abused. Review of research and Canadian and United States law, appended study instrument and tables, and 128 references.