Pornography

The term pornography refers to any written, visual, or spoken material depicting sex­ual activity or genital exposure that is intended to be sexually arousing. Pornography is usually considered hard-core when explicit images of genitals are shown, whereas soft-core stops short of revealing genitals. We can separate pornography into two addi­tional categories. Degrading pornography objectifies and denigrates its subjects. Racial stereotypes presented in interracial pornography are one form of degradation (Cowan & Campbell, 1994). Violent pornography involves aggression and brutality; the vio­lence might take the form of rape, beatings, dismemberment, and even murder. Violent and abusive fantasies are common in chat rooms; titles such as "Torture Females" or "Daughter Blows Dad" can easily be found (Michaels, 1997).