The Harris Poll^® #76, October 7, 2005

No Consensus Among American Public on the Effects of Pornography on Adults or Children or What Government Should Do About It, According to Harris Poll

Majority of women, but not of men, favors government regulations

A Harris Poll finds that the public is divided on the subject of pornography and what, if anything should be done about it. The poll also shows that women are generally much more critical of pornography than men. As a result, a small majority of women, but not of men, favors government regulation of pornography on the Internet (if that were possible).

These are the results of a Harris Interactive^® survey of 2,555 U.S. adults conducted online between September 20 and 26, 2004.

Among the more interesting findings of this research are:

About half of all adults believe that pornography "raises men’s expectation of how women should look" (51%) and that it "changes men’s expectations of how women should behave" (48%). However, women are much more likely than men to believe these (62% vs. 40% and 58% vs. 37%, respectively).
Two out of five adults (40%) believe that pornography "harms relationships between men and women" with this view also held by a higher percentage of women" (47%) than men (33%).
Almost half of all adults (48%) believe that "pornography is demeaning towards women" but this view is more widely held by women (57%) than by men (38%).
There is no consensus on the impact of pornography on children but most people, including both men and women, think the effects are mainly negative. When asked which one phrase best describes their beliefs about the impact of pornography on "children who see a lot of it," 30 percent of adults say "it distorts boys’ expectation and understanding of women and sex," 25 percent say "it makes kids more likely to have sex earlier" and another seven percent say "it distorts girls’ body images and ideas about sex." Very few people say that "it helps kids better understand sexuality" (2%).

What Government Should Do

When it comes to the role of government, the most widely endorsed position is that the government should "regulate Internet pornography specifically so that children cannot access X-rated material online" (42%). Whether this would be possible is debatable, but it is the preferred policy of 53 percent of women and 30 percent of men.

The remainder are divided between the following:

Twenty-three percent believe "whether one likes it or not people should have full access to pornography under the Constitution’s First Amendment."
Thirteen percent believe "the government should regulate pornography in a similar way to how cigarettes are regulated – with warning labels and restrictions so that harm is minimized."
Ten percent think "the government has no role with regard to pornography."
Only one percent says their preferred policy would be for "government to fully legalize all forms of pornography."

TABLE 1

SOME AFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY

"Do you agree or disagree that pornography has any of the following affects on the people who look at it?"

Base: All Adults

		Total			Men			Women
		Agree	Disagree	Not sure/ Refused	Agree	Disagree	Not Sure/ Refused	Agree	Disagree	Not Sure/ Refused
Raises men’s expectations of how women should look	%	51	26	22	40	38	21	62	15	23
Changes men’s expectations of how women should behave	%	48	29	23	37	41	22	58	17	24
Harms relationship between men and women	%	40	33	27	33	43	25	47	24	29
Improves the sex life of people who look at it	%	22	36	42	28	29	42	17	43	40

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

THOSE WHO AGREE WITH TWO STATEMENTS

"How much do you agree with the following statements?"

Percent saying they strongly or somewhat disagree

Base: All Adults

			Gender
		Total	Male	Female
All men look at pornography	%	47	46	48
Pornography is demeaning towards women	%	27	34	20

TABLE 3

IMPACT OF PORNOGRAPHY ON CHILDREN WHO SEE IT A LOT

"Which one of the following statements best describes your opinion about the impact of pornography on children who see a lot of it?"

Base: All Adults

		Gender
	Total	Male	Female
	%	%	%
It distorts boys’ expectations and understanding of women and sex	30	27	34
It makes kids more likely to have sex earlier than they might otherwise	25	24	26
It distorts girls’ body images and ideas about sex	7	4	9
It makes kids more likely to look at pornography when they are adults	6	8	4
It helps kids better understand sexuality	2	3	1
None of these	9	10	7
Not sure / refused	21	24	19

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 4

WHAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO

"Which one of the following statements best reflects your opinion about what the government should do about pornography?"

Base: All Adults

		Gender
	Total	Male	Female
	%	%	%
The government needs to regulate Internet pornography specifically so that children cannot access X-rated material.	42	30	53
Whether one likes it or not, people should have full access to pornography under the Constitution’s First Amendment.	23	32	14
The government should regulate pornography in a similar way to how cigarettes are regulated – with warning labels and restrictions so that harm is minimized.	13	12	13
The government has no role with regard to pornography.	10	11	8
The government should fully legalize all forms of pornography.	1	1	*
Not sure / refused	12	13	12

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology
The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between September 20 and 26, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,555 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample is not a probability sample.

Note: Harris Interactive was not commissioned to conduct this survey. However, in developing the questions we worked with Pamela Paul, an author who has written a book about the subject.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

J22091

Q550, Q555, Q560, Q565, Q570