Understanding Pornographic Tolerance Levels of Community Residents Regarding Three Media: Magazines,Movies,and Video Cassettes

Abstract

The present mail questionnaire study was designed to meet the need for a Canadian community pornography standard by obtaining a crossection of judgments from residents in a Southwestern Ontario city. This study compared four measures of pornography tolerance: an attitudinal index dealing with the perceived outcomes of watching pornographic materials and three measures assessing tolerance for 22 sexually-oriented cues displayed in each of the three media: magazines, movies, and video-cassettes. The results of this study indicated that the latter three tolerance measures were preferred over the attitudinal index when assessing individuals' tolerance toward pornography. Further, this study indicated that, for the residents of the test city, the majority felt that their pornography tolerance levels were representative of their community neighbors. Implications for social science research and for the legal system are discussed.

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