A quantitative analysis of attitudes toward pornography use in secure hospitals: sexual, violent and non-offenders
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-12-2018-0049 |
| Pages | 112-123 |
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| Author | Emily Mellor,Simon Duff |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
A quantitative analysis of attitudes toward
pornography use in secure hospitals:
sexual, violent and non-offenders
Emily Mellor and Simon Duff
Abstract
Purpose –The purposeof this paper is to investigatethe attitudes of staffmembers in secure hospitalsand the
general populationtowards pornography use and their decision-making regarding access to pornography.
Design/methodology/approach –A between participants design was used whereby 324 participants,
including 162 staff members and 162 people of general population, answered an online questionnaire.
Vignettes were presented of six hypothetical patients in a secure hospital, based on gender (male/female) and
offence type (sexual/violent/non-offender). Participants were required to decide whether the individual
depicted in the vignette should have access to pornography. Finally, participants were given a psychometric
assessment of their own attitudes towards pornography.
Findings –Participants were less likely to decide that the sex offender should have access to pornography
than the violent or non-offender, thus the offence type of the patient was a significant predictor. There was a
significant relationship between attitudes to pornography and whether the individual in the vignette should be
given access to pornography. There was no significant difference between attitudes towards pornography of
the general public and staff members or for male and female participants. Gender of the patient described in
the vignette was not a significant predictor.
Practical implications –The research highlights the importance of our own attitudes towards pornography,
our possible beliefs about sexual offenders and the effects these may have on decision-making.
Originality/value –The research determines attitudes towards pornography and explores how attitudes
influence decision-making.
Keywords Attitudes, Secure hospital, Offender, Decision making, Pornography, Sex crimes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Pornography has been an area that has received frequent research interest over the last couple
of decades (Ferguson and Hartley, 2009; Kingston et al., 2009). This is likely a result of the
increase in access to pornography using the internet, thus making pornographic material
more accessible, affordable and anonymous for the user (Cooper, 1998). Pornographic websites
are some of the most regularly visited sites with individuals often being exposed to pornography
without actively searching for it such as pop-ups on websites (Cooper, 1998; Tyden and Rogala,
2004). In 2017, the Pornhub website had 28.5bn visitors, which is an average of 81m people per
day, equating to 24.7bn searches performed on the website in that year alone (Pornhub, 2018).
The content and nature of pornography changes continuously, and its influence is a frequent
topic of discussion within the literature (Wallmyr and Welin, 2006). However, researchers have
revealed contradictory findings on the impact of pornography (Short et al., 2012).
Pornography
Defining pornography has been a complex task within the literature due to its subjective nature.
Agreement has been difficult; some have referred to it as “the description of, picture of, naked or
Received 14 December 2018
Revised 7 February 2019
Accepted 9 February 2019
Emily Mellor is based at the
Centre of Forensic and Family
Psychology, University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, UK;
and St Andrews Healthcare,
Northamptonshire, UK.
Simon Duff is based at the
Centre of Forensic and Family
Psychology, Faculty of
Medicine and Health Sciences,
University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, UK.
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JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE
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VOL. 21 NO. 2 2019, pp. 112-123, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794 DOI 10.1108/JFP-12-2018-0049
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