Dr Miodrag Popovic
Dr Miodrag Popovic CPsychol AFBPsS is an NHS Clinical Consultant, based at the Department of Psychological Services in Carlisle.
The article
Establishing New Breeds of (Sex) Offenders: Science or Political Control? was published in the May 2007 edition of the journal
Sexual and Relationship Therapy. For copyright reasons we can't quote from the article directly, but it can be downloaded for a fee
here
In his article, Dr Popovic raises many serious objections to the government's proposed criminalisation of 'violent pornography', on theoretical, humanist and methodological grounds.
Users of 'violent' pornography' and rapists are different groups.
Dr Popovic distinguishes clearly between proven sex offenders and viewers of violent pornography, suggesting that the latter consistently prove to have 'good rational control' over their 'deviant interests'. He cites research findings by Marshall and Barbaree (1990) that most rapists are not sexually excited by the idea of forced sex, and Hanson and Bussiere (1998) that not all sex offenders have violent sexual fantasies. These investigations underline that rapists and the viewers of violent pornography are completely different social groups.
Demonising 'violent' pornography is a distraction from real crime
Establishing New Breeds of (Sex) Offenders raises the concern that the proposed legislation may create new - and gratuitous - classes of offender. As watching pornography is an ubiquitous practice among sexually active adults, a large chunk of that population would be criminalized overnight, and possibly end up in our already overcrowded jails. Dr Popovic contrasts this with the fact that the conviction rate for actual rape is currently very low, and punishments for those convicted are often lenient. In this climate, for the government to expend resources on persecuting viewers of pornography is insulting to the victims of real crime.
Dr Popovic is concerned about the disproportionate power that an array of excessive laws - of which this would be one - would hand to the police. He points out that with most citizens potentially classifiable as 'criminal' thanks to some minor infraction or other, we are likely to arrive at a situation where only selected culprits are targeted - a situation wide open to abuse.
A ban will stifle important research
Dr Popovic further observes the lack of any conclusive evidence linking 'extreme pornography' with violent behaviour, and points out that if law enforcement agencies become the only people allowed to possess such material, further research will be rendered impossible.
Most people oppose banning pornography
Dr Popovic's recent (unpublished) investigation concerning the relationship between socio-emotional closeness and pornography consumption found that 81% of men and 68% of women wanted all pornography to be legal, 16.5% of men and 25% of women wanted to partially ban it (usually referring to child pornography), and only 2.5% of men and 6% of men wanted a complete ban.
Alternative recommendations
Dr Popovic suggests
Independent organizations should be used to produce research and statistics, and to organize direct contact with pornography users - this would help the government to be more in touch with reality.
The focus of any legislation should not be the general population, but particular individuals. Parents and schools should take responsibility for monitoring children's consumption of media.
Pornography producers and distributors should ensure that proofs of actor consent are clearly displayed, and that material is not accessible to minors.
Further research should be undertaken by professionals, and taken into account by the government. Any law should be based on scientific data, both for ethical reasons and to reduce the feeling of injustice among people who perceive themselves as being targeted.
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Shooting the Messenger
The internet is a convenient scapegoat for society's ills.
The UK government is to legislate how best to imprison potentially many people for viewing content on the internet.
How should governments regulate the details of our personal lives and control individual expression ?
Preserve Individual Freedoms
Backlash campaigns to ensure the right remedies are applied to the right problems.
Whilst doing so we preserve hard won individual rights and liberties.
See no evil.
The government doesn't want you to view certain images. And will send you to prison if you possess them. Even in the privacy of your own home.