The Influence of Contemporary Music on Responses to Visually Presented Mainstream Sexually Explicit Images

This study investigated the influence of contemporary music on young adults 1 evaluations of and reponses to sexually explicit erotic, nonviolent pornographic and violent pornographic depictions. Two hundred and ninety-four women and men respondents were administered a suNey to assess their experiences with various types of media, including their use of sexually explicit materials. Upon completion of the suNey, respondents were exposed to one of three types of music primes (sexist rap, neutral rap, neutral rock/pop), and then viewed six sexually explicit slides (2 erotic, 2 nonviolent pornographic, 2 violent pornographic) . Respondents were asked to evaluate each slide by means of a semantic differential scale, and to create stories about the characters pictured in each slide by means of a story completion task. It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to sexist rap music would differ from comparable young adults exposed to neutral rap or neutral pop/rock in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials . It was also expected that young adults exposed to sexist rap music who also have high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music would differ from young adults exposed to •, sexist rap music who have low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials. Young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who have high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music were expected to differ from young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who have low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and in the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials. The results of the study did not support any of the specific hypotheses. The findings from both the quantitative and qualitative data analyses, however, do provide further support for feminist claims that there is a conceptual distinction between erotica and pornography which can be operationalized. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their value for further investigations on the topic of media images.

and to create stories about the characters pictured in each slide by means of a story completion task. It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to sexist rap music would differ from comparable young adults exposed to neutral rap or neutral pop/rock in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials . It was also expected that young adults exposed to sexist rap music who also have 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music would differ from young adults exposed to •, sexist rap music who have 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials. Young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who have 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music were expected to differ from young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who have 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials and in the types of stories created about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials. The results of the study did not support any of the specific hypotheses. The findings from both the quantitative and qualitative data analyses, however, do provide further support for feminist claims that there is a conceptual distinction between erotica and pornography which can be operationalized. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their value for further investigations on the topic of media images. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have assisted me in various ways throughout this project. First, I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Bernice Lott, for providing me with rich experiences and for encouraging me to pursue my goal of becoming a psychologist. Her 11 just do it! 11 sentiment balanced with patience and kindness make her an exceptional person to work with. I am very grateful for her commitment to her students and for her mentorship and emotional support. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Barbara Luebke and Dr. Denise Deloit, for their contributions to this project and guidance throughout my graduate studies.
I couldn 1 t have asked for a more helpful and supportive committee.
Dr. Jerry Cohen deserves many thanks for his consistent availability when I popped my head into his office and asked, 11 Can I ask you a quick question? 11 Although some questions were quick, many were not and I appreciate the generousity of his time for statistical and computer consultations. My friends in the Women 1 s Studies Program were also supportive throughout this project. The Graduate Assistantship that Dr.
Mary Ellen Reilly offered me allowed me to accomplish the majority of this project in a reasonable amount of time, and for that I am appreciative! Tammy Trant, Melissa Romanzo, Karen Gjersten and Michael Deery are gratefully acknowledged for their assistance in this project. I am especially thankful for their patience with an ever-changing research 11 time line 11 and their careful content analyses of the qualitative data.
I would like to thank Mig, the funk music director at WRIU, for his suggestions for musical selections and for use of his recording equipment.
I also appreciate Charlene Senn 1 s willingness to share the sexually explicit slides that she used in her previous research. iv LIST OF TABLES Page     The pornography industry is a multi-billion dollar business headed principally by men for male consumers. Many feminist writers have expressed concern over the widespread availability and use of heterosexual pornography, suggesting that in addition to directly exploiting women and children, pornography supports an ideology of sexual inequality and may be implicated in various acts of sexual discrimination, such as sexual harassment and sexual assault (MacKinnon, 1993;Russell, 1993;Stoltenberg, 1990). Content analyses of various forms of heterosexual pornography find that male dominance, female degradation, and sexual inequality are standard fare (Smith, 1977;Cowan, Lee, Levey, & Snyder, 1988;Duncan, 1991 ). Although there is also a market for sexually explict materials aimed toward gay and lesbian consumers, the focus of this investigation is on sexually explicit materials aimed toward heterosexual consumers.
Some writers have distinguished between sexually explicit materials that portray positive human relationships, "erotica," and those that portray women as submissive, degraded and dehumanized, "pornography," (Steinem, 1980) but social scientists and others frequently use the terms interchangeably to denote the same materials, making cross comparisons of research findings difficult. More recently, researchers have begun to operationalize various types of sexually explicit materials more carefully (Check, 1985;Check & Gulioen, 1989;Senn & Radtke, 1990).
Investigations of the effects of pornography have generally found that men exposed to violent pornography as compared with control group men show changes in their perception of a rape victim (e.g., see her as less injured, more deserving of the assault), see the perpetrator of a sexual assault as less responsible for his actions and assign him more lenient punishment, show a greater acceptance of 11 rape myths" (Burt, 1980), report a greater likelihood to rape , and behave more aggressively toward a woman target (Linz, Donnerstein, & Penrod, 1987;Donnerstein, 1984;Malamuth, 1984). The findings with regard to the effects of exposure to erotica and nonviolent pornography are less conclusive (Linz, 1989); however, some studies find similar changes in perceptions of rape, rape victims and rape perpetrators particularly among individuals exposed to nonviolent (but sexist) pornography (Zillmann & Bryant, 1982. Researchers who "listen to women" find that many report being shown pornography by their partners and asked or forced to "act out 11 what is portrayed (Stock, 1994;Russell, 1984;Sommers & Check, 1987).
Additionally, hundreds of women have testified in public about how they have been victimized by pornography (see Russell, 1993;MacKinnon, 1993), Researchers recently have begun to look at how social factors directly influence affective and physiological sexual responses to various types of sexually explicit materials. The few studies that have examined such factors have found a significant effect of social influence on arousal .
to erotic visual materials (Coyne & Cross, 1988) and to both nonviolent and violent sexually explicit written materials (Norris, 1989(Norris, , 1991. In these studies, social influence was presented as knowledge that another person or persons found the materials to be either arousing or not arousing. The present study was intended to further investigate the role of social influence on responses to various types of sexually explicit materials by examining whether social influence, in the form of ideas provided through misogynous rap music, impacts how people respond to erotic , sexist pornographic, and violent pornographic materials. Misogynous rap music itself can be viewed as a form of pornography. Barongan and Hall (1995) note that the lyrics in this type of music express negative and sexist ideas about women, including the notion that women enjoy coercive sex. In an investigation of the influence of misogynous rap music among a sample of college men, Barongan and Hall (1995) found that a significantly greater proportion showed women a sexually aggressive film clip after listening to misogynous rap music than did men who listened to 11 neutral 11 (non-sexist) rap music. Johnson and colleagues (1995) found that among African American adolescents, exposure to nonviolent, sexist music videos as compared to a no music video control, led to a greater acceptance of male teen dating violence among the girls. The results of these studies point to a need to examine the influence and social consequences of materials such as misogynous rap music.
The present study explored young adults' perceptions of characters pictured in erotic , nonviolent pornographic, and violent pornographic visual materials following exposure to three types of contemporary music: Misogynous Rap, Neutral Rap, and Neutral Rock/Pop. Additionally, the study explored the overall evaluations of these visual materials, following music exposure, using semantic differential scales. Misogynous Rap is defined as music that is classified as 11 Rap 11 by the music industry and contains lyrics that are sexist and/or hostile toward women (e.g., 11 1 had to kill her ... loaded up the .44 ... and smoked the ho. 11 ).
Neutral Rap is defined as music that is classified as 11 Rap 11 by the music industry and contains non-sexist lyrics (e.g., is about social issues such as homelessness). Neutral Rock/Pop is defined as music that is classified as 11 Rock 11 or 11 Pop 11 by the music industry and contains non-sexist lyrics.

Characteristics of Pornography
Heterosexual pornography routinely portrays women as eagerly seeking and responding with exhilaration to numerous forms of sexual encounters, including those in which the woman is degraded and dehumanized. Many feminist writers have expressed concern over the availability and use of pornography, referring to pornography as 11 sexist propaganda 11 and suggesting that pornography strongly supports an ideology of sexual inequality (Lederer, 1980;Longino, 1980;MacKinnon, 1993). Some writers have noted that pornography is not only sexist but · racist as well. Racism, like sexism, is sexualized in pornography with African-American women's sexuality portrayed as even more 11 savage 11 and 11 primitive 11 than European-American women's sexuality; additionally, African-American women are more frequently compared to animals (Forno, 1992;Collins, 1993;Mayall & Russell, 1993).
Several content analyses have examined the characteristics of v~rious forms of sexually explicit materials. One of the initial investigations of this type was conducted by Smith (1977), who examined the content of 11 adults only 11 paperback books published between 1968 and 197 4. Smith found that sexual explicitness increased after 1969 and remained constant through 197 4. Approximately one-third of the sex depicted in the books involved the use of force to obtain sex, and seldom were there negative consequences for the aggressor. Smith found a recurrent theme of male dominance and perpetuation of the 11 rape myth 11 --that women initially resist forceful sex but then derive pleasure from the experience.

A longitudinal content analysis of sexual violence in Playboy and
Penthouse magazines found that violent images in pictorials increased from l % to 5% between 1973 and 1977 and by 1977, l 0% of the cartoons were sexually violent (Malamuth & Spinner, 1980). A more recent content analysis of violence in Playboy magazine from 1954 to 1983 found that current levels of violence are below the 1977 level, with sexual violence portrayed in l page out of every 3,000 and in less than 4 pages out of every 1,000 pictures (Scott & Cuvelier, 1987). However, neither study examined the overall 11sexist 11 content of these magazines.
According to the Attorney General's Commission (l 986), videotapes are currently the most prevalent form of pornography. Cowan and her colleagues (l 988) analyzed the sexual content of a random sample of 45 popular X-rated videos with copyrights ranging from 1979-1985. Using the sexual 11 scene 11 as the unit of analysis (for a total of 443 sex scenes; about l O per film), they found that dominance and inequalities were major themes in 54% of the sex scenes. Approximately 32% of all sexual scenes were considered reciprocal (mutual consent and mutual satisfaction).
Dominance occurred in 78% of films, and exploitation occurred in 82% of the films. Physical aggression occurred in 73% of the films and in 23% of all sexual scenes. Rape was portrayed in 51 % of all the films.
Using a similar method, Duncan (l 991) analyzed the content of a random sample of 50 videos. Out of 822 scenes, 493 were sexually explicit .
Duncan found that 30% of all sexual scenes included acts of degradation and 22% were violent. He concluded that degradation is nearly a universal element in pornographic videos. In another content analysis of 150 randomly selected videos produced between 1979 and1983, Palys (l 986) found that aggression and sex combined with aggression was not only an element of ''triple X" videos, but was also prevalent within R-rated "adult" videos.
In examining the content of 54 interracial X-rated videos, again using the sexual scene as the unit of analysis, Cowan and Campbell (l 994) found that White women were more often the recipients of aggression from Black men than from White men and Black women were more often the recipients of aggression from White men than from Black men. The racial stereotype of the "well-endowed" Black man was perpetuated in the videos with 22% of all Black men characters judged as having large penises as compared with 4% of White men characters. Overall, Black men and women were portrayed as having lower status than White men and women.

Erotica versus Pornography: Operational Definitions
The terms "erotica," "pornography," and "aggressive pornography" have been used almost interchangeably and have often been applied to the same material. Steinem (l 980) differentiated between what she considered to be "erotica" and "pornography" with an examination of the roots of the words. Steinem notes that erotica is rooted in "eros," or "passionate love," and conveys the ideas of positive choice and mutuality.
Pornography is rooted in "porno," meaning "prostitution or female captives," suggesting that the material is about domination and violence to women ("graphos" means "writing about" or "description of").
Most feminist writers do not object to sexually explicit materials that portray women and men in positive, respectful human relationships. Many feminists do object to portrayals of unequal power relationships between men and women and the dehumanization and degradation of women. Stoltenberg (1990) and others (Russell, 1993) point out that pornography makes sexism and violence 11 sexy,1' by eroticizing male domination over women (or in homosexual pornography, eroticizing the domination of one partner over the other). Senn and Radtke (1990) found the distinction between pornography and erotica meaningful to women. Senn (1991) defined erotica as 11 mutually pleasurable sexual expression between two individuals equal in power; 11 nonviolent dehumanizing pornography as containing 11 no explicit violence but portraying acts of submission 11 (i.e., woman kneeling, man standing; woman naked, man clothed); and violent pornography as containing 11 acts of explicit violence in the sexual interaction 11 (i.e., hairpulling, whipping, rape). Exposure to both violent and nonviolent pornography resulted in higher scores on anxiety, depression, and anger by women than exposure to erotica. Both forms of pornography were also reliably differentiated from erotica on a number of affective dimensions, with erotica consistently rated more positively. Senn's research demonstrates that a conceptual distinction between pornography and erotica is not only significant but is operational as well. Check (1985) found that men also could differentiate between erotica and violent and nonviolent dehumanizing pornography. Men were more likely to rate the violent and nonviolent pornography as 11 degrading , 11 11 offensive, 11 11 obscene, 11 and 11 aggressive 11 and such materials elicited more pronounced feelings of hostility and depression. Check and Guloien (1989) found that men who had not been provided with definitions of the various materials were very accurate in correctly classifying a video as falling into an abusive category (violent or nonviolent, dehumanizing pornography) as opposed to an erotic catego _ ry.

Who Uses Pornography and Why?
Although some women use sexually explicit materials, particularly 11 erotic novels 11 (Lawrence & Herold, 1988), men are the primary consumers of pornography. The circulation rates of sexually explicit 11 men's 1 ' magazines are considerable. According to 1992 statistics from the National Research Bureau ( as cited in Russell, 1993), Penthouse, Playboy, Hustler, Gallery, Oui, and Chic have a combined total of l 0,385,000 paid subscribers. Russell notes that there is significant 11 pass-along 11 readership because many males are minors (unable to purchase the materials themselves) or are embarrassed to buy their own. In interviews with a large sample of men from various age groups, Bryant (l 985) found that the average age of first exposure to a sexually explicit magazine was eleven years old.
Although both men and women rank their peers as their primary source of sexual information, significantly more men than women report getting some sexual information from pornographic materials (Tjaden, 1988;Duncan, 1991;Duncan & Donnelly, 1991;Duncan & Nicholson, 1991 ).
Tjaden (l 988) found that men reported pornographic materials as a primary or secondary source of information on topics of masturbation, arousal and orgasm, oral sex, and anal intercourse. Duncan and Donnelly (l 991) found that women ranked pornography only ahead of church as a source of information, whereas men ranked pornography ahead of church, school, teachers, and parents. Participants in these studies selfdefined the term 11 pornography. 11 Among the 600 men interviewed by Bryant (l 985), two-thirds reported that exposure to X-rated materials during their life had made them want to try something they had seen and 25% said they had 11 experimented 11 within a few days of exposure. Out of various behaviors that men reported they had 11 learned of 11 through pornography, Stock (1994) found that 64% of her sample of college men had initiated one or more of the following: ejaculation on the face or body of one's partner (36.6%), anal intercourse (19.3%), bondage/discipline (13%), golden showers (urinating on partner) (7 .5%), and sadomasochism (5%).
Approximately 14% of Stock's sample of men reported they had 11 shown my partner pornography and asked my partner to act it out. 11 Aside from providing information about sex, Baker (1992) suggests that pornography appeals to young men because it is viewed as an important part of the 11 establishment of an adult male identity. 11 Pornography is a part of 11 male culture 11 and the introduction of pornography from an older male to a younger male is a typical 11 rite of passage 11 into manhood. This may be part of a process in which men try to ensure that other young men adopt heterosexual feelings and desires.
Baker also suggests that sex is often the only means through which men can begin to feel close and intimate with another person. He suggests that pornography offers its male viewers 11 the illusion of intimacy 11 by presenting women as inviting and sexually available. Baker believes that pornography may soothe men's fear of not living up to male sex-role expectations of the 11 sexually expert/stud 11 by showing that men can satisfy women and by graphically illustrating how to do so.

Correlates of Exposure to Erotica and Nonviolent Pornography
Researchers have found a significant relationship between circulation rates and per capita sales of such sexually explicit magazines as Playboy and Penthouse and reported rape rates after controlling for various demographic factors, for general circulation rates of 11 nonerotic 11 magazines such as Newsweek and for other variables bel ieved to mediate the incidence the of rape (Baron & Straus, 1987;Scott & Schwalm , 1988).
Among college men, readership of sexually explicit magazines correlated with more beliefs that women enjoy forced sex (Malamuth & Check, 1985).
In a national survey of college men, Koss ( as cited in Russell, 1993) found that those who reported behaviors that meet the legal definition of rape were significantly more likely to be frequent readers of a popular sexually explicit magazine than were men who denied such behavior.
After a careful review of the literature, Linz (l 989) concluded that data on the effects of exposure to erotica and nonviolent pornography on attitudes toward women and rape are inconclusive. Zillmann and Bryant (l 982, 1984) exposed women and men over a six-week period to sexually explicit films depicting heterosexual activity that did not include 11 coercion 11 or the 11 deliberate infliction or reception of pain. activities (i.e., multi-partner sex, bestiality, sadomasochism) to be more common than they really are; they assigned less punishment to a perpetrator of sexual assault; and they were less supportive of gender equality. Additionally , men 1 s sexual callousness toward women significantly increased, with men more likely to endorse statements such as 11 if they are old enough to bleed, they are old enough to butcher." Check and Guloien (l 989) found that repeated exposure to either sexually violent or nonviolent dehumanizing pornography significantly increased men 1 s self-reported likelihood to rape  and to force sexual activities, although exposure to erotica had no significant impact on these measures. A study with men and women college students by Padgett, Brislin-Slutz, and Neal (1989) found no negative effects of long-term exposure (viewing time one hour per day for five consecutive days) to 11 erotica 11 on attitudes toward women or women's issues.
In their interesting study, McKenzie-Mohr and Zanna (1990) found that for gender schematic men (who self-report traits associated with 11 masculinity 11 ), exposure to nonviolent pornography influenced the way they viewed and acted toward a woman in a professional situation. These men were judged by the woman experimenter, who was blind to the participant's exposure condition, as being more sexually motivated than non-exposed men. The exposed men also positioned themselves closer to her, had faster reaction times and greater recall for information about her physical appearance, and recalled less information about the survey she was conducting. The researchers concluded that pornography is capable of priming gender schematic men to view women as sex objects.

Correlates of Exposure to Violent Pornography
Applying the principles of social learning theory (Bandura, 1986), it seems possible that exposure to violent pornography may foster a connection between sexual arousal and violence.  exposed men to either a consent or rape version of a sexually explicit slideaudio presentation based on a story and pictorial from a popular pornographic magazine. Participants were then exposed to an audio description of rape and were asked to reach a high level of sexual arousal by fantasizing. Those exposed to the rape version first created more violent sexual fantasies than those exposed to the consent version. l l Malamuth and Mcilwraith (1988) found a strong relationship between readership of Penthouse magazine and men's sexual and sexually aggressive fantasies. Among a sample of women, Corne, Briere, and Esses (1992) found that childhood exposure to pornography was significantly related to subsequent adult rape fantasies and rape-supportive beliefs.
Among a sample of sex offenders in a voluntary outpatient environment, Marshall (1988) found that child-molesters and rapists frequently used sexually explicit materials both immediately prior to and during sexual assaults. Demore, Briere, and Lips (1988) found that college men's use of sexually violent pornography was specifically related to selfreported likelihood of engaging in sexual aggression against women.
There appears to be considerable evidence that exposure to violent pornography may alter perceptions of rape (Malamuth, 1984). Results of studies, largely conducted with male participants, find that exposure to such materials promotes a greater acceptance of rape myths, causes decreased sympathy for rape victims and increased acceptability of forced sexual behavior, and increases aggressive behavior toward women targets in lab experiments (Linz, Donnerstein , & Penrod, 1987;Donnerstein, 1984;Malamuth, 1984). Malamuth, Haber, and Feshbach (1980) used sexually explicit written descriptions based on Penthouse magazine materials. They modified a story to create a violent and nonviolent version, both of which ended with a positive outcome. In comparison to other men, men exposed to the sexually violent depiction perceived more favorably a rape depiction presented to them later and believed that many women would enjoy being victimized . Seventeen percent of the men reported some likelihood that they would behave like the rapist, and that percentage rose to 53% if the men were assured of not getting caught. Donnerstein (l 983) found that following exposure to sexually violent images, up to 57% of men indicated some likelihood to rape if assured they wouldn't get caught. Donnerstein (1980a) had male participants either be provoked or treated in a neutral manner by a male or female confederate and then exposed them to a nonviolent pornographic film, a rape film, or a neutral film . Participants then were allowed to aggress against (shock) the confederate. When the target of angered participants was male, there were no differences in aggression among men in the nonviolent and violent pornography conditions. When the target was a woman, however, aggressive behavior was higher for men who viewed the violent pornographic film regardless of whether they had been provoked.
Studies that have included violent 11 slasher 11 film conditions (films that depict graphic violence toward women juxtaposed with sexual imagery) consfstently have found decreased sensitivity toward rape victims after exposure to these materials (Linz, 1989). For example, Donnerstein and Linz (l 984) found that following one week of exposure to five R-rated 11 slasher 11 films, male participants began to see less viol_ ence in the films and less violence against women. Participants also saw less injury to a rape victim, and attributed more responsibility to her for the sexual assault. Kratka (l 985) found that women exposed to slasher films were subsequently also significantly less sensitive to a rape victim than women exposed to nonviolent films.
Some researchers suggest that 11 victim response 11 or "outcome" is an important mediating factor of the effects of exposure to various materials.
Stock (l 983) found that women exposed to an eroticized version of a rape exhibited high sexual arousal levels, while a version that emphasized the victim 1 s fear and pain elicited negative affective reactions and lower sexual arousal levels. Malamuth and Check (1980a) found that men had higher penile tumescence scores when exposed to a rape portrayal in which the victim becomes aroused as compared to a portrayal in which the victim responds with distress and disgust. When Malamuth, Heim, and Feshbach (l 980) manipulated 11 victim response, 11 however, they found that women were more aroused to a rape depiction in which the victim experienced an orgasm without pain while men were more aroused by a rape depiction in which the victim experienced an orgasm with pain.
Utilizing a field experiment, Malamuth and Check (l 98 la) had students watch either a neutral or R-rated sexually aggressive film (i.e., 11 The Getaway 11 and 11 Swept Away 11 ) . They found that exposure to films portraying aggressive sexuality as having positive consequences significantly increased men 1 s but not women 1 s acceptance of rape myths .

Listening to Women
Lahey (l 991) notes that social science research on the effects of pornography is preoccupied with the role pornography plays in shaping the behavior of men. Russell (l 988) suggests that 11 given how saturated our whole culture is with pornographic images and how much exposure many of the men participants have prior to testing, the task of trying to design experiments that show effects on the basis of one more exposure is challenging 11 (p. 65-66). Lahey's (l 991) suggestion is that in thinking about pornography and harm , we should learn to 11 listen to women. 11 Silbert and Pines (1984) found a relationship between violent pornography and the sexually abusive experiences of street prostitutes.
No question regarding pornography was specifically asked (this was not part of what was being studied). Of the 200 women interviewed, 60% had been abused as children, 10% had been used as children in pornographic films or magazines, and 38% of the women reported that they had been involved in the taking of sexually explicit photos for commercial purposes and/or personal gratification of the photographer while under the age of 16. In 22% of the cases of juvenile exploitation, women mentioned the use of pornographic materials by the adult prior to the sex act. Silbert and Pines found that 73% of the women had been raped, and out of 193 cases of rape, 24% of those cases involved references to pornographic material on the part of the rapist. The authors note that these percentages are probably an underestimate because this information was unsolicited by them.
Among a sample of battered women, 39% responded affirmatively to the question, 11 Has your partner ever upset you by trying to get you to do something he 1 d seen in pornographic pictures , movies, or books? 11 (Sommers & Check, 1987). Russell (1984) found that 10% of her representative sample of 930 adult women in San Francisco reported 11 upsetting sexual experiences with people who tried to get them to do something they'd seen in pornography . 11 Of the 87 women in Russell's sample who had been raped by intimates, the response rate to this question was even higher , with 24% of the women reporting such experiences. Using an item similar to that used by Russell, Harmon and Check (1989) found that 9% of a sample of 604 women living in Toronto reported that they had been upset by requests to 11 enact 11 pornography .
A large study conducted through Cosmopolitan magazine ( as cited in ltzin, 1992) found that women 1 s first contact with pornography (selfdefined) was generally around the age of 14.5 years. Approximately 49% of the women accidentally came across it, 45% were shown it by someone, and 7% chose to see it themselves . When questioned about their subsequent contact with pornography, 81 % reported that they see it occasionally or frequently. Of those women, two-thirds stated that they do not see it by choice. Of the 34% of women who reported they had 11 shared pornography with a partner, 11 one in l O was forced to do so and 51 % stated they either did not like it or had reservations about it. Stock (1994) found that approximately l 0% of her sample of 233 college women reported that their partners had "shown them pornographic material and then asked or forced them to act out what they had seen. 11 A larger percentage of the women, nearly 22%, reported that their partner had 11 described pornographic acts that he had seen and then asked them or forced them to act out what he had described. 11 Seven percent of the women reported that they had been subjected to verbal, emotional, or physical abuse when they had refused to do what their partner had seen in pornography, and approximately half of th-e sample answered 11 no 11 to an item reading, 11 1 am able to tell my partner directly that I don 1 t want to do certain sexual acts depicted in pornography. 11 Senn (1992) also found that the more pornography that women were exposed to, the more likely they were to have been forced or coerced into sexual activity they did not want. Additionally, hundreds of women have testified in public about how they have been personally victimized by pornography (see Russell, 1993;MacKinnon, 1993).

Social Influence and Responses to Sexually Explicit Material
Information provided through social norms may create expectancies about intimacy and sexual responding that may influence responses such as sexual arousal. Coyne and Cross (1988)  men, as compared with men in the control group. 11 High model 11 men also rated the woman as more attractive and estimated their peak erections to be greater than 11 low 11 or 11 no model 11 men. There was no effect of instructions (demand) on any of these variables. For men who viewed heterosexual intercourse, social influence only had an effect on men 1 s estimates of peak erections with differences between the 11 high model 11 and 11 low model1 1 men . 1 1Low model 11 men gave lowered estimates of peak erections although they actually experienced high penile arousal. The researchers note that the correlation between the men 1 s estimated and actual erection was only +.21. Interestingly, the correlation between attained erection and how 11 exciting 11 the men believed the stimulus to be was -. 18! The authors suggest that researchers begin to examine the social pressures that encourage men to perceive women as sex objects l 7 and examine whether social influence can affect men 1 s sexual responses in other types of situations.
Norris (l 989) examined whether social influence would affect both women 1 s and men 1 s sexual arousal to sexually explicit written material.
Participants were given a bogus research report that either included a 11 high arousal 11 normative r:nessage (stating that most participants were highly aroused by the material), a 11 low arousal 11 normative message (stating that most participants were not aroused by the material), or no information on normative responses before reading a nonviolent sexually explicit passage about a heterosexual couple. The passage included a description of various sexual acts between the couple resulting in orgasm for both of them. Norris also manipulated the gender of the reference group from which the report was issued. She found that participants in the high arousal group reported significantly more genital and non-genital arousal than those in the low arousal group. Men reported greater arousal than women. A significant interaction was found between reference group gender and normative arousal message, with a male reference group appearing to have a greater influence on non-genital arousal than a female reference group for both women and men participants. Norris suggests that this may be because consumption of sexually explicit materials is associated with men, so information from them is seen as more credible than information from women.
A second study by Norris (l 991) investigated the effects of social influence on the sexual and affective responses to a sexually violent story.
Participants were given a bogus research report with normative information about same-gender adults that indicated high arousal, low arousal, or no information. Participants then read one of two versions of a sexually violent story. In one version, the woman remains reluctant and conveys disgust and disbelief; in the other version, the woman ends up 11 giving in 11 to the force and experiences pleasure. Results of the study found a main effect for the social influence message, with participants in the high-arousal-message condition reporting significantly greater sexual arousal than those in the low-arousal-message condition. Men expressed more sexual arousal than did women. Social influence also affected participants' positive affect ratings, with those in the high-arousal-message condition reporting significantly more positive affect (i.e., excited, entertained) than those in the low-arousal-message condition. Although negative affect was influenced by story outcome, with participants who read the 11 pleasure 11 ending story reporting less negative affect (i.e., disgusted, anxious, depressed) than those who read the 11 distress 11 ending, participants were influenced to a greater extent by the social influence message they received than by the woman character's pleasure or distress.

Misogynist Rap Music as a Form of Social Influence and Pornography
As children move from preadolescence to adolescence, the rate of their listening to music doubles (Larson, Kubey, & Colletti, 1989). Girls report an even greater amount of music listening than do boys (Larson, Kubey, & Colletti, 1989). Larson and Kubey (l 983) note that popular music closely relates to the beliefs, values, and concerns of adolescents. Music listening is often done in the company of friends, and music becomes 11 an essential ingredient to the romantic rites of dances, parties, and dating so intrinsic to this transitional period of development 11 (Larson & Kubey, 1983, p. 15).
Being able to talk about music is viewed as an important part of adolescents' social skills (Larson & Kubey, 1983). Across ethnic groups, Sun and Lull (1986) found that many adolescents said they watched music videos (MTV) for information and to learn about their social world. To a certain degree, therefore, music can be viewed as providing a set of social or peer norms.
The lyrics of rock music, which is most popular among adolescents (Larson, Kubey, & Colletti , 1989), often contain references to relationships and sexual behavior. Lott (l 994) notes that many lyrics in 11 heavy metal 11 music contain degrading and potentially dangerous messages, e.g. 11 Axl Rose sings about rape as a cure for boredom 11 (p . 160). A study by St.
Lawrence and Joyner (l 991) found that college men exposed to a short listening period of heavy metal rock music were significantly more likely to self-report adherence to gender role stereotypes and report negative attitudes toward women than those exposed to classical music.
Over the past decade, there has been a growing concern among some groups, such as the Parents 1 Music Resource Center, over the consequences of youth exposure to music containing sexually explicit and/ or violent lyrics. In recent years, rap music ( and gangsta rap) has become increasingly popular among a broad audience (hooks, 1994).
Barongan and Hall (l 995) note that 11 rap music is unique in that the lyrics are the focus of attention 11 (p. 197). Although there are various forms of rap music, much of which is positive in its messages (e.g., about the struggles of African-Americans and their survival), a growing genre of rap music is sexist and misogynist. Barongan and Hall (l 995) note the similarity of the messages found in misogynist rap music to the messages found in visual pornography (e.g., male domination, female degradation, the belief that women enjoy coercive sex). Among a sample of college men, Barongan and Hall (l 995) found that a significantly greater proportion showed a woman a sexually aggressive film clip after listening to misogynous rap music than did men who listened to 11 neutral 11 (non -sexist) rap music . Among a sample of African American adolescent men and ·women (ages 11-16), Johnson and colleagues (1995) found that exposure to nonviolent , sexist , rap music videos in comparison to a no music video exposure, led to a greater acceptance of male teen dating violence among the girls. The results of these studies pointed to a need to examine the influence and social consequences of this widely available sexist material.

The Present Study
The present study (l) examined the role of social influence , in the form of misogynous rap music, on evaluations of various types of sexually explicit visual materials by means of semantic differential scales; and (2) explored the influence of misogynist rap music ( as a form of pornography) on people 1 s responses to various types of sexually explicit visual materials by means of a story c ompletion task.
Hypotheses l) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to misogynist rap music would differ from comparable young adults exposed to neutral rap or neutral pop/rock in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials. It was predicted that young adults exposed to misogynist rap music would evaluate pornography (both nonviolent and violent) more favorably than would young adults exposed to the other music conditions .
2) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to misogynous rap music would create stories about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials that differ in content and themes from the stories created by young adults exposed to the other music conditions. It was expected that young adults exposed to misogynous rap would be more likely to write stories that include themes of domination and sexism in describing the people, their actions, their feelings, their experiences, and the outcome of their situation.
3) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to misogynous rap music who also have "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would differ from young adults exposed to misogynous rap music who have "low" levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials. It was predicted that young adults with "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would evaluate pornography (both nonviolent and violent) more favorably than would young adults with "low" levels of prior exposure to rap music.
4) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to misogynous rap music who also have "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would create stories about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials that differ in content and themes from the stories created by young adults exposed to misogynous rap music who have "low" levels of prior exposure to rap music. It was expected that young adults with "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would be more likely to write stories that include themes of domination and sexism in describing the people , their actions, their feelings, their experiences, and the outcome of their situation.
5) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who have "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would differ from young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who have "low" levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials . It was predicted that young adults with "high" levels of prior exposure to rap music would evaluate pornography (both nonviolent and violent) more favorably than would young adults with 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music.
6) It was hypothesized that young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who have 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music would create stories about heterosexual couples presented in visual sexually explicit materials that differ in content and themes from the stories· created by young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who have 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music. It was expected that young adults with 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music would be more likely to write stories that include themes of domination and sexism in describing the people, their actions, their feelings, their experiences, and the outcome of their situation.

Independent and Dependent Variables
Music prime was one independent variable . Participants were assigned to one of three music-prime conditions: misogynous rap, neutral rap, or neutral rock/pop. Another independent variable was degree of prior exposure to rap music. Participants were grouped into "rap listener" and "not rap listener" rap-exposure groups based on their responses to an item on the Media Experience Survey. Gender of participants was examined as an independent variable, but no specific predictions were made regarding its influence on the dependent measures. The researcher also examined similarities and differences in the responses to depictions of European-American couples in erotic, nonviolent pornographic, and violent pornographic visual material. The study utilized a 3 (music prime) X 2 (prior rap exposure) X 2 (gender) X 3 (sexually explicit depicition) design.
Evaluation of the various forms of sexually explicit materials was one dependent measure. Evaluations ranged from negative to positive utilizing the Semantic Differential scales previously used by Senn (l 991   Participants signed up for one of 15 data collection sessions. On the day of the scheduled session, l Oto 25 students came to an auditorium where they were greeted by a research assistant. To ensure privacy, participants were told to seat themselves at least two seats away from the person closest to them and were asked not to sit directly behind someone. Participants were greeted by the researcher, who explained what would take place (see script, Appendix A). They were told that their participation in the study was voluntary and that they were free to withdraw from the study at any time. Participants were assured that lack of participation or withdrawal from the study would not affect their course grade.
Participants were given a letter of participation ( consent form, see Appendix B), and a suNey packet was distributed to those who agreed to participate. The survey materials included a demographic questionnaire and an 11 experience with media suNey 11 which included questions about use of music, television, movies, and magazines, including their use of sexually explicit media. At the end of the second survey, participants were instructed to 11 stop and wait for further instructions . 11 When it appeared that all participants had completed those two surveys, participants were told to turn to the next page in the packet, to the 11 ratings of music 11 questions. They were told that they would hear four songs and to 11 circle the number that best corresponds to their reaction 11 to each song. Depending upon what session they were signed up for, participants listened to four songs that were 11 Neutral Pop/Rock," 11 Neutral Rap," or 11 Misogynous Rap 11 (the music-prime conditions). Thus, all participants who signed up for a particular data collection session were exposed to the same music-prime condition. While listening to the music, participants answered questions about how much they liked each song, whether they had heard the song before, and the likelihood that they would purchase a tape or compact disc on which the song was included.
The total music listening time for each session was 18: l 0 minutes for Neutral Pop/Rock, 17:40 minutes for Neutral Rap, and 17:00 for Misogynous Rap.
The order of song presentation was randomly chosen for each session.
Music was selected on the advice of music store managers and a local radio station director to fit the three music-prime categories. Because of the paucity of misogynous rap music by White artists and groups, the decision was made to only use music by Black male artists and groups across the three different music-prime conditions.
Following exposure to a music-prime condition, participants were told to turn to the next page in their packet, the 11 ratings of sexually explicit materials 11 survey. Participants were told they would view a series of six sexually explicit slides and that for each one, they would be asked to 11 circle the number that best corresponds to their reaction" to it and then to complete a story about the people shown in the slide. When it appeared that participants understood what they were being asked to do, they were exposed to six sexually explicit slides of European-American heterosexual couples (2 erotic, 2 nonviolent pornography, 2 violent pornography) presented in random order.  Barongan and Hall (1995 Music was purchased from local music stores or borrowed from a local radio station and was recorded on cassette tapes. The researcher consulted with music store managers , a local radio station director, and several graduate students to select songs that best fit the three categories. Audiovisual Equipment. A cassette recorder was used to play the music in the auditorium and a slide projector displayed the sexually explicit slides on a large screen.
Chapter Three

Use of Sexually Explicit Materials
The majority of respondents (85%) reported that they had looked at a sexually explicit magazine at some point in their lives. Approximately 25% of the entire sample reported that they read or view sexually explicit magazines one or more times per month; approximately 86% reported that they watch one or more R or NCl 7 rated sexually explicit movies per month; and approximately 31 % of the entire sample reported that they watch an X-rated sexually explicit movie one or more times per month.
Respondents noted that they most frequently watch sexually explicit movies with their friends, followed by alone or with a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Men Respondents. All of the men respondents noted that they had . Only a small percentage of women in this study, 5%, reported that they watch one or more sexually explicit X rated movies per month (range 0 -2, M < l). Table l presents these data.

Gender Comparisons on Use of Media
A significantly greater proportion of men (l 00%) than women (7 4% Table 2. Using a stringent Q value, a few small but significant relationships were found. Readership of sexually explicit magazines was positively correlated with positive evaluations of five of the six sexually slides, but was not correlated with one of the erotic slides. Readership of sexually explicit magazines was positively correlated with prior exposure to X rated sexually explicit movies (r = .48, Q < .001 ).
Prior exposure to X rated sexually explict movies was positively correlated with ratings of three of the slides; one from the erotic category, one from the nonviolent pornographic category, and one from the violent pornographic category.
Prior exposure to X rated movies was positively correlated with exposure to Rand NC-17 rated movies (r = .20, Q < .01 ). Exposure to Rand NC-17 rated movies was correlated with positive evaluation four of the six slides; one from the erotic category, one from the violent pornographic category, and both slides from the nonpornographic category.
Amount of time spent watching television was positively correlated with the amount of time spent watching music videos (r = .47, Q < .001) and R and NC-17 rated movies (r = .28, Q <.001 ), but was not correlated with evaluations of any of the slides. Music video viewing also was positively correlated with amount of time spent watching R and NC-17 rated movies (r = . 16, Q < .01) but was not correlated with evaluations of any the slides.
Evaluations of the sexually explicit slides are all positively correlated with each other at the .001 level of significance.

Evaluations of Sexually Explicit Depictions
A mixed factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOV A) was computed using SPSS software to test hypotheses #1, #3, and #5.
Participants who self-reported that rap was one of the three types of music that they listen to most during the course of a week were classified as "rap listeners" (approximately 30%) and this was used as the definition of high prior exposure. Although no hypotheses were proposed about the influence of gender, this variable was also added to the analysis. The results of the 3 (music prime) X 2 (prior exposure) X 3 (sexually explicit depiction) X 2 (gender) MANOV A indicated that there was no main effect of music prime or prior exposure nor was there an interaction between the se two variables on mean overall evaluations of erotica, nonviolent pornography , and violent pornography. All three hypotheses were not supported. Results of the MANOV A did , however , indicate a main effect of gender , E (1, 268) = 23. 7 6, Q< .001, and type of sexually explicit depiction, E (2, 536) = 7 41.07, Q< .001, as well as a significant interaction between these two variables, E (2, 536) = 8.9, Q< .001, on mean overall evaluations of erotica , nonviolent pornography , and violent pornography (See Table 3 and Figure 1 ).

Responses to Sexually Explicit Depictions
To test hypotheses #2 , #4, and #6, the qualitative data from participants' responses to the story completion task were analyzed using thematic content analyses (Miles & Huberman , 1994). The researcher and three upper -level undergraduate psychology students (who were blind to the hypotheses) read several randomly selected stories to develop categories and themes . Based on the questions posed to the participants and the readings of these stories, the following themes were generated: nature of the relationship , sexual behavior and nature of the sexual behavior , presence or absence of discomfort or pain cues, feelings for each other, experiences of the woman and the man, and possible future interaction (see Appendix H). Once this initial coding scheme was developed, two coding sessions took place where the researcher and the coders read stories, analyzed them, and discussed their rational for categorizing them the way they did. When a relatively high percentage of agreement was achieved on a subset of stories (ranging from low of 83% to high of l 00%, depending upon subcategory), the three coders rated stories individually.
Each story was read by two independent coders who analyzed the content as noted above . Thus, three pairs of coders (2 women and l man in varied combinations) analyzed the content of the stories. In addition to be ing blind to the hypotheses, the packets of stories given to the coders were identified by a letter and number ; therefore, coders were completely unaware of which set of stories they were coding (music prime, gender of participant, type of slide). The coders and the researcher initially met once a week to discuss issues that surfaced while using the coding system in order to work from a "common vision'' (Miles & Huberman, 1994). If necessary, refinement or additional "rules" for coding were developed along the way .
After stories were read and rated by two raters, the percentage of agreement between them for each subcategory was tallied (see Table 5).
After this, each pair of coders met together to discuss items they had disagreed on. Because most of the initial disagreements were around issues and categories that had been clarified and refined during the coding process, when coders 11 recoded 11 those items they had disagreed upon, they easily came to consensus and 100 percent agreement. This 11 agreed upon 11 score was then used in further analyses.
Inspection of the qualitative data suggested that the types of stories created appeared to be unrelated to the variables of gender, prior rap exposure, and music prime. Differences in stories were found to be related to the type of sexually explicit depiction the stories were created in response to.
People depicted in erotic slides were more frequently described as 11 lovers 11 or as 11 married 11 than people depicted in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides, while people depicted in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more often described as 11 sex partners,'' 11 business relationship 11 (i.e., boss and secretary, photographer and model) and as 11 sex industry relationship 11 (i.e., prostitute and client) as can be seen in Table   6.
The behavior of people pictured in erotic slides was more often described as "making love 11 than it was in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides and respondents were more likely to create stories that included 11 hugging, 11 11 kissing," and "embracing 11 in response to erotic slides (see Table 7).
The nature of the sexual behavior described in respondents' stories was most frequently coded as 11 mutually consenting sex 11 ; however, the · nature of the sexual behavior was more likely to be coded 11 man coerces or forces woman 11 and 11 conflicting information 11 for responses to nonviolent and violent pornographic slides as shown in Table 8.
Stories created in response to nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more likely to contain elements that indicated that the characters were 11 at risk for discomfort or pain 11 ; this was part icularly true for women characters. Stories created in response to violent pornographic slides were more likely to indicate that the 11 man hurts the woman ph ysically 11 than stories created in response to erotic or nonviolent pornograph ic depictions (see Tables 9 and l 0).
In response to erotic slides, the people pictured were much more likely to be described as feeling 11 positively 11 (i.e., attraction , love) about each other. In comparison to responses to erotic slides, stories created in response to nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more likely to describe the man as feel ing 11 neutral 11 toward the woman and the woman as feeling 11 neutral 11 and 11 negatively 11 (i.e., dislike) toward the man as can be seen in Tables l l and 12.
Nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more likely to elicit descriptions of women characters feeling 11 indifferent, 11 11 sad/upset,1' 11 powerless/inferior, 11 11 anger/disgust, 11 11 shame/degradation, 11 and 11 pain/discomfort 11 than were erotic slides (see Table 13). Nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more likely to elicit descriptions of men characters feeling 11 indifferent, 11 11 feelings of control/ and 11 anger/disgust 11 than were erotic slides (see Table 14).
Respondents were more likely to report that erotic depictions made them feel good (i.e., 11 1 like the picture 11 ; "the picture is nice 11 ) and nonviolent and violent pornographic depictions made them feel bad (i.e., "this picture is disgusting") as noted in Table 15.
Lastly, erotic slides were more likely to elicit stories in which the woman and man "want to or have further interaction with each other.'' (See Tables 16 and 17). Next, the couple will continue to make love until they are both satisfied and then they will lay together for a while and talk.
They will both feel wonderful and content and secure about it.
In response to a nonviolent pornographic slide, the same participant wrote: These are two social acquaintances who have left a party together and are experiencing physical, sexual favors from one another. They feel sexually attracted to one another and that is all -just physical. Each person is experiencing sexual pleasure and satisfaction. They will go at it for a while and then stop, part ways, and both feel satisfied. They may begin to see each other, start to date perhaps.
In response to a violent pornographic slide, the same participant wrote: These are two people who have met recently in a bar of some sort. The man is abusing this woman. They both felt sexually attracted to one another at first but now probably just the man still carries those feelings. The man is experiencing pleasure and power while the woman feels degraded and she is in pain.
Eventually the man will stop and leave and he will feel good while the woman will be upset and feel abused.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of contemporary music on young adults 1 evaluations of and reponses to sexually explicit erotic, nonviolent pornographic and violent pornographic depictions. The results obtained in this study did not support the hypotheses that music prime, prior exposure to rap and an interaction between these two variables would influence the evaluations of erotic, nonviolent pornographic, and violent pornographic visual materials . Young adults exposed to sexist rap music did not differ from comparable young adults exposed to neutral rap or neutral pop/rock in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials; young adults exposed to sexist rap music who also had 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music did not differ from young adults exposed to sexist rap music who had 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicif visual materials; and young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who had 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music did not differ from young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who had 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in their evaluations of sexually explicit visual materials.
The high frequency of media use among respondents in this study, particularly use of sexually explicit media, may have 11 dampened 11 the effect of the music prime. The positive correlations between use of some forms of media and positive evaluations of the sexually explicit visual images may have 11 washed out" any potential priming effects. It is possible that the additional exposure to sexist rap music may have simply blended in to a background of high prior exposure to media. Despite significant positive correlations between some forms of media use and evaluations of sexually explicit materials , whether or not a person was classified as a "rap listener" (indicating high prior exposure to rap) was not found to have a significant effect on their evaluations of sexually explicit visual images.
Although the findings of this study did not provide evidence of a priming effect of music on subsequent evaluations of sexually explicit depictions , other researchers have found that sex-stereotypical "primes" in the form of music videos can change the subsequent perceptions of a social interaction between a woman and man and the impressions formed of them (Hansen & Hansen, 1988;Johnson, et al., 1995).
Specific hypotheses about the influence of gender on evaluations of sexually explicit materials were not made, but gender was also examined as a variable in the analyses. The results obtained in this study indicated that gender of participant has a significant effect on evaluations of sexually explicit materials. Men were more likely to evaluate sexually explicit visual images, across all three categories, more favorably than were women.
Nonetheless, the results obtained indicated that both women and men make distinctions among the three different types of sexually explicit images. Thus, the type of sexually explicit depiction also has a significant effect on evaluations of sexually explicit materials. Both women and men evaluated erotica more favorably than nonviolent pornography, and nonviolent pornography more favorably than violent pornography. These findings add to the validity of the media categories .
The interaction between the variables of gender and type of sexually explict depiction was also significant. Although both women and men differentiated between all three types of sexually explicit images, women's and men 1 s ratings of erotica were most similar to each other, and their ratings of nonviolent pornography were least similar to each other.
The findings of this study are consistent with the findings of others who found that both women (Senn & Radtke, 1990) and men (Check & Guloien, 1989;Saunders & Nous, 1993) make distinctions between erotica and pornography, and rate erotica more favorably . As noted by Johnson Men 1 s more positive ratings of sexually explicit materials may in part be due to their greater exposure to them . The findings of this study and others indicate that men are more frequent users of sexually explicit magazines and movies (Johnson, 1996). In this study, both the amount of prior exposure to sexually explicit movies and amount of prior exposure to sexually explicit magazines was positively correlated with positive evaluations of the sexually explicit materials. Frequency of use of sexually explicit magazines was most highly correlated with positive evaluations of the slides. This is interesting because magazine images, which are twodimensional still images, are most similiar to the two-dimension images projected to the respondents in this study. According to the mere exposure hypothesis, when we have a neutral or positive attitude toward an object (image, person, event etc.) we begin to evaluate it more favorably, the more we are repeatedly exposed to it (Zajonc, 1968;Bornstein, 1989). Johnson (1996) recently found that women's and men 1 s childhood (before age 12), teenage, and current use of pornography were all positively correlated to more favorable evaluations of nonviolent pornography .
The results obtained in this study did not support the hypotheses that music prime, prior exposure to rap and an interaction between these two variables would influence the qualitative responses to erotic, nonviole -nt pornographic, and violent pornographic materials. Young adults exposed to sexist rap music did not create stories that differed from comparable young adults exposed to neutral rap or neutr_ al pop/rock in response to sexually explicit visual materials; the stories created by young adults exposed to sexist rap music who also had 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music did not differ from those created by young adults exposed to sexist rap music who had 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music; and the stories created by young adults exposed to the neutral rap and neutral pop/rock music conditions who had 11 high 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music did not differ from those created by young adults exposed to neutral rap music and neutral pop/rock who had 11 low 11 levels of prior exposure to rap music in response to sexually explicit visual materials.
The qualitative data suggested that the types of stories created appeared to be unrelated to the variables of gender, prior rap exposure, and music prime. Differences in stories were found to be related to the type of sexually explicit depiction the stories were created in response to.
People depicted in erotic slides were more frequently described as 11 lovers 11 or as 11 married 11 than people in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides, while people depicted in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more often described as 11 sex partners," 11 business relationship,'1 and as 11 sex industry relationship. 11 The behavior of people pictured in erotic slides was more often described as "making love 11 than it was in nonviolent and violent pornographic slides and respondents were more likely to create stories that included 11 hugging, 11 "kissing,'1 and 11 embracing 11 in response to erotic slides. Stories created in response to erotic slides were less likely to involve discomfort , pain, coercion or force and were less likely to contain conflicting information about whether or not whc::it was taking place was "mutually consenting sex." Additionally, the people pictured in erotic slides were more likely to be described as feeling "positively1' about each other.
In comparison to responses to erotic slides, stories created in response to nonviolent and violent pornographic slides were more likely to describe the man as feeling "neutral" toward the woman and the woman as feeling 11 neutral 11 and "negatively" toward the man. Erotic slides were also more likely to elicit stories in which the woman and man "want to or have further interaction with each other. 11 Based on the operational definit ions of erotica, nonviolent pornography, . and violent pornography used in this study, it is not surprising that exposure to erotic slides were more likely to bring forth stories that spoke of mutual liking, consensual sex, and positive feelings and experiences on the part of both the woman and man, than were nonviolent and violent pornographic slides. These are just the types of "stories" that one would expect the three types of sexually explicit depictions to elicit, further validating the categorizations of sexually explicit depictions as applied in this study. It is interesting to note, however, that people were less likely to distinguish between the different types of sexually explicit depictions on the basis of domination and subordination than they were on the basis of relationship versus non-relationship based sex.
The use of the Story Completion Task as a qualitative method of obtaining data proved useful in examining young adults 1 constructions of the interaction between women and men featured in different sexually explicit depictions. Together, the findings from the quantitative and qualitative data inform each other and add to a literature that suggests there is a conceptual distinction among various types of sexually explicit images that can be operationalized. The interchangeable use of the terms erotica, pornography, and aggressive pornography may account for mixed findings in the 11 pornography 11 literature (Linz, 1989). The present findings clearly suggest that researchers must carefully define their stimulus materials if we are to understand the relationship between exposure to various forms of sexually explicit depictions and the expression of various attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.
The high agreement between pairs of raters who analyzed the responses to the story completion task suggests that the coding system, and categories developed to analyze the content of the stories, was straight-forward and easy to understand. This activity could provide a basis for the development of a psychoeducational workshop to raise awareness of the distinctions already being made by young adults, and to foster discussions of critical consumption of media images. For example, a workshop leader could expose participants to various images, have participants engage in a story completion task, and then analyze the content of these stories using the categories generated through this research. By making the 'background the figure," people can become more critical consumers of the media. This active learning technique may prove more useful than a traditional presentation that seeks to explain such distinctions to young adults by demonstrating that they themselves make these distinctions, not just academics!
The present findings indicate that a majority of young adults can and do make distinctions between erotica and pornography. Both women and men rated erotica most favorably; however, content analyses continue to find the degradation of women to be a common element of sexually explicit materials (Duncan 1991;Cowan, et al., 1988). Producers of sexually explicit materials should consider these findings and consider replacing pornographic images with erotic ones if they want to reach a broader audience.

Limitations of the Study and Directions For Future Research
One limitation of this study was the use of slides that featured only European American women and men. The set of slides selected were chosen on the basis that they previously had been categorized as falling into the three sexually explicit categories of erotica, nonviolent pornography, and violent pornography; however, the images are not representative of all people in the United States. Additionally, on the basis of what music was available that met the criterion of the label "rap," this study limited its use of music to that which was produced by Black male artists only. A third limitation of this study was the use of a largely White, college student sample. These limitations raise several questions regarding the validity of the findings. For example, would a largely White sample of participants respond differently to a music prime that featured White musical artists? Would respondents have created different stories, following the Black male artist music prime, if the slides they viewed featured people of color? Compared to White respondents, would Black respondents respond similarly or differently to the music prime and to the sexually explicit materials?
In addition to the questions surrounding the external validity of the findings , another question raised by the findings of this study is whether we unfairly critique rap music . Certainly, there should be attention to any form of media that is flagrantly sexist, but has there been more attention focused on sexist rap music than on other forms of sexist music? Has there been more of a focus on rap music than on other forms of sexist media?
Has there been a focus on the sexist nature of rap music without the placement of this form of media in the broader cultural context? And if so, is such a focus inherently racist?
Although a content analysis of lyrics of popular songs suggested that rap music is more graphic and explicit in its portrayal of sex and the degradation of women than is heavy metal music, both genres contain offensive language, sexual references, and messages about male domination and defiance of authority (Binder, 1993). When Binder (1993) examined media accounts of the harmfulness of music lyrics from 1985 to 1990, she discovered that media writers (including those writing within five mainstream publications and two Black magazines) used different socialcultural images when they wrote about the largely "White" genre of heavy metal music than they used when they wrote about the largely "Black'' genre of rap music . Binder's analysis revealed that the "frames" used to discuss the harmfulness of heavy metal more often focused on "corruption" (e.g ., negative influence on individual young listener's values and behavior; may lead to self-destructive behavior) and "protection" (e.g., parents should care enough about youth to be active in things to protect their welfare) than on "danger to society" (e .g ., music dangerous to society as a whole through influence on music listeners). Conversely, "danger to society" was a more prominent frame for discussions of rap than the frames of "corruption" and "protection." Therefore, there appeared to be less concern for the welfare of children who listen to rap, and more concern about the "danger to the public at large" at the hands of those listeners.
In her essay "Sexism and Misogyny: Who takes the Rap?" bell hooks (l 994) suggests that the main motivation for highlighting gangsta rap is to sensationalize and demonize Black youth culture, and Black men in particular. Although she maintains that a rigorous critique of the misogynist nature of the music is necessary, she reminds us thal "it is much easier to attack gangsta rap than to confront the culture that produces the need" (p. 29). Why does the music appeal to broad audiences? Where does the hostility toward women come from? Within "'.,'hat kind of culture can some young Black men become rich and famous by calling women "bitches" and "hos," while the majority of young Black men live in poverty? hooks also asserts that critiques of misogynist media must include rigorous critiques of misogyny that is expressed in more "civilized" ways . For example, she notes the sexism and misogyny uncritically portrayed in the 1994 film, "The Piano." Surprisingly, the film was highly celebrated by movie reviewers as an "enchanting , original, erotic love story" (p . 27) despite the fact that it glamorized male domination and female subordination. In this essay, hooks argues convincingly that critiques of "Black male sexism" are meaningless without an understanding of the need to transform White capitalist patriarchy in all the varied areas of our lives where it exists.
Although in the present study a sexist rap music prime and prior exposure to rap did not influence young adults' evaluations of sexually explicit erotic, nonviolent pornographic or violent pornographic depictions nor the stories created about the characters featured in these depictions, Barongan and Hall (1995) found that college men exposed to a sexist rap music prime were more likely to show a woman confederate a sexually aggressive film clip when given an opportunity to do so than were men who were exposed to a neutral rap music prime. Approximately 85% of their sample was European American. The ethnicity of the two women confederates who were shown the movie clips was not reported.
The findings of Johnson and his colleagues (1995) suggest that African American female adolescents may particularly be at risk for the potential negative influences of this form of media. Using as a "prime," exposure to nonviolent but sex-stereotypic rap music videos, Johnson et al.
found that adolescent women exposed to sexist rap music videos were more likely to indicate an acceptance of dating violence than were adolescent women in a no music video exposure control group. This \ finding suggests that the potential influence of a sexist rap music prime may be different for respondents depending upon age and ethnicity. Such factors need to be considered in' future research.
It also may be of interest to examine other possible negative consequences of sexist rap, i.e., does exposure to sexist rap music prime racial stereotypes? For example, would people exposed to sexist rap music be more likely to form stereotypes of Black men as dangerous, hyper-sexual machines? Additionally, it may be of interest to examine possible positive consequences of 11 neutral 11 or 11 positive 11 rap music, i.e., can exposure to positive rap music by African American female artists decrease adolescent women's acceptance of interpersonal violence?
These are possible questions for future research.
In this study, significant correlations were found between media exposure and favorable ratings of sexually explicit depictions. Do correlations between media exposure and favorable ratings of sexually explicit depictions, particularly nonviolent and violent pornography, suggest more acceptance of power differentials, domination, and/or violence in the context of our own relationships? This is also a potential question for future research. Thank you very much for coming. This experiment will take about one hour and fifteen minutes to complete. During the experiment, I will be reading from this script in order to ensure that all participants across different data collection sessions receive the same information, so please excuse what will seem to be a very 11 formal 11 presentation.
If you have a question at any time during the experiment, please raise your hand and one of my assistants will provide you with help. If at any time you wish to leave, simply exit the room through the back door. Should you have any questions or concerns about this study that you would like to discuss, my name and the phone number where messages may be left for me are listed on the consent form, which I will distribute shortly. Each of you will receive two copies of the consent form. Please read this form carefully , as signing it means that you understand what will occur today and that you are a willing participant. You will hand in one copy which I will keep for my records and you will keep one copy for yourself and as proof of your participation. The consent forms will be stored separately from the questionnaire packet that you complete today, and there is no way to match your name with any information that you provide.
At this time my assistants will hand out the consent forms.
(HAND OUT CONSENT FORMS --WAIT A FEW MINUTES) Let me highlight certain aspects of the consent form that I feel are particularly important . Today you will complete a questionnaire concerning your use of different forms of media , including your use of sexually explicit materials. Next, you will listen to a series of songs and will report your reactions to them . You will then view a series of sexually ~xplict slides and will report your reactions to those. I ask that you do not discuss the details of this experiment with classmates, as they may participate at a later time and the information that you share with them may influence their reactions.
Later in the semester, I will set aside a time to discuss the focus of my research, ,including past work in this area and the hypotheses that I have proposed. The date and time of this session will be announced by your professor. You are also welcome to contact me if you wish to discuss your questions and comments before then.
Thank you for your participation . You are free to leave.

APPENDIX B The University of Rhode Island
Department of Psychology Chafee Building Kingston, RI 0288 l "Reactions to Contemporary Music and Visual Images of Explicit Sex" CONSENT FORM FOR RESEARCH YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE TO PARTICIPATE I have been asked to take part in the research project described below . The researcher will explain the project to me in detail. If I have more questions later , Renee Saris, the person responsible for this study, will discuss them with me.
I have been asked to take part in a study that will look at young adults' reactions to contemporary music and media that deal with heterosexual explicit sex. If I take part in this study, I will be asked to answer questions about my use of media, including music, television, magazines , and movies . I will also be asked to listen to music and to report my reactions to different songs. Additionally, I will be asked to view and report my reactions to sexually explicit pic tures taken from magazines, and to write a story about the people I see . The entire study will take approximately one hour and 15 minutes .
My participation in this study is confidential. My name will not appear on any of the forms and my answers will not be tracked back to me. Records of my responses will be stored in the researcher's office in a locked file cabinet.
Although there are no direct benefits to me, my participation in the study will help me to learn more about research and people's reactions to various forms of media. There is a possibility that some of the music I hear and/or some of the images I view may make me feel uncomfortable. If this is the case, I may speak with the researcher, Renee Saris, about these feelings.
The decision of whether to participat e in the study is up to me. I am not required to participate . If I do parti c ipate, I may quit at any time. If I wish to quit, I may inform Renee Saris of my decision, and I will be excused from the room where the project is taking place. I will not be penalized if I choose to quit and I will still receive my research participation points .
If I am not satisfied with the way this study is performed, I may discuss my complaints with Renee Saris (792-2193) anonymously , if I choose, or with her major professor, Dr. Bernice    H. Picture Makes the Respondent Feel: (Check the one that best applies) l = Good, "I like the picture, 11 "The picture is nice" 2 = Neutral, 'The picture doesn't bother me" 3 = Bad, 11 This picture is disgusting" 4 = Not enough information to determine 11 . Predicted Future Interaction: (Check the one that best applies-woman) l = Woman wants to or will have further interaction with Man 2 = Woman wants to or will avoid further interaction with Man 3 = Woman may do physical violence to Man 4 = No indication of what woman wants in terms of further inte racti on with Man 12 . Predicted Future Interaction: (Check the one that best applies-man) l = Man wants to or will have further interaction with Woman 2 = Man wants to or will avoid further interact ion with Woman 3 = Man may do physical violence to Woman 4 = No indication of what Man wants in terms of further interaction with Woman * Always use #4 unless the story indicates that the character(s) want or will have further interaction. If they say "they will continue to have sex," o r "they will go their separate ways" --code it as #4. If the story suggests they will have or not have further interaction code it accordingly. They'll fall asleep in each other's arms --#1; they go their own ways never regreting this one-time affair --#2.      Check the one that best applies: l = Woman Hurts Man Physically 2 = Man at risk for discomfort or pain 3 = Man is not at risk for cjiscomfort or pain