著者

浜野 保樹

出版者

国際基督教大学

雑誌

国際基督教大学学報. I-A, 教育研究 (ISSN:04523318)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.22, pp.91-121, 1979-03

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Although sex explicit materials are often criticized because of their negative effects on the audience, there are very few scientific data on their influences in Japan. In several other countries including the United States, a considerable amount of empirical research on sex explicit materials has been done and published so far. Among them the Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which was published in 1970, played a significant role in this field. This field, which deals with the effects of the sex explicit materials, can be included in the literature of mass communication study. In order to summarize and synthesize the results, more than 100 research papers were collected and, based on their findings, a total of 72 generalizations was led and proposed in this paper. Generalizations were led by the so-called head count approarch. According to this approach the following procedures are taken: 1. collecting studies which are satisfactory in statistical viewpoints and have verifications on at least one relationship between two variables. 2. grouping studies which deal with the same two variables. 3. when the supportive studies surpass the non-supportive, the relationship was put as a generalization. It should be noted, however, that the generalization method by head count approrch can not clearly reflect the qualitative aspects including research procedures. As far as the 72 generalizations concerned, they might give the impression that sex explicit materials are harmless. In Japan, however, it seems inadequate to conclude that they are harmless because the most of the studies were done in the United States and few cross-cultural studies have been done. In addition, unlike the United States, the television code on sex explicit contents are not so strict in Japan. Therefore, the effects to mass, especially to young chldren and adolescents should be thoroughly investigated before making such conclusions. For future studies, the cummulative effects or long term effects of such kind of materials and the relations between sexual behavior and violence should be challenged to have more reliable conclusions.