Define Pornography

If you ask a thousand people to define pornography, you'll get a thousand different answers. It is the only treated "illness" that has no specific definition of the problem or recovery. Mark Kim Malan, Ph.D. addressed this significant problem in A New Taxonomy: Scientific Misuse of the Term "Pornography", the following is extracts from his paper.

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Define pornography. The purpose of creating such a taxonomy is to create a more specific and organized terminology for scientific research and discussion.

OBJECTIVES

This paper has three major objectives.

1. To remedy definition variability and outcome bias in scientific studies, including those using the term "pornography", through the proposal of a new approach to sexual scientific measures that utilizes a new and unique global taxonomy of objects and subjective human sexual responses to an object.

2. To acknowledge that the term "pornography" has been variously defined, and that no recognized and agreed upon scientific standard for the term exists.

To recognize that historical attempts at scientific measures, results and discussion attempting to use "pornography" as a variable, have produced widely varied outcomes and poor conclusions regarding effects of "pornography" on individuals and society.

3. To open discussion among sexologists and colleagues about the value and importance of sexual scientists replacing the term "pornography" with terms emphasizing the subjective effect of clearly defined objects on individual viewers, and the social implications of using such an approach.

PROBLEM

I have chosen to introduce this new taxonomy at this conference due to the conference focus on the term "pornography". The modern use of the term "pornography" presents unique scientific semantic problems. There is no specifically agreed upon scientific definition and use of the term. Its various definitions are problematic in both the scientific and social uses of the term.

Although the proposed taxonomy is designed to examine subjective human response, and has universal application to any object, I will focus on using the term "pornography" as a practical example of applying this taxonomy to the solution of semantic problems that arise in defining scientific research variables.  Before doing so however, it is useful to review some of literature that point out the problems with the term.

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A BRIEF REVIEW OF ISSUES WITH THE TERM "PORNOGRAPHY"

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RESEARCH QUESTION

Since the term "pornography" has no agreed upon scientific definition, and since it has evolved into a term associated with pejorative bias, what terminology can scientists use to replace the term "pornography" with a more accurate unbiased variable? 

Efforts to answer this question led to examining not only the many various definitions of the term "pornography", but also when it is used as various parts of speech. Such usage effectively expands and multiplies its definitions. Usually the term is used as a noun to define an object, for example when a photograph is called pornography. But also, it is sometimes used with an adjective to describe an object, usually in a pejorative way. An example would be the term "political pornography." A third approach is using the term to express individual subjective interpretation of an object. In this case pornography is modified into an adjective to describe another noun. The statement, "The Edsel, was simply a ‘pornographic automobile design’," would qualify as such an expression.

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DESIGN

METHOD

DOES USING THE TERM PORNOGRAPHY CREATE A SOCIAL PROBLEM FOR SEXUAL SCIENCE?

TAXONOMY OF SUBJECTIVE HUMAN RESPONSE TO OBJECTS

TAXONOMY OF OBJECTS

APPLICATION

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CONCLUSION

Historically the term "pornography" has an unreliable history of usefulness as a scientific term. Instead, it is a social construct of the human mind. Its social use is vague, inaccurate and is often co-opted for use as rhetoric by those who use it to further their social or political agendas. Over time the term has taken on negative connotations, and is now, also used as a pejorative term, in expressions of disapproval. The term "pornography" is like using the term "lemon" to describe an automobile. It describes a negative quality of an object in the minds of many people.

Sexual scientists look ridiculous, at best, and unethical at worst, when we refer to therapeutic depictions of healthy sexual behavior as "healthy pornography".  To the public, who colloquially views the term as a pejorative expression, the term "healthy pornography" becomes an oxymoron. To the public, it is a contradiction in terms. It is like hearing the term "healthy poison".

The term "pornography" has socially evolved over time into a negative term. It has become "sexy stuff" with bad press. Now is the time for scientists to break a bad habit of using this socially biased, non-scientific term. As scientists we create problems for ourselves when we adopt unscientific terminology that has culturally evolved, and is loaded with cultural or moralistic bias. We handicap the social effectiveness of our research when we use such terms.

The term "pornography" is not going to go away. The public, politicians, moralists and the press will continue to use it to promote their agendas. Replacing the term "pornography" with "sexually explicit material" is a step in the right direction, but still the problem remains of who decides what is "sexually explicit". This term, like "pornography" is a subjective interpretation of an object, or group of objects.

As a solution, I am proposing this taxonomy of objects and subjective human response, for use in naming, and specifically defining objects as scientific variables. Instead of using the term "pornography", I suggest naming objects and the human subjective responses to them in a more specific and standardized way, using this taxonomy as a guide.

When others use the term "pornography" in dialog with us, we can simply respond by stating facts: "The term ‘pornography’ is not scientific. There is no agreed upon scientific definition. It is more scientifically accurate to talk about specific objects and how individuals subjectively respond to them".  It is our responsibility to teach the public to be accurate and think in scientific terms. No one else is going to.

I invite you to engage in a scientific dialog along with me, with the goal of using better scientific terms that contribute to a more accurate discussion of the human sexual experience, and ultimately, greater progress as scientists who carry the responsibility of promoting sexual health.

REFERENCES