SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT AND POPULAR CULTURE 3
Yet while these early adopters appear to be heavy consumers of sexually explicit material
very little research has been conducted into the consumption and effect of such content on those
fitting their demographic and psychographic profile. As sexually explicit material is so abundant
during the growth of new communication technologies, examining this question could provide a
different understanding of the impact of sexually explicit material. It may shed some light on what
other variables may cause a change in attitude and behavior in consumers of this material. And it
could help researchers come closer to an understanding what role, if any, that sexually explicit
material plays in deviant behavior.
Although this paper will not answer all these questions, it is an attempt to provide a
framework by which further discussion and research could be developed. To accomplish this an
overview of the available social science research on the role of sexually explicit material on attitude
and behavioral change, including the role that violence may or may not play, will first be presented.
This will be followed by an examination of early adopters, including the characteristics that define
them. Finally, the available research on sexually explicit material and the available information on
early adopters will be used to formulate questions and hypotheses that can be tested empirically in
the future.
SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL AND ATTITUDE
Research into sexually explicit material has primarily focused on the impact this material
has upon the behavior and attitude of male subjects. A survey of this research demonstrates that
while there appears to be links between sexually explicit material and behavioral and attitudinal
changes, the question of whether these changes are long-term or are necessarily negative has not
been answered. There is also a question of how reliable these studies are, compounding the
difficulty in analyzing their findings. Of primary concern is the choice of subjects, mostly college
Convention