Vollmer 1

Determining the Effects of Sexual Content in the Media

In todays world, it is common to find sexual content in most forms of media. Due to the
fact that sexual content is so easily accessible in todays world, researchers and policymakers
have been worried that exposure to this type of content will have negative effects on people who
view it. This worry has prompted the research question does sexual content cause negative
effects. In order to explore this research question, I propose that two research designs be
conducted; the first of which is an experiment, and the second of which is a survey.
In order to explore the question of does sexual content cause negative effects, it is
important to first explicate the meaning of sexual content and negative effects. Sexual
content is described to mean any form of sexual act performed between any number of people
that is presented aurally or visually. Negative effects are explicated to mean several different
things. Negative effects can also be defined as any incorrect connotations about sexual
interactions that viewers might perceive from watching sexually explicit material. Negative
effects can also be defined as any negative social or psychological behavior derived from
viewing sexually explicit material. For the purposes of the research question, both definitions
have been combined to create a more all-encompassing definition of negative effects as any
misconceived information about sexual interactions that can lead to negative social and
psychological tendencies.
In order to demonstrate that there is a causal connection between exposure to sexual
media content and any kinds of specific negative effects, an experiment must be done. An
experiment aiming to determine a causal connection between these two things could be
conducted in a university laboratory setting with a sample size of 300 people. Out of 300 people,
150 would be male, and 150 would be female. Participants would be chosen at random to be in
the treatment condition until the treatment condition had seventy-five males and seventy-five

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females. Additionally, participants would be randomly selected to be in the control condition
until there were seventy-five males and seventy-five females in the condition.
In both conditions, participants would be asked to return to the experiment for one to two
month on a once per week basis. Participants in the treatment condition would watch one hour of
sexual content, while participants in the control condition would watch one hour of nonsexual
content. Participants would be asked to fill out a questionnaire in the first and last experiment, in
order to show how they have changed since starting the experiment. This questionnaire would
ask about their normal sexual content viewing habits and how they perceived themselves
physically and emotionally. The questionnaire administered on the last day of the experiment
would ask participants if they thought they had developed any negative effects from viewing
sexual content since they began the experiment. Participants in both conditions would also be
asked to fill out a short questionnaire at the beginning of each session, which would ask about
any sexual content viewing habits that the participants took part in at any time during the week,
and any emotions or behaviors they may perceive as negative that they had observed within
themselves. Filling the questionnaire out would show any gradual change that may be
experienced by the participants each week and how viewing the hour of sexual content versus
not viewing the hour of sexual content affects the participants. Both of the questionnaires in this
experiment would show causality between watching sexual content and negative effects that took
place in the participants.
On top of filling out a questionnaire at the beginning of each session and the more indepth questionnaire at the beginning and end of the experiment, participants in each condition
would be monitored with an electroencephalogram that would measure various stimuli in their
minds and on their skin. These measurements would help indicate causality of negative effects

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from watching sexual content versus nonsexual content via the participants physical and mental
reactions to the various content.
For the second research design, a survey would be administered to a new group of
participants. The purpose of the survey would be to show that negative effects derived from
viewing sexual content affects the population as a whole. The survey would be administered to a
fairly large, representative sample of individuals, in the range of 200 to 300. Because the survey
would be administered participants via the Internet through the internet, it would be easier to
receive a sample that is representative of the population as a whole, even including people of
different age groups. The survey would ask participants general questions about their race,
gender, age, and other demographic features. The survey would continue on to a close-ended
response section in which participants would be asked to answer general questions about how
frequently they view sexual content in the media. After the close-ended response section, the
survey would ask participants to fill out an open-ended response section. In this section,
participants would be asked to answer questions based on the answers they gave in the closeended response section. These questions would revolve around the participants describing any
negative effects they have experienced from viewing sexual content in the media, based on how
much they view. The open-ended response section would also include a few close-ended
response sections in order to help focus the responses of participants and in order to decrease
confusion about questions being asked.
In summary, the experiment would demonstrate causality between sexual content
exposure in media and negative effects derived from it. The survey would demonstrate
generalizability of the research question to the entire population. The findings from the
experiment could show policymakers and researchers what kind of sexual content causes
negative effects in people. The findings of the survey could show how the population as a whole

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is affected by sexual content in the media. Together, these research designs could help influence
the decisions of policymakers on whether or not to allow sexual content to be shown in the
media, and if so, to what extent sexual content should be allowed. The data from these research
designs could also help researchers better understand how exposure to sexual content in the
media on a regular basis could affect viewers, as well as prompt policymakers and researchers
decisions on what to study.