Influence of Televised Aggression and Pornography on the Social Adjustment of Adolescents in Secondary Schools
Chapter One
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of televised aggression and pornography on the social adjustment of students.
The specific objectives of the study are as follow:
(1) To find out whether there will be any significant effect of violent television programmes on social adjustment.
(2) To find out whether there is a significant effect of violent television programmes on aggressive behaviour of adolescents in schools.
(3) Whether there is a significant gender difference in the aggressive behaviour of students due to television viewing.
(4) Whether there will be a significant influence of pornographic films on the social adjustment of adolescents in school.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Concept of Pornography
Pornography is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purpose of sexual arousal. Pornography may be presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, recording, film, video and video games. The primary subjects of pornographic depictions are pornographic models, who pose for still photographs, and pornographic actors or porn stars who perform in pornographic films.
Various groups within society have considered depictions of a sexual nature immoral, labelling them pornographic and attempting to have them suppressed under obscenity, and other laws with varying degrees of success. The concept of pornography as understood today did not exist until the Victorian era. With the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of discussion and presentation of sexuality and more limited legal definitions of obscenity, an industry for the production and consumption of pornography arose in the latter half of the 20th century. The introduction of the home video and internet saw a boom in the worldwide porn industry that generates billions of dollars annually. Sexually explicit films opened producers and distributors to prosecution. Those that were made were produced illicitly by amateurs starting in the 1920s, primarily in France and the United States. Processing the film was risky as was their distribution. Distribution was strictly private.
In 1969, Denmark became the first country to abolish censorship, thereby decriminalizing pornography, which led to an explosion in investment and of commercially produced pornography. However, it continued to be banned in other countries, and had to be smuggled in, where it was sold “under the counter” or sometimes shown in “members only” cinema clubs. The scholarly study of pornography, notably in cultural studies, is limited, perhaps due to the controversy about the topic in feminism. The first peer-reviewed academic journal about the study of pornography, porn studies, was published in 2014. Pornographers have taken advantage of each technological advance in the production and distribution of pornography. They have used lithography. Pornography is considered a driving force in the development of technologies from the printing press, through photography, still and motion, to satellite television, other forms of video, and the internet. With the invention of tiny cameras and wireless equipments voyeur pornography is gaining ground.
Negative Effects of Pornographic Films on Youths
Pornography is a problem. It‟s a personal problem for many and a cultural problem for all. You may think you have not been affected by pornography, but you have because it is embedded in the surrounding culture. The staggering size of the pornography industry, its influence upon the media and the acceleration of technology, paired with the accessibility, anonymity, and affordability of pornography all contribute to its increasing impact upon culture.
Pornography affects you whether you have ever viewed it or not, and it is helpful to understand some of its negative effects, whether you are a man or woman, struggling with watching it, or simply a mother or father with son or daughter. There is a plethora of research on the detrimental effects of pornography, but here are four negative effects of porn upon men and women.
Pornography Contributes to Social and Psychological Problems in Men
Anti-pornography activist, Gail Dines (1998), notes that young men who become addicted to porn “neglect their school work, spend huge amounts of money they don’t have, become isolated from others, and often suffer depression.” Dr. William Struthers, who has Ph.D in biopsychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, confirms some of these and adds more. His findings show that men who use pornography, become controlling, highly introverted, have high anxiety, are narcissistic, curious, have low self- esteem, are depressed. Ironically, while viewing pornography create momentary intensely pleasurable experiences; it ends up leading to several negative lingering psychological experiences.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The design for this study is the survey method. It is a method that deals with an investigation into situational phenomena and suggests solution to such problems. According to Okaja (2003, p.2), research design “is the structure and strategy for obtaining a reliable and valid result of a problem.”
Therefore, this study adopted the survey method to carry out its investigation.
Population of the study
Population means, all cases or individuals that fit a certain specification. Kerlinger (1981) defines populations as all members of any well-defined class of people, events or subjects which can be living or non-living things.” The population consists of single male and female students in secondary schools in Agege Local Government Area in Lagos obtained in 2020. The population of study therefore is 35000 students.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT PRESENTATION
Analysis of Demographic Data
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Discussion of findings
Most of the respondents watch films for entertainment. This is shown from the response that 27% of the students watch films for relaxation, 77 representing 51% of the respondents watch films for entertainment, while 22% watch films for education.
The second table indicates that students would be affected by pornographic and aggressive films.
20 respondents representing 80% of the responses agreed that the youths will imitate the models they watch on films while 30 (20%) disagree. That shows that majority of the students imitate the models they watch on films.
From table 9, 120 (80%) of the respondents accepted to the fact that there is a significant gender difference in the aggressive behaviour of students due to viewing violent television programmes,
Summary of Findings
The study‟s focus was to ascertain whether the impact of pornographic films on youths can be stopped to avoid harm to the society at large. This is because film has a dramatic effect on viewing pornographic movies on television, including the perception of viewers. The students spend a greater part of their time watching pornographic films instead of concentrating on their studies. They prefer it to their homework or assignments.
To authenticate the impact of pornographic films on Nigerian youths, the method adopted was survey. 200 copies of questionnaire were given out, of which 150 were returned. The findings were easily interpreted through frequency tables. The findings in this research reveal that 100 of the respondents were of the view that pornographic films have negative impact on Nigerian culture. And the research also revealed that 66 of the respondents were of the view that Nigerian government should ban pornographic films.
Conclusion
The aim of this study is to find out impact of pornographic films on students in Agege and their access to video/films. It was discovered that a greater number of them watch pornographic video/films. They tend to watch these films mostly outside their homes perhaps in school, in friends home, in video clubs, with phones.The more reason why they end up watching the type of films that appeal to them without suspicion of any harm it exerts on their lives.
Recommendations
The researcher recommends that there should be reorientation and reactivation of the National Film Censors Board which is assigned with the responsibility of censoring films that are brought into the country to enable it monitor quality of films brought into the country.
Secondly, the researcher recommends that the federal government should enact more stringent laws as regards the exhibition and the type of films that are allowed to be imported in this country. This measure can assume the nature of total ban on any film that is pornographic oriented. This will drastically reduce the availabity of pornographic films in Nigeria.
Thirdly, the researcher also recommends that the federal government should set up a surveillance team, which will oversee the activities of television, cinema houses operating in Nigeria. This body will be empowered to seize and destroy pornographic films that are found in the country as well as punishing any television/cinema house operator that is caught exhibiting pornographic films to the public.
References
- Arcand, B. (1993). The Jaguar and the Anteater Montreal: Verso, Edition.Addition Wesley.
- Bittner, (1989). The history of films production. London: Prentice Hall. Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. (2003). Film History: An Introduction. New York: McGraw Hill Company Inc.
- Campbell-Kelly, M., and Aspray, W. (1996). Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: Basic Books.
- Carroll, J.S., Padilla-Walker, L.M., Nelson, L.J., Olson, C.D., Barry, C.M. and Madsen, S.O. (2008). Pornography Acceptance and Use among Emerging Adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 6-30.
- Clark, A. (2008). Desire: A History of European Sexuality. New York: Rout ledge.
- Coppersmith, J. (2000). Pornography, Video Tape, and the Internet. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.
- Cornell, D. (2000). Feminism and Pornography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Diamond, M. (2009). Pornography, Public Acceptance and Sex related Crime: A Review. International Journal of Law and psychiatry, 304- 314.
- Daniel, T. (January 20, 2003). Film Reviews: Grave of the Fides.
- Gail, D. (1998). Pornography contribute to social and psychological problems with men. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- George G. L. (1976). The cultivation theory and the assumptions of cultivation analysis. In The Cambridge History of China.
