Sexual violence in playboy magazine: A longitudinal content analysis

• Published in: The Journal of sex research Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 534 - 539
• Main Authors: Scott, Joseph E., Cuvelier, Steven J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Taylor & Francis Group 01-11-1987; Society for the Scientific Study of Sex
• Subjects: Brief Reports; Cartoons; Content analysis; Magazine publishing; Men; Pornography; Rape; Sexual assault; Sexual Behavior; Sexual violence; Violence; Violence against women
• ISSN: 0022-4499; 1559-8519
• DOI: 10.1080/00224498709551389

An examination of the amount of sexual violence in cartoons & pictorials in Playboy magazine from Jan 1954 through Dec 1983. Content analysis reveals that depictions of sexual violence were rare; the average number of sexually violent cartoons per year was 2.07 or 0.17 per issue & the average number of violent sexual pictorials per year for the 30-year period was 0.9 per year or 0.08 per issue. Such depictions did not increase over the period examined, even though the magazine has increased considerably in size (number of pages, as well as number of cartoons & pictorials per issue). A curvilinear relationship was found for the number of sexually violent cartoons & pictorials by year with the maximal occurrence in the mid-1970s, decreasing by 1983 to the level of the mid-1960s. 2 Figures, 14 References. AA