Thread

Research idea

SnowdropExplodes, 01 Nov 2005 17:05:36

The synchronicity of the offer of an artwork for sale
to raise funds, and the Michael Caine pro-pornography
thread, have put an idea into my head.

Would it be possible (given the current laws of the
land) to set up a research study, with a title such as
"The relative reactions of the public to erotic
imagery in various contexts"?

The intention would be to discover how strongly
people's perceptions of "erotic" or sexual imagery is
affected by the context in which it is presented, with
the initial hypothesis that intellectual or
(Christian) religious context produces a more
accepting reaction, and that images presented in
lifelike paintings are more easily accepted than those
presented in photographs.

The research would require unprimed volunteers
(although the title gives some form of priming, i.e.
that the images involved might possibly be offensive
to some!) who would be presented with a series of
images, say 4 or 6, and asked to decide whether they
were pornography or legitimate art.

The images should be made up of "life-like" paintings,
and photographs reproducing the images in the
paintings. They should be clearly sexual and involve
torture or BDSM of one form or another, and if there
are three scenes, then hopefully, they could be graded
from "mild" to "extreme".

The research would be based on comparing three (or up
to six) groups of people.

The first is the control group, who see the pictures
with no title or explanatory text.

The second group sees the same images but with titles
(and any explanatory text) alluding to classical
mythology, or to Christian events, for example, "The
Suffering of Saint Hannah" depicting a woman being
tortured by Romans or Barbarians, with the tacit
assumption that it is punishment for spreading the
Word of God (not knowing if there is a Saint Hannah or
not - to be properly effective the scene has to be
something that might have happened given the biography
of the saint in question!)

The third group sees the same set of images, but the
titles (and any explanatory text) allude to sexual
arousal, possibly in a contemporary setting.

where more groups are available, they would be split
as follows:

Group 4 would receive the paintings with
religious/mythological titles, and the photographs
with contemporary/sexual titles.

Group 5 would receive the paintings with
contemporary/sexual titles and the photographs with
classical/mythological titles

The 6th group, if it is possible to have one, would
receive the pictures given titles or explanatory text
that as far as possible decribes the images clinically
- the title of the "St. Hannah" picture would be
"woman tortured in ancient Rome", and the text would
focus on the clinical detail (i.e. picking out any
inaccuracies in the Roman uniforms, how the techniques
have been used to produce the effects).

Of course, all 6 groups could be further subdivided to
create 12 groups, the first six of which see the
paintings before the photographs, and the other six
who see the photographs before the paintings.
However, the more groups there are, the fewer people
there are in each group, and therefore the less
reliable the statistical outcomes when applied to a
larger population.

*****

The relevance to the campaign, and more particularly
to the consultation paper's wording, is that the
consultation paper's claims that artistic material
would be excused means that context and perceived
intent becomes important. Furthermore, if it can be
shown that "extreme" pornographic material can be made
more acceptable simply by setting it in a highbrow,
"intellectual" context, then it blows a hole in their
claim that "this material should have no place in our
society".

Of course, it is too late to do the research to
present the findings to the consultation, but to have
it ready if and when this comes to Parliament could be
helpful.

Can anyone do something with this?

Ta,
SnowdropExplodes

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ŤNo Name Setť, 02 Nov 2005 18:12:32

Amelie, 02 Nov 2005 18:48:18

I had given this some thought but decided it might be construed as breaching
the peace in the same way as the young man with the execution picture.
Anyway, I have already self-censored my own archives in the wake of the
police visit so have no suitable pics left. Amelie

"Rosemary" , 02 Nov 2005 18:48:18

To:
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 9:55 PM

>I could probably crank the stats (given a bit of notice to get
> all my stats notes, etc out again) if no-one comes up with a
> better offer.
>
> I have no access to the pics, nor the means to manipulate them
> for the purposes.
>
> Anyone looking for suitable saints might try St Catherine
> (topically enough - tortured on a Catherine wheel!), St Lawrence
> or St Sebastian.
>
>
> Greatest problem that strikes me is how one would recruit a
> suitably large pool of volunteer guinea pigs that do not
> constitute a biased population!
>
>
>
> --
> Rosemary
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
> visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/Backlash
>
> To leave the Group, email: Backlash-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com
>
> Report abuse
> http://www.smartgroups.com/text/abusereport.cfm?gid%3D3271426&mid%3D2845
>

SnowdropExplodes, 02 Nov 2005 20:47:24

--- Amelie wrote:

> I had given this some thought but decided it might
> be construed as breaching
> the peace in the same way as the young man with the
> execution picture.
> Anyway, I have already self-censored my own archives
> in the wake of the
> police visit so have no suitable pics left. Amelie

Well, it would be if you sprang the pictures on
random, unsuspecting, people. To have any chance of
being legal, it would have to e based on people
volunteering, who have been warned that they will be
exposed to material that is "of an extreme and sexual
nature". The difficult part, as noted by Rosemary,
is to find enough people to volunteer for the
research, who do not have prior convictions regarding
the subject.

I know that opinion polls such as MORI work by
selecting people at random (with certain predetermined
elements to match the population, AIUI) and ringing
them on the phone.

Perhaps a similar approach could be used, in which
people are selected and telephoned beforehand to ask
if they are willing to take part, and are warned about
the nature of the material involved. Then it is
possible (maybe necessary) to record the figures of
those who refused to take part.

The part that bothers me is the Obscene Publications
Act and how the research would stand in relation to
that, if we sent out copies of sexually-explicit
pictures.

As for pictures, since the photographs and paintings
have to be directly linked (as in, showing the same
scene) it would be necessary to commission the artwork
specially for the project. Since there are
photographers and artists who might be willing to
offer their services to the campaign for free, that is
why I thought of the possibility of doing the
research.

>

: "Rosemary" , 02 Nov 2005 20:47:24

> To:
> Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 9:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [backlash] Research idea
>
>
> >I could probably crank the stats (given a bit of
> notice to get
> > all my stats notes, etc out again) if no-one comes
> up with a
> > better offer.
> >
> > I have no access to the pics, nor the means to
> manipulate them
> > for the purposes.
> >
> > Anyone looking for suitable saints might try St
> Catherine
> > (topically enough - tortured on a Catherine
> wheel!), St Lawrence
> > or St Sebastian.
> >
> >
> > Greatest problem that strikes me is how one would
> recruit a
> > suitably large pool of volunteer guinea pigs that
> do not
> > constitute a biased population!

___________________________________________________________
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zak, 02 Nov 2005 23:13:08

Original Message:
-----------------

forumite@umbilical.demon.co.uk (Rosemary), 02 Nov 2005 23:13:08

I could probably crank the stats (given a bit of notice to get
all my stats notes, etc out again) if no-one comes up with a
better offer.

I have no access to the pics, nor the means to manipulate them
for the purposes.

Anyone looking for suitable saints might try St Catherine
(topically enough - tortured on a Catherine wheel!), St Lawrence
or St Sebastian.

Greatest problem that strikes me is how one would recruit a
suitably large pool of volunteer guinea pigs that do not
constitute a biased population!

A perennial problem and one that is the main reason why so many social
science studies are
flawed: there's probably no such thing as an adult without preconceptions
and biases in
some direction. You might do better to select for bias and try to get a
balanced mix of
prejudices.

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