ABSTRACT
The Effects Panel of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography undertook to develop a program of research designed to provide information on the kinds of effects which result from exposure to sexually explicit materials and the conditions under which these effects occur. The areas of potential effect to which the research was addressed included sexual arousal, emotions, attitudes, overt sexual behavior, moral character and criminal and other antisocial behavior related to sex. A number of empirical studies conducted by psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists attempted to assess the effects of exposure to explicit sexual materials. Exposure to erotic stimuli appears to have little or no effect on already established attitudinal commitments regarding either sexuality or sexual morality. Delinquent and nondelinquent youth report generally similar experiences with explicit sexual materials.
