Anybody interested in sex and porn—and that would everybody and very nearly everybody, respectively (asexuals excluded (which is as it should be (kidding!)))—will find this very interesting. And folks who are old enough to remember campus crusades against porn ("Porn Is the Theory, Rape Is the Practice") will find it particularly interesting:

Legislators Urge Ban on Media Shown to Reduce Rape

Women’s groups have been in a state of hysteria lately over Republican efforts to restrict abortion rights, but they’ve been curiously silent about the efforts from BOTH sides of the aisle to restrict women’s other sexual rights. For example, they’ve said nothing about the recent attempt by over 100 senators and congressmen to “crack down” on certain widely-available materials which have been demonstrated to decrease rape rates, namely porn.

If porn consumption inspired people—men people (asexual men excluded (which is as it should be (kidding!)))—to commit sex crimes, which a not-surprising number of people who went to college in the 80s and 90s still believe, then the current and historically unprecedented ubiquity of hardcore porn (thanks, Internet!) should have led to an explosion of sex crimes, right? It didn't happen. ("Sex crimes against children: Down 53 percent between 1992 and 2006.... Rape: The forcible rape rate in the U.S. has dropped from 41.1 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 28.7 in 2009. That latter figure is also an all-time low." Go read the whole thing.)

Rape is a crime of violence... no question. But the porn explosion may have revealed that rape is also a crime that is inspired, in many instances, by sexual frustration and sexual deprivation. Porn appears to be providing an outlet—surrogate sexual experiences—for men who might otherwise commit sex crimes. As a sex researcher I spoke to earlier this year put it: "Lots of guys who might otherwise be out committing sex crimes are sitting at home now in front of their computers. Want to cut the number of rapes? Make sure everyone has high-speed Internet access, a laptop, and some privacy."

So let's hear it for porn, right?