Opposite Trends in the Regulation of Pornography? Policy Differentiation and Policy Convergence Across 26 Countries Between 1960 and 2010

Abstract

In recent decades, the regulation of pornography has been confronted with challenges emerging from cultural change, economic interests, and technological progress. As a result, the respective regulatory frameworks have changed substantially in many countries. These changes have been accompanied by fierce political struggles and societal value conflicts. However, there are few comparative studies on the reactions of national governments to these problems. In this article, we present new empirical data on the regulation of pornography in 26 countries between 1960 and 2010. To assess regulatory change, we rely on a new measurement approach that considers the extent to which governments intervene into individual freedoms and the degree to which noncompliance with these rules is actually sanctioned. Our analysis reveals a trend toward more permissive styles of pornography regulation. However, this trend is accompanied by growing regulatory specialization and a convergence toward more interventionist regimes for special types of pornography.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers as well as the editor for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Funding

This research is based on generous funding of the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant). The project MORAPOL analyzes patterns of morality policy for nine different policy subfields in 26 countries over a period of 50 years (1960–2010).

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at www.tandfonline.com/hjsr.

Notes

¹ The United Kingdom consists of three criminal justice jurisdictions with differing legal frameworks concerning pornography. When we speak of the United Kingdom, we refer to England and Wales only.

² There are missing values for some countries and time periods. These are listed in the figures’ footnotes.

³ However, these requirements were not precisely specified in all countries at all points in time. In these cases we tried to reconstruct the application of these requirements via interpretation of the legal norms and secondary literature.

⁴ Respective clarifications must be written down in statutory texts. Alternatively, we assumed that states punish simulated or virtual child pornography if they have signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography of the United Nations.

⁵ Again, the reader should keep in mind that we focus on statutory texts. However, we could not investigate in detail their implementation in practice.

⁶ Given the limitations of space, figures for possession-related sanctions are not reported here. In general, these sanctions have become more severe too.

Additional information

Funding

This research is based on generous funding of the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant). The project MORAPOL analyzes patterns of morality policy for nine different policy subfields in 26 countries over a period of 50 years (1960–2010).