involve themselves in physically violent activitiesâbomb making, gang fights, kidnapping, robbery, spousal beatings, and murder. During the last ten years in your country the rate of arrests for violent crimes has risen twice as fast for women as for men.
âThere is very strong evidence that the violence shown in movies and on television has given us permission to be violent.(15) Not only have the media given permission but they have shown us how to become ever more violent. Some years ago after a movie depicted some boys pouring gasoline over an old man and burning him, the same scene was played in real life, once with another old man being burned to death and a second with a social worker being set afire. Other violent scenes in the media have been copied by maladjusted people soon after they saw the action on television.
âOn the other hand a sensitive portrayal of a violent act may make thinking people reevaluate their ideas and behavior. In a large study in which date rape was portrayed in a movie, many of the subjects in every age group changed their view of whom caused the aggressive act. Most blamed the man, older women who had earlier thought that it was the womanâs fault often changed their minds, but older men often reacted against the woman in the film.(16) So the media can be used to increase or reduce violenceâbut the reality is that violence sells. Consequently, while such violence has anti-social outcomes, the belief of many that âfreedom
âThere is very strong evidence that the violence shown in movies and on television has given us permission to be violent.(15) Not only have the media given permission but they have shown us how to become ever more violent. Some years ago after a movie depicted some boys pouring gasoline over an old man and burning him, the same scene was played in real life, once with another old man being burned to death and a second with a social worker being set afire. Other violent scenes in the media have been copied by maladjusted people soon after they saw the action on television.
âOn the other hand a sensitive portrayal of a violent act may make thinking people reevaluate their ideas and behavior. In a large study in which date rape was portrayed in a movie, many of the subjects in every age group changed their view of whom caused the aggressive act. Most blamed the man, older women who had earlier thought that it was the womanâs fault often changed their minds, but older men often reacted against the woman in the film.(16) So the media can be used to increase or reduce violenceâbut the reality is that violence sells. Consequently, while such violence has anti-social outcomes, the belief of many that âfreedom