For decades anti-pornography sentiment and campaigns were driven largely by religious conservatives citing pornography’s “contaminating” moral effects. More recently, however, anti-porn campaigns have sought to support their arguments by appealing to social and cognitive science. This raises the question of whether anti-pornography sentiment is undergoing an “internal secularization,” reflected in a growing connection to scientific authority and weakening connection to religious authority, or conversely, whether the use of “science” reflects a more symbolic and tactical framing used by religious conservatives who already oppose pornography. Using the General Social Surveys (1984–2018), I examine how trust in scientific authority and traditional measures of religious conservatism are associated with anti-pornography sentiment and how these associations have changed since the mid-1980s. The positive association between religious conservatism and support for anti-pornography legislation has either remained the same or, in the case of biblical literalism, grown stronger. In contrast, Americans with greater confidence in science or scientists are less likely to support outlawing pornography, and this pattern has not reversed. Indeed, in recent decades, Americans across all levels of confidence in science have declined in their support for banning porn and now differ only minimally. Together these patterns suggest anti-porn sentiment is actually desecularizing, growing more connected to religious conservatism than views about scientific authority. Findings suggest current anti-pornography sentiment does not stem from scientific authority gaining ground among Americans who oppose pornography. Rather, citing scientific research likely reflects efforts to leverage its cultural authority among those already morally inclined to restrict porn’s availability.

中文翻译：

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禁止是因为科学还是尽管如此？科学权威、宗教保守主义和支持取缔色情，1984-2018

几十年来，反色情情绪和运动主要是由宗教保守派推动的，他们引用色情“污染”的道德影响。然而，最近，反色情运动试图通过诉诸社会和认知科学来支持他们的论点。这就提出了一个问题，即反色情情绪是否正在经历“内部世俗化”，这反映在与科学权威的联系日益增长和与宗教权威的联系减弱，或者相反，“科学”的使用是否反映了一种更具象征性和策略性的框架已经反对色情的宗教保守派使用。使用一般社会调查（1984-2018），我研究了对科学权威的信任和宗教保守主义的传统措施如何与反色情情绪相关联，以及这些关联自 1980 年代中期以来如何发生变化。宗教保守主义与对反色情立法的支持之间的积极联系要么保持不变，要么在圣经文字主义的情况下变得更强。相比之下，对科学或科学家更有信心的美国人不太可能支持取缔色情内容，而且这种模式并没有逆转。事实上，近几十年来，对科学有不同程度的信心的美国人对禁止色情的支持有所下降，现在差异很小。这些模式一起表明反色情情绪实际上是在去世俗化，与宗教保守主义的联系越来越多，而不是对科学权威的看法。调查结果表明，当前的反色情情绪并非源于反对色情的美国人中的科学权威。相反，引用科学研究可能反映了在那些已经在道德上倾向于限制色情内容的人中利用其文化权威的努力。