Russell's conclusions are based on the psychological research of Donnerstein and others, researchers who were very tentative in their conclusions, which she most certainly is not. Russell's explanation of the difference between their conclusions and hers is that they are psychologists and she is a sociologist. As such, she is concerned with group responses and not with explanations of the varying arousal levels in individual men. Violence is rare in pornography and in sado-masochistic imagery men are more often shown as submissive than women. Studies into the effects of violent pornography seem to suggest that there are negative effects.
Some men are more likely to accept rape.
Consequently, Donnerstein and others are inclined to conclude that it is the violence against women, not the pornography, which is the cause - which suggests that we should worry about any depiction of violence against women, whether pornographic or not. In the next section we shall look at some of the criticisms of these results.