About

Daniel Linz is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and teaching focus on the intersection of media, sexuality, and law, with a strong commitment to empirical research and its societal implications. A recurring theme in his work is the societal impact of sexually explicit media, including studies on the effects of exposure to pornography, erotic expression in dancers, and the behavioral implications of viewing sexually explicit films. He frequently aims to debunk legal assumptions related to adult businesses and their secondary effects, with several studies indicating that the perceived associations between such businesses and crime may be overstated and that regulatory bases often lack empirical support. Additionally, his research explores media portrayals of crime and race, highlighting discrepancies and potential biases in televised news, as well as online behavior, privacy, and aggression in the context of the internet, shedding light on technological developments and their societal implications.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• Criminology
• Demography
• Aesthetics
• Anthropology
• Epistemology
• Philosophy
• Psychoanalysis
• Developmental psychology
• Communication

Selected publications

• Methodological Issues in the Content Analysis of Pornography

  University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  No scientifically sound analysis of the content of pornography in the United States as a whole currently exists. Dietz and Sears's article takes us a small step closer to quantifying the contents of pornography. Some of the methods employed in the present study, however, prohibit us from making solid generalizations from the findings reported here to the nationwide pornographic marketplace. Our critique of the article will concentrate first on the methods employed in the study and then on the findings obtained through these methods and the authors' interpretation of these findings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• End-of-life topic avoidance among gender-diverse young adults: the importance of normalizing gender-affirming end-of-life conversations

  Human Communication Research · 2023 · 1 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Social psychology

  Abstract This qualitative interview study examines the perceived challenges and obstructions that emerging transgender and gender-diverse adults (TGD, ages 18–30 years) face when considering end-of-life conversations (EOL) with their family members. While not yet normalized in the trans community, gender-affirming EOL conversations are critically important in a population where episodes of postmortem identity distortion have been observed. Data collected suggest that most of the participants have not engaged in such conversations and that many anticipate difficulty initiating a conversation that includes not one, but two, traditional communication taboos: death and queerness. Among the challenges to open discourse were group identity factors including the family’s religious beliefs, cultural norms, and political affiliations, as well as hesitancies to enter into discussions that might suggest an impending death or suicide. Results also showed that the anticipation of a more positive conversational outcome was consistent with a reduced desire to participate in avoidance behavior. For many, however, it was simply considered too “weird,” “awkward,” or “harsh” for a young adult to discuss their own death with their parents. This “awkwardness” is considered normative throughout U.S. culture, but repercussions for TGD individuals are significant. For those who exist outside the mainstream gender binary, the normalization of gender-affirming EOL is indicated in order to make such conversations more accessible, effective, and nonawkward.

  PublisherDOI

• Overcoming Ungrievability: Transgender Expectations for Identity after Death

  Sociological Inquiry · 2020 · 15 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Gender studies

  Butler ( Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence . London, UK: Versa; 2004) observed cultural shifts immediately after 9/11 and suggested that, with regard to grievable and ungrievable lives, societal power structures “produce and maintain certain exclusionary conceptions of who is normatively human” (p. xiv–xv). The current study brings new understanding to the concept of grievability by exploring the symbolically violent de‐transitioning of trans people after their deaths. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the thoughts and attitudes of older trans people (40 y. o. plus) with regard to the phenomenon of nonconsensual de‐transitioning after death and the expectations they have regarding the expression of their own identity after death. The wishes of the participants were grouped into four outcome categories: hoping to be memorialized only as their lived identity (25%); only as their identity‐assigned‐at‐birth (6%); as both identities combined (44%); and those who claimed that they did not care how their identity was memorialized (25%). Our findings serve to emphasize the importance of open and honest end‐of‐life communication as well as to underscore the diverse nature of the transgender population and the complexity of the transgender identity.

  PublisherDOI

• Civil Liberties and Research on the Effects of Pornography

  2019-03-25 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In this chapter, the authors analyses what they feel psychologists can legitimately contribute to the dispute by focusing their research on media effects. Policies advocating restrictions in media content may be based on rationales other than direct incitement effects on violent behavior, although this may be the most likely basis for justifying such restrictions. The ordinance was successfully challenged by the American Booksellers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union. Feminists’ attempts to frame the issue of harm emerging from pornography as a question of civil liberties, and their assertion that women suffer discrimination as a result of men viewing pornography, would have at least equal standing with the rights of freedom of speech and press. The attempt by some feminists to fashion a civil law to regulate pornography was a direct response to the ineffectiveness of obscenity law in the 1980s.

  PublisherDOI

• An Evolutionary Perspective on Sexual Assault and Implications for Interventions

  2019-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Sexual assault interventions may be doing more harm than good with high-risk males

  Aggression and Violent Behavior · 2018-05-30 · 83 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Risky Online Behavior Survey

  PsycTESTS Dataset · 2014-01-01

  dataset
  PublisherDOI

• Are Adult Businesses Crime Hotspots? Comparing Adult Businesses to Other Locations in Three Cities

  Journal of Criminology · 2014-03-09 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study addresses three questions pertinent to the debate concerning the secondary crime effects of adult businesses. (1) Are adult businesses hotspots for crime? (2) How do adult businesses compare with controls with regard to crime? (3) What subclasses of adult business are most likely to be associated with crime? A study of three cities reveals that adult businesses tended to fall outside the heaviest concentrations of criminal activity. Further, adult bookstores were less related to crime than both cabarets and on-site liquor-serving establishments. While adult cabarets were associated with ambient crime, crime was generally equivalent to nonadult liquor-serving establishments. A weighted intensity value analyses revealed that crime generally was more “intense” around liquor-serving establishments than around adult cabarets across the municipalities. These findings suggest that the relationship between cabarets and crime is not due to the presence of adult entertainment per se but rather due to the presence of liquor service. This finding is consistent with central precept of routine activities theory that areas that contain public establishments that serve alcohol facilitate crime.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Standards of Care for the Treatment of Adult Sex Offenders

  2014-01-09 · 65 citations

  article

  This chapter presents data showing that interrelated factors form two largely independent constellations, labeled hostile masculinity and impersonal sexual orientation. The development of the model is considered in the context of theory and research emphasizing the role of sexual and/or power motives underlying rape and other forms of sexual aggression. The chapter explores some aspects of model to the influential work of Donald Mosher and his associates in assessing the links between a "macho personality" and sexual aggression. It describes a "risk" analysis which illustrates the potential relevance of our model to clinical prediction. The chapter highlights the role of men's hostility as a cause of aggression against women, which is not emphasized in Mosher's construct of the "macho" personality. M. R. Burt theorized that certain attitudes play an important role in contributing to sexual aggression by acting as "psychological releasers or neutralizers, allowing potential rapists to turn off social prohibitions against injuring or using others".

  PublisherDOI

• Sexuality and pornography.

  American Psychological Association eBooks · 2013-10-07 · 98 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Edward Donnerstein

  University of Arizona

  41 shared

• Steven Penrod

  John Jay College of Criminal Justice

  17 shared

• Neil M. Malamuth

  16 shared

• Barbara J. Wilson

  Simon Fraser University

  10 shared

• Dale Kunkel

  10 shared

• Stacy L. Smith

  8 shared

• Eva Blumenthal

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  7 shared

• Bryant Paul

  Indiana University

  7 shared

Awards & honors

• 2007 National Communication Association: Top Freedom of Expr…
• 2006 National Communication Association: Top Four Refereed P…
• 2006 International Communication Association: Top Three Refe…
• 2002 International Communication Association: Top Four Refer…
• 2002 Center for Successful Parenting Award