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Introduction
Pornography engages people on many levels. Some people enjoy pornography while others believe that the world would be best without it. Some would think that a song like It's Nice to be Nude is a cute song that is celebrating the joys of the human body. Others may think that it is obscene and not worth listening to.
Pornography is highly subjective in respect to what it is, how it is defined, and its merits. The intent of this paper is to discuss pornography in a historical context and how it affects librarians in regards to its presence on the Internet.
Definitions: Getting to Know All About "It"
* Pornography:
The word pornography originates from the Greek pornographes meaning literally "the writing of harlots."1 Pornography received official recognition as part of the English vocabulary in 1857 with the word's inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary.2 It is used "descriptively to refer to sexually explicit writings and pictures."3
* Obscenity:
Filthy, indecent, offensive to modesty or decency, expressing or suggesting lewd thoughts.4
* Censorship:
The practice of suppressing or deleting material considered to be objectionable.5
* Intellectual
Freedom:
According to the American Library Association, Intellectual Freedom is the right of every individual both to seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause, or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive, and disseminate ideas. It is a core value of the library profession and a co...
... middle of paper ...
...ftware to deny access to pornographic sites.55 The installation of filters is often community driven; however, the United States government is also attempting to force libraries to purchase filters in exchange for access to E-rate funds.56In response, librarians have taken to the courts to defend their autonomy and First Amendment rights. As well, libraries have been forced to create appropriate use policies to guide internet use.57
Conclusion
Pornography will remain a constant issue as long as it is part of the human experience. The most important question that pornography raises is to what extent will certain groups go to eradicate it? Are people willing to forego hard-earned rights and freedoms, including their own right to intellectual freedom? To what extent are people willing to curtail the very institutions, such as libraries, that they value?
Pornography is considered by many to be an unwelcome and distasteful part of our society. However, I argue that it is necessary to voice the unpopular viewpoints, under the Constitution. This paper is a defense of pornography as a constitutional right of free expression, under the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. In illustrating this argument, I will first define pornography as a concept, and then address central arguments in favor of pornography remaining legal and relatively unregulated – such as the development of the pornography debate throughout modern US law, and how activist groups address the censorship of adult entertainment.
Women have long been exploited through pornographic material, such as videos, photos and literature, these materials, more-so now, than ever, portray women purely as sexual objects. The evolution of the business? popularity has done nothing but help fuel a false impression, subjugating women in modern day culture and society, yet still, banning pornography in the US would be nearly impossible, due to complex issues dealing with the first amendment and obscenity laws. With instances of discrimination based on sexual orientation, race or sex being in most cases illegal, the practice of pornography should most definitely not be acceptable or perpetuated, especially in a country like the US where this said industry defies everything of which our country is founded upon. This rise [in popularity] looks as if it is related, almost in a hand by hand parallel, with growth of sexual violence against women in America.
In this paper, I will attempt to review the debate on pornography in Chapter 4 - State and Society - of Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, Seventh Edition by John R. Burr and Milton Goldinger.
Kristol, I. (1972). Pornography, obscenity, and the case for censorship. Current issues and enduring questions. (1993). Boston: St. Martin's Press.
When deliberating over whether access to pornography should be prohibited, four areas of contention must be elaborated upon and evaluated critically to provide a sensible basis on which a judgement can be made. Firstly, it must be concluded whether pornography can be classed as a form of speech, and whether it enjoys the same protections as art and literature under the principle. Secondly, works such as those of Catherine MacKinnon can be drawn upon to offer a feminist perspective of the effects of pornography on the treatment of women within modern democratic society. Moreover, the principles of Devlin and Feinberg offer relevant acumen regarding the criminalisation of pornographic media. Overall, this essay will argue that whilst access to pornography should not be entirely prohibited; publications that depict ‘extreme’ situations should be subject to regulation and restriction.
After reading “Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet” by Susan Brownmiller, my opinion regarding the censorship of pornography has not changed. Although her essay was very forthright and descriptive, it seemed very biased.
In 1998, a district court in Virginia made a ruling on the use of filtering software in public libraries that set a precedent for the unconstitutionality of internet filters. Todd Anten’s article, “Please Disable the Entire Filter: Why Non-Removable Filters on Public Library Computers Violate the First Amendment gives an account of the ruling. The Loudoun County Library had instituted restrictions to internet access on all library computers with software that would block sites that “displayed obscene material, child pornog...
First, it is obvious that pornography displays male supremacy. For example, the majority of the porn portrays women as being the submissive character, rather than the character who is in control of the situation. Throughout time, the stereotypical woman has always been considered to be attractive if she embraced the submissive role. Pornography further suggests that women are considered to be sexy or attractive if they pursue the role of being passive. The thought of a masculine or dominating woman may seem like something repulsive to the porn industry. Therefore, there is an obvious misrepresentation of the image of being a woman in terms of the woman being a sexual object; thus, suggesting to men the sexual fantasy of the subordination of women and the dominancy of men. To paraphrase MacKinnon, pornography is a type of sexual politics, which defines men as being superior to women just like the higher class dominates the working class. Pornography creates a type of sexuality which eroticizes male dominance and the submission of women (306); consequently suggesting that a woman’s role simply consists of keeping her husband or partner happy. “Making sex with the powerless ‘not allowed’ is a way of ‘keeping it’ defined ...
Laura Kipnis has described pornography as “an archive of data about...our history as a culture”. Therefore if, she described it as such, what can it tell us about the sexual history of the 20th century? Examining the history of the forms of archive from pornographic playing cards to blu-ray discs and the internet, this shows the ever changing form of how as a society we view pornography. From the forms of archive come the social implications of pornography. This will be examined through the 1986 Meese Commission in the United States of America into the pornographic industry. Finally, this exposition will also examine the differing views of Gay and Straight pornography and the changes that have taken over the 20th century. Overall, the 20th century was a fundamental shift in sexual attitudes towards pornography.
...omfortable. The way the majority of the pornography industry functions now is highly poisonous and detrimental to the perceptions people have of women- it tortures, violates and dehumanizes women, all in the name of artistic expression. If if there were a higher representation of women as pornography filmmakers that a large number of these issues would be resolved. Pornography made by women would at the very least put the camera and the power into a woman's hands, thus altering the male-controlled industry in those contexts. Fundamentally, pornography could be simply a healthy expression of sexuality. Obviously, in the patriarchal system in which pornography is ingrained that has stripped away women's power for centuries, there is no possibility that porn could be the only exception to the societal construction that lessens women and makes them subservient to men.
Porn according to the dictionary is defined as a printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than an emotional feeling. A word described as so is what has lead porn to becoming a money making business, that has come to grow over the years quite a bit. An empire that many were afraid to even talk about ,but now want to be apart of. Now porn or as they would call it now as the Adult Film business is seen every where, from DVD’s to magazines and late night television shows to the internet. It can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. Adult film wasn’t something that was new to society, but yet society is acting new towards it. Many are saying that this is something that has affected their lives, or that it should not be around at all.
In the today’s society, social media has gone out of hand. Most people these days have a cell phone, Ipad and/or laptop and most definitely a television at their home. Therefore, access to pornography has become extremely easy and can be available to any individual in less than 5 minutes. The best definition of pornography can be explained as sexually explicit words or images intended to provoke sexual arousal. The easy access to porn has raised many people to question if porn is harmful, if it should be censored, and if it is unsafe. Many debates have been going on about porn concerning freedom of rights, speech, and entertainment and right of privacy. The main people to have argued on this point are Catherine Mackinnon and philosopher J.S. Mill.
In recent years, pornography has established itself as perhaps the most controversial topic arising out of the use of the Internet. The easy availability of this type of sexually explicit material has caused a panic among government officials, family groups, religious groups and law enforcement bodies and this panic has been perpetuated in the media.
Pornography is ripping apart our society. Although Christians are sometimes discus tied with the impact and apathetic about the need to control this menace. Pornography is a year business with close ties to organized crime. Pornography involves books, magazines, videos, and devices and has moved from the society into the mainstream through the renting of video cassettes, sales Of so-called "soft-porn" magazines, and the airing of sexually explicit movies on Cable television.
This paper will not discuss the moral concerns of pornography, because though they exist, this portrayal is meant to be factual and not opinionated, and one cannot discuss morals without opinions. That said, this paper will address pornography as an addiction, and therefore a problem, when taken to certain extremities. Where these boundaries lie, however, will not be discussed; this will be left up to the reader to define.