The Importance Of Sexual Objectification

“What is objectionable about pornography…is its abusive and degrading portrayal of females and female sexuality, not its content or explicitness” (Rodgerson & Wilson, 1994) However, others may feel that it is sexually liberating and in no way degrading to those involved. Those women feel in control of their sexuality and choose to participate in acts as a way of expressing themselves while feeling it has no barring on their moral character. While others would argue that it promotes immoral behavior which would lead to criminal acts or an unhealthy obsession with sex. “The most commonly feared adverse effects of pornography include undesirable sexual behaviors (e.g. adultery), sexual aggression, and loss of respect for traditional family structures and values, loss of respect for authorities, and a general nonspecific moral decay.” (Hald & Linz,

According to Wasserstrom and his article Is Adultery Immoral, it is acceptable to place restrictions upon an individual and the number of sexual pa... ... middle of paper ... ...the paramount point, was in essence lacking the success that his first two arguments benefited from. Yet, I think he managed to portray his ideas in the first two arguments quite convincingly. He tackled a very tough and complex issue and still managed to convince me of his point. Although, I still believe that adultery as an immoral issue will vary based on the society in which the question is posed. For example, in some eastern countries adultery is accepted in the form of concubines and temple prostitutes.

Analysis of the Film Chasing Amy Chasing Amy is a movie that uncovers the hardships we find within the confusion of love and sex in our lives. Sometimes the line between love and sex seems almost invisible, but the differences and complications of understanding that are quite clear in this movie. The issues presented in Chasing Amy are directly related to the discussions of “Politics of Sexuality” as well as everyday life in our culture. Our culture, in contrast to Ancient Greece, uses sexuality to characterize people by their sexual behaviors. Other cultures view sex as a raw pleasure activity while our society has elevated it to the expression of a person’s identity and moral code.

Generally, excess denotes to a superfluous, degraded matter, disposable waste. However, by its richness the term excess connects well to sexual experience, as it reflects sexuality subjectivity as overflowing, as a mounting inability to contain desire, as well as a seeking of arousing, even shattering, experiences. Excess is still antithetical and therefore aptly conveys the double-edginess of sexual experiences. Whether it is Freud’s excess as excitation or Bersani’s excess as a means to shatter and enable evolving structures, the empowerment of sexual excess in its inherent sexual otherness disables shame through the power of desire.

Two people who have “chosen” to be there and who get pleasure out of it. However, to me it seems that pornography itself is buying into censorship. BY not honestly showing the female side to sexual desires and pleasure, pornography is in itself being censored. It is not the act of sex and sexual p... ... middle of paper ... ... and say that the story of Adam and Eve is sexist as well. But blaming pictures, and other things is not the way to end the controversy.

Soble outlines “Kant’s sex problem” and Kant’s solution, Soble also gives his own solutions, and in learning both I feel the solution is in externalism. Immanuel Kant defines his second formulation of the Categorical Imperative as knowing the value of a person. It is demeaning to use a person without his or her consent for self-gratification, especially sexually. Kant describes this as using a person simply to serve a means rather than an end, simply put rather than being a concrete loving act with the end of creating new life sex treated as only “scratching an itch”. The idea that Kant, “must take on the other’s ends for their own sake, not because that is an effective way to advance my goals in using the other,” is a way of saying that a man must care enough about the other person treat them as fairly and justly as he wants to be treated (Soble 228).

This definition provides Nagel with a basis for describing sexual perversion as anything that lacks the progression of arousal between two or more conscious individuals eventuating in physical contact that emb... ... middle of paper ... ...sophy of Sex”, describes Immanuel Kant as a “metaphysical sexual pessimist” as sexual activity for Kant shows the individual as an “object of appetite” (Soble 5). The fact that an act is sexual does not change the moral standards that it must adhere to, and thus allows acts regarded as perverted in the socio-cultural norms not to be regarded as immoral. Works Cited Collins, Louise. “Is Cybersex Sex?”. The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings.

According to Carpenter, the definitions of virginity loss and sex are “ambiguous” and with the exception of coitus, people from both sexualities disagree about which sexual activities can result in virginity loss and what activities really are sex (Carpenter, 2001). In terms, Carpenter really goes against Berger and Wegner’s conclusion about defining virginity loss. In “The Ideology of Virginity,” they state that “the ideal of female chastity (including premarital sexuality) is an aspect of male property rights . . .

He claimed that when one sees that they are giving someone else pleasure, it causes satisfaction to themselves. Nagel explains that perversion, or abnormal sexual activity, occurs when mutual recognition of arousal is nonexistent; thus, being immoral. His perspective on whether sexual activity is natural or abnormal is not based off how bodily organs are used or where they are placed. His studies depended on the characteristics of the psychology of the sexual encounter. Where as many philosophers saw homosexuality, anal intercourse and many other “strange” sexual activities as abnormal and perverted, Nagel happened to disagree.

As defined by MacKinnon, pornography does indeed cause harm to the women. In her argument, MacKinnon successfully demonstrates how pornography displays male supremacy over women, and how women are mere sex-objects. For the purpose of this paper I will further elaborate on MacKinnon’s argument of pornography depicting women as simply sexual objects and also displaying women as being sub-human to men, almost slave-like. Lastly, I will discuss how pornography lacks literary, artistic, political, and scientific value. First, it is obvious that pornography displays male supremacy.