Freedom Of Pornography Essay, Research Paper

Freedom of Pornography?

Free Speech means exactly what it says, the right to express any opinion in public without censorship or restraint by the government. There have been many questions on the topic of Free Speech and Pornography. Many people feel that pornography should not be included in Free Speech, but if someone limited what their idea of free speech was, then wouldn t that be illegal?

There are many statistics proving that pornography does not cause violence against women, and that men do not copy what they see in pornography. For example, there is no reputable research in the U.S., Europe or Asia that finds a casual link between pornography and violence. The only factor linked to rape statistics is the number of young men living in a given area. When pornography became widely available in Europe, sexually violent crimes decreased or remained the same. If people mimicked what they read or saw at all times, the feminist books of the last 25 years would have changed this into a ideal feminist world, would it have not?

Many parents are worried about their child(ren) watching pornography on television (through channels such as HBO). If parents are worried about their children watching pornography on television, shouldn t they also want to protect them from violent cartoons as well? Cartoons such as; Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z (which both include fighting). When reading A First Amendment Junkie by Susan Jacoby, she talks of a time when she saw the movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar, she was stunned by the visual images connecting sex with violence. What she was even more shocked about was when she came out of the movie and saw parents with their children in line for the movie. I simply don t know why a parent would take a child to see such a movie, any more that I understand why people feel they can t turn off a television set their child is watching Being that I have a niece and little brother, I agree with what Jacoby says here. It is very easy to just change the channel if they are watching something they shouldn t be watching. Most of the time they don t even remember what they saw.

Feminists argue that pornography is degrading to women, we are unalterably opposed to the presentation of the female body being stripped, bound, raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered in the name of commercial entertainment . If this is true, how come half the adult videos in the U.S. are bought or rented by women or women in couples. I believe sexism, not sex, degrades women. A lot of information about sex and reproduction has been banned, due to the protection of women. It has never reduced sexism or violence. Ms. Magazine has already been banned from some high schools for reproducing color pictures of women s genitalia; they consider it threatening and/or obscene. I think that pornography is a painting form of art, but in all other forms it is perceived as degrading . In this quote I agree with what she is saying, a painting for of art , in meaning something in a museum that was painted, that form of art. I personally think it s not offending anyone, because if you don t want to watch it, don t. But I think that people that do it are disgusting .

I would like to address a widely known problem in the U.S. today, AIDS and the use of pornography for health services. AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases have made it a public health necessity to encourage sexual fantasy material that offers women and men safe alternatives to unhealthy sexual contact . In other words, pornography is a good thing for people with AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases. Would you rather have AIDS or sexually transmitted disease patients spreading the disease to other people? Or have them look at pornography and arouse themselves in a safe way?

I ve been working with sex offenders for 20 years, and have reviewed the scientific literature and I don t think a common link exists . Exposure to such material does not cause people to change their sexual preferences or commit acts against their will. The impulses of child abusers and rapists are caused by childhood traumas. They are not borrowed from movies, books, or other people .

People cannot change the way other people think or how they feel, but to me, pornography is art! If there is an ugly painting in a museum do people question freedom of speech then? No they turn their head and walk away!

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