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J. M Coetzee's The Harms of Pornography As the debate over pornography and its place in society grows hotter every day, several authors in particular shed a new light on the subject. Both their intuition and insight involving their beliefs can help the reader a great deal in seeing aspects of this debate that might have otherwise gone without the consideration that they so deserve. I believe that pornography is not only okay, but is allowing our country to take a step back and ask ourselves how far we are willing to go and what we are willing to sacrifice in order to preserve free speech and our rights to personal choice. The argument over pornography is not merely the debate over right or wrong, but also involves the theory that its existence requires, or possibly even causes, an inequality between men and women. I ask you, how could something like pornography cause an in-equality between men and women when women are the major contributors to the industry?
Who is going to watch a porn without women in it? Therefore, at least at first glance, it would seem that since women are actively contributing to the business of pornography maybe they should be criticized at least equally if not more so than the men who watch it. According to author J. M.
Coetzee and his article The Harms of Pornography, the real questions here are, what is the difference between obscenity and pornography, and even more importantly, where do we draw the line between the two? Coetzee brings up a good point here. A point on which the entire debate over pornography hinges. What is the definition of obscenity?
An excerpt from a speech by Mike Godwin, Online Counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, gives a good definition of obscenity in his on-line article: Fear of Freedom: The Backlash Against Free Speech on the Net'. Everybody more or less knows something about what qualifies as obscene. You know it has something to do with community standards, right? And with appealing to the prurient interest. A work has to be a patently offensive depiction of materials banned by state statute and appeal to the prurient interest to be obscene and it also has to meet one other requirement.
It also has to lack serious literary, artistic, social, political or scientific value. Thats how something is classified as obscene. Godwin states that one of the criteria for decency or absence of obscenity is that something must contain social political or scientific value. Is it possible that pornography is an outlet for people that prevents ideas that start out as fantasies or desires from becoming real? If so, then its possible that the porn industry is doing us a bigger favor than we know. In an article written by Donna A.
Demacs, the history of censorship, obscenity, pornography and the rights of the people are conveyed with a decidedly liberal attitude. Demacs article gives an intelligent overview as to the actions of various political parties, groups and activists that have fought either for or against some of the issues regarding pornography, and his article can be effectively used to defend free speech. The most opinionated and conservative of the authors included is Catherine MacKinnon, who touches on the thought that there is a great deal of similarity between pornography and black slavery. In her article Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech she states that the harm of pornography does not lie in the fact that it is offensive but that, at least in developed societies, it is an industry that mass produces sexual intrusion, access to, possession and use of women by men for profit. MacKinnon approaches pornography not from a moral standpoint, but strictly from the political point of view that says pornography is a threat to the gender equality of our nation. I say she is wrong and that not only is pornography okay, but in many cases could contribute to the health of our society.
I will quickly agree that pornography should be kept away from the eyes of our children, and that there is a proper time and place for it, but consider some of the acts that, providing that pornography was made illegal, would not only go under ground but might actually become real instead of acted out. Coetzee goes to great lengths to bring to light indescrepancies and un clarified ideas throughout Mackinnon's article. One of Coetzee's most prominent points is that the differences between obscenity and pornography go far beyond a difference in term based on either political or moral argument. While at times Coetzee seems to generally disagree with or at least greatly challenge Mackinnon's ideas, there are times at which the two authors trains of thought almost seem to coincide. One such issue would be that MacKinnon is not necessarily looking to hunt out all occurrences of pornography in todays literature and media, but to snuff out the commercial end of it.
The end that makes billions based on women being used by men, and does nothing at all to improve their social standing in our society. But why must everything be used to bolster the social position of women? It is this topic specifically that seems to have gone un-argued by Coetzee. Coetzee's stand on this issue of pornography and obscenity as a part of todays culture is never quite addressed may very well remain a mystery to the reader. From many of the authors statements and criticisms of MacKinnon, one could gather that he takes a much more liberal stand and yet somehow successfully avoids pressing his opinions. He also does a wonderful job of highlighting some of the more minute intricacies related to Mackinnon's writing which may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
If you read Demacs article you may find that Sex, throughout history has been more than merely a method of procreation. In Demacs article it is also stated that the editorial and news press at times found sexual content the only way to keep the political news interesting. Based on Demacs article, sex has always been sort of a mystery or something dark that nobody liked to talk about, and yet everybody was interested in. Maybe this is the reason that our society today has such a hard time talking to there children about sex and the prevention of such things as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. I am often amazed that people have such a hard time talking about sex and sex related topics when it rates second in priority among human drives. Second only to the drive to eat.
Pornography is nothing new, in fact prostitution is sometimes called the worlds oldest profession. All that has changed is the degree in which it is used. People become numb to what once was erotic or dangerous and eventually want more. Demacs article illustrates this extremely well as he gives a general overview of the history of pornography.
His view is very helpful in seeing how pornography has progressed and where it is now, relative to where it has been. Unfortunately as all of our authors have, in their own way stated, sex is not the real issue at hand here. The issue is Obscenity. Pornography in these writers eyes seems to be a mixture of sex which is completely natural and nearly every person enjoys at one time or another and obscenity which is the element that MacKinnon says keeps sex interesting for men. It seems that if things (sex and pornography) were less extravagantly portrayed on the television, print and even the radio, that less would be needed to fulfill ones appetite for eroticism. If there actually were some line that were drawn, unable to be crossed, would that given amount of danger be enough?
I doubt it. The thing that keeps men (the major supporters of the pornography industry) so interested in women according to MacKinnon is the idea of having the power over a woman. Its this power that breeds obscenity as men want more and more of this power. Sometimes its taken much to far, but where can you draw the line?
When is too much too much? Coetzee brings up a good point when he quotes Mackinnon: In visual media, it takes a real person doing each act to make what you see; pornography models are real women to whom something real is being done. Coetzee challenges this argument by asking the reader about violence in movies. He asks, Are knife thrusts and gunshots not just as real? According to Coetzee, the acts of sex portrayed on a television screen are happening to real people, yet one of the greatest attributes of sex, and one of the things that make it sacred are the feelings involved between the two people. Therefore, if there are no feelings between the two actors, isnt it merely acting?
The models are being paid and have most likely been made aware of what will happen and therefore given their consent. What about the possibility that the problem not only lies in the hands of the men who watch these acts on a video tape, but the women who make them. Without the availability of women who were willing to produce this kind of material the pornography industry would come to a screeching halt. Whats there to watch without women?
Maybe it all comes down to; If youre not a part of the solution, youre part of the problem. The lines between right and wrong are often much more gray than black and white, which is most likely where most people live. No one can say to another what is right and wrong, or what should or shouldnt be done, that decision has to be left to the individuals themselves. Its this issue of pornography having an effect on women who arent even involved in the industry of making or even watching it. We as a nation and even a world stand to learn a lot from simply listening to ourselves. We like to stand up and say what is right, and yet acting on it rarely happens.
In order for our society to come to any sort of peace on this issue of pornography, it needs to be accepted that people need to be allowed to make decisions for themselves without the intervention of some government medium, but only as long as those decisions dont effect or hinder the rights of others. Pornography is an immense opportunity for an experiment in freedom of speech and democracy. The largest scale experiment this world has ever seen. Its up to you and its up to me and its up to all of us to explore that opportunity, and its up to all of us not to lose it. Im not yet a parent myself, and I may not be for some time, but I worry about my future children and pornography all the time. Heres what I worry about.
I worry that 10 or 15 or even 20 years from now she will come to me and say, Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press and speech away from us? and I want to be able to say I was there and I helped stop that from happening. 356
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