the 3-15-11
Should gov. restrict access to/ ban pornography?
What would Mill say?
What would Aristotle say?
What would Burke say? (Pluralist)
Some attempted definitions:
I know it when I see it
o Justice Stewart; Jacobells vs. Ohio 1964
Verbal or pictoral material which represents or describes sexual behavior that is
degrading to one or more of the participants in such a way as to endorse the
degragation
o Helen Longino, 1980
Porn vs. Erotica
Pornography
Erotica
Greek roots porno and graphos
Greek root eros = romantic love
No sense of equal power and choice
Characterized by sensuality and
Message is one of violence,
shared pleasure
dominance and conquest
Message is one ok mutually
Underlying themes of power and sex
pleasurable sexual expression
as a weapon
between people who have enough
power to be there by choice
The Chicken Story
In his action disgusting/ immoral
What is the relationship between disgust and morality?
No close connection
Should porn be classified as protected speech?
Should any pornography be banned?
Depictions of sex with animals?
Crush films?
Depictions of rape, assault or murder
Child pornography
Computer-simulated child porn?
Some people have argued against porn on the grounds that it damages a persons
character by degrading family values and/ or depicting unnatural sx acts
Some have argued against porn on the grounds that it is exploitative and
necessarily coerisive, and it supports the sexualization of violence
Mackinnon 1987 pornography sexualizes rape, battery, sexual harassment,
prostitution, and child sexual abuse; thereby t celebrates promotes, authorizes, and
legitimizes them more generally, it eroticizes the dominance and submission that is the
dynamic common to them all
Class Issues models and performers tend to come from lower SES groups
Standards of beauty pornography sets the standards for sexual beauty
Should we ban porn to prevent harm to women?
- Pro-sex feminists say no
o Pornography is liberating
- Women can make autonomous decisions even in the face of pervasive social
influence
o What is needed for autonomy?
The ability to effectively deliberate about our desres and choose
which ones to act on
o Some necessary skills: reasons-responsiveness, imagination, normative
competency
Miller vs California
- Why was Miller prosecuted by the state of California?
- According to the Supreme Court, was Millers action protected under the First
Amendments freedom of speech guarantee?
o Obscenity is not protected speech
o States may ban obscene materials but there is no national standard for
determining obscenity
- What is Obsene?
o 3 Criteria
1. The average person applying contemporary community standards
must find it to appeal to a prurient interest in sex
2. It must depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive
way
3. It must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
Mackinnon on Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech
- Putting pornography in context
o What does Mackinnon say about the belief that this is a society in which
men and women are basically equal? NO!
14th amendment
Mackinnon, Dwornin The Sexualization of Inequality