The Feminist Argument Essay

Many people have argued that pornography is a form of artistic expression, protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, others feel there is a distinct line between art and “porn” (Pornogrpahy). Pornography is made to provide sexual pleasure to anyone who hears, sees or reads it, it involves erotic acts. Pornography could be talking, “acting,” or anything that may sexually stimulate someone. Pornography is also, the portrayal of sexual activities and it comes in the form of magazines, movies, videos, and more. Pornography is often seen to overstep the bounds of the First Amendment and misrepresent what is means by freedom of speech. Pornography isn’t something that everyone can agree on. For example, feminist are one group of people have a variety of feelings and beliefs towards pornography. While feminist usually share the same way of thinking this is one topic that causes a major division between them. Disagreeing to agree is a common compromise that people face in life, but in the case of pornography feminist can not seem to do so.

The feminist movement is thought to be the drive to end women’s oppression, be it a biological woman or an individual who identifies as a woman. However, many feminists have varying ideas when it comes to women in the sex industry. In today’s society we are taught to look down on sex and to act as if it is something to be ashamed of. Anti-porn feminists believe that pornography degrades women, can lead to violence against women, and that the women involved in pornography are mentally damaged in some way that they can not give actual consent to take part.

Today’s society is a sexual playing field. Celebrities on television and movies, models on the covers of magazines, and even politicians have become sexual legends in the map of American society. The issue of sex is publicly discussed, on media and otherwise, and as such, it has become, to a great degree, a measure of self-worth. Issues such as breast size, penis size, and sexual stamina have flooded the American public with the idea that one is defined by how sexually appealing s/he is.

Alexy, Burgess, and Prentky investigate a potential association between sexually aggressive behavior in minors and their exposure to and use of pornographic material. The authors use other extensive research, from other expert psychologists in the field of sexual behavior, as the foundation that inspired the study they are presenting. The authors demonstrate how older subjects involved in pedophilia, rape, and harassment, among other sexual aggressive behaviors, have had a strong connection with pornography early in their youth. Alexy, Burgess, and Prentky use this staggering information to support their position that pornography is a risk marker to sexual aggression, in children and adolescents in their current state and in the long term.

While both sides aim to progress women’s rights, they have contrasting views on how pornography should be treated to achieve a more gender equal society. An examination of academic literature and pornography throughout history reveals that pro-sex philosophy is more convincing than anti-porn philosophy in three main ways. Firstly, the anti-porn movement often decontextualizes porn by selectively choosing evidence that fits their narrative. The use of minority accounts to explain the majority experience is unconvincing as it is unable to address the bulk of pornographic material. Casual arguments that porn leads

Usage of all pornographic material creates concerns regarding mental and psychological health. Viewing of mesomorphic men or

12.5. Is this it the average number of times Cornell students cry during Finals week? Nope. 12.5 is the number of videos viewed per person on Pornhub.com if it was divided evenly among every person on Earth. Pornography has become a crucial part of our our entertainment consumption, especially with the rise of the Internet, where anything you can dream of can be found with a click. Although porn is as accessible as Facebook nowadays, many feminists believe that pornography is problematic and is a tool for female oppression. One feminist scholar who believes that pornography should be eliminated completely is Catherine MacKinnon. In her essay, “Sexuality, Pornography, and Method: ‘Pleasure under Patriarchy’”, she discusses the issues with pornography in our society. Although McKinnon makes valid points in saying that pornography is an extension of the patriarchy, I believe that pornography should not be eliminated because doing so will not address underlying social problems and because alternative ways, such as changing pornography to be more feminist, is more effective.

I believe it is, because not all men view pornography, and not all men that view pornography are

If a human is getting positively reinforced, chances are the future behaviour will increase. It is common sense; this is why people are being so affected by all these pornographic websites. Porn is not real sex; it is made specifically for money for the people who produce it. This is why the producers continue to make it. “The faster and stronger the turn on, the more likely a man will come back and pay for more” (The Marriage Bed, Inc, 2009). Realistic behaviours like love, respect, romance, and commitment are not found in pornography. Instead they replace those aspects with the belief that spontaneous sex is common and those important behaviours are no longer necessary. “Oral sex is extremely common in pornography since it's easier to get camera close ups and therefore more visually arousing than intercourse, the more common positions used for intercourse do not film well, so porn is full of strange and impossible positions, and a lot of action and movement is more arousing than soft, slow, gentle sex, so only the fast and hard kind is shown” (The Marriage Bed, Inc, 2009). People do not realize that everything in porn videos is specifically altered to benefit the producer. The oral sex and impossible positions don’t benefit the women, probably not even the men. All of these factors are just needs of the camera man. In porn videos they make it seem that women don’t need any sort of foreplay and everything just naturally stimulates. And of course in the

Although illegal to view or purchase any form of pornography until 18, the poll offering $100,000 for a place in pornographic content had “almost fifty percent” to “seriously consider preforming this immoral and unspeakable act.” Although their response may have based off of greed, the consequence of being in a porn magazine had no effect on their conscience, as they have been exposed to it enough to believe it is harmless and without consequence. The way the porn industry has depicted the act of sexual intercourse is influencing people to believe that sleeping around with many partners is acceptable these days, which is dishonest and immoral.

From a woman’s perspective, there is a significant amount of dispute surrounding the porn industry. “The anti-pornography feminists were interested in making the streets safe for women by means of punitive and far reaching legislation against pornography” (Schwartz & Rutter p.181). In other words, these women felt that pornography reveals negative signals, and makes it easier for a man to take advantage and control women sexually. To the conservative woman, pornography is seen as painful and a

Numerous studies have been conducted on the topic of pornography. These studies have provided us with many answers, but there are still unanswered questions. The purpose of this current study is to add to current research on pornography and marriage. We are interested in pornography addiction and how marital satisfaction is affected depending on the gender of the user. We also want to know how partners reaction to pornography use affects self-esteem depending on gender of user.

The following speech focuses on how prolonged exposure to porn affects men and women, more specifically how it affects the hypothalamus in the male brain. Men watch more porn than woman so I first hypothesized that this difference in viewing weakens the hypothalamus and in turn leads to desensitization with the act of natural sex. I then found scholarly sources to support my overall claims. This speech will cover the following points: 1.) How Pornography desensitizes the male brain. 2.) How pornography causes its viewers to replicate porn-style relationships in own life, leading to lack of intimacy. (Detachment from reality) 3.) The effects of pornography have on women 4.) How pornography promotes the objectification of women. These very small variables play a huge role in weakening the male brain. In addition, I will briefly touch on why woman aren’t effected from an over exposure in the same manner as their male counter parts. The overall aim of this paper is to reveal how this phenomenon effects males and why they should take immediate action to not become a statistic.

People are watching pornography without considering its consequences. Though it may seem a better and easy way of securing sexual pleasure, it is addictive and can result to masturbation as the individual is forced to release the accompanied sexual pleasure. As explained by Schneider, Frank, Jamie and Coutts, pornography is addictive and can result to sexual dysfunctional. By watching pornography, the individual obtains sexual stimuli forcing him or her to masturbation which provides a sexual satisfaction that a normal human being cannot provide. Once such people get married, they never get aroused easily by their spouse making them go back to porn and masturbation for full satisfaction (Jenkins, pg. 3). As a result, pornography has caused violence in marriages as the addicted partner cannot be sexually satisfied. This paper contains a discussion of the pornography together with the various possible effects.

The issue of pornography has long been the source of controversy for many Western societies, particularly with respect to its implications for gender roles and sexuality (Lofgren-Martenson & Mansson, 2010). For instance, according to Griffith and Adams (2012), "Issues regarding the production and consumption of pornographic materials continue to be an intensely debated social topic" (p. 245). The social context surrounding the debate over whether pornography should be legal or not includes various principles concerning the importance of gender equality and compulsory sex educational courses that place a high priority on unrestricted rights to sexuality for both men and women