The Interaction Between Pornography And The Oppression Of Women

In “Blame Photo Thieves, Not the Female Victim,” columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. expresses his perspective that while it is biologically natural for heterosexual men, regardless of occupation or personal beliefs, to find scantily clad women attractive, it should be a woman’s choice of whether to pose naked for the public or not. Pitts believes that a violation occurs when women are denied that choice and have personal nudes leaked over the internet, such as in recent cases involving Jenifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsen Dunst, and other high profile celebrities. Pitts claims that blaming the females for taking the photographs or placing them on an unreliable cloud would be similar to blaming the rape victim and the fault therefore lies with the perpetrator. Here, Pitt’s comments on the shrinking of the public sphere and

Anti-porn feminists believe that pornography is humiliating to women and turns them into sexual objects that satisfy men’s sexuality. But McElroy disagree saying that when it is analyzed critically it means nothing. Humans only are the ones known to have sexuality then how can objects have sexuality. McElroy basing on this concludes saying that anti-porn feminists who believes in this are lessening their fellow’s dignity. In her article McElroy continues to disagree with this saying that there is nothing shameful on focusing on woman’s

The pornographic industry has not lost their viewers, and the constant leaks of female celebrity personal pictures demonstrate that society has always sexualized women’s body for their pleasure. McRobbie states that there is a modern movement where women are free to choose for themselves. Females are choosing to go topless to prove breasts are merely body parts. Celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Rihanna walk the streets with see-through tops, making the appearance of their breasts nothing but a fashion statement. Many allegations are made saying self-exposing breasts comes from a lack of self-respect. The question arises, is it only acceptable for women to be topless for the pleasure of others? Not in the current pop culture world. Women are free to make their decisions, and they have decided their breasts are not to be sexualized. If a woman’s breast is out, she is doing it out of choice and for her

In January 24, 2011 Canadian police officer, Michael Sanguinetti uttered the words “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” at a safety forum at York University (Kwan, 2011). This singular comment sparked outrage across the internet. Women were enraged at the idea that their clothing choices were being blamed for the actions of grown men. Only two months later, on April 3rd, 2011 women and men responded in force, taking to the streets of Toronto to protest this misconception. While the organizers only expected a few hundred people to show they were “astonished when almost 3,000 people did so” (Pilkington, 2011).

Jessica Valenti’s 2009 novel, The Purity Myth, explains how “America’s obsession with virginity is hurting young women,” by citing and explaining just some of the infinite excuses behind this theory. As a writer, Jessica Valenti has written multiple other books regarding women, double standards, and the essentials of feminism. In other books like “Full Frontal Feminism (2007),” and “Yes Means Yes (2008),” Valenti has a strong reputation to stand up for women and women’s rights. In her newest novel, “Sex Object: a Memoir (2016),” Valenti tells accounts of how male sexuality is not seen as vulgar as women’s.

She gives a voice to those who had theirs taken from them, or were never given one, and shifts the attention away from the novelty of the abusers to the real stories of the abused. She shares their stories and attempts to bring them the justice and recognition they deserve. Blaming victims of sexual violence for the violation and abuse they experienced is a recurring idea in this graphic narrative, conceptualized through text and images. Una relays how attempts to justify the horrific acts of entitled men were made, backed by evidence of perceived promiscuity, carelessness, or even deservingness on the part of the victimized women. She questioned what exactly “loose morals” consisted of, listing behaviors these women may have taken part in, including “going out alone at night, drinking,” “going to the pub,” and “having a history of mental illness,” then reminding the reader that “for the Ripper to know all this he would need to be psychic” (Una,

Susan Brownmiller's essay voices her feminist view towards pornographic material. Her claim is that without restriction, the first amendment has allowed women to be publicly perceived as objects.

Jacoby states that the people who most support the censorship of pornography are women. These women are often self-proclaimed feminists who ironically support the First Amendment. While criticizing the production of pornography, these feminists attempt to argue that “mainstream” pornography is no different than child porn.

The premise of my argument that one would consider to be most controversial would be the premise that pornography does encourage freedom of speech/expression. Many may object to this because many people specifically feminists such as Catherine Mackinnon and Andrea Dworkin regard pornography as immoral because it is a form of sex discrimination. Other feminists as stated by Garry believe that pornography is a form of hate speech and that it defames women. In Garry’s paper she argues that certain content of pornography violates the moral principle of respecting people and how pornography degrades women as it depicts them as mere sex objects and how it is because of this pornography is morally impermissible. Due to the fact that the conclusion of my argument opposes Garry’s view, I will also discuss what she would say in response to the support of my “controversial” premise.

MacKinnon believes that pornography maintains male-dominated views of sex and is an extension of the patriarchy and thus, from a feminist standpoint, it should be eliminated. First, it should be established that MacKinnon believes that “male dominance is sexual” (315). From that, it can be established that practices such as rape, sexual assault, prostitution, and pornography “express and actualize the

MacKinnon argues that pornography defines male treatment of women, and is the clearest demonstration of male dominance. Her perspective is radical, but valuable because it forces one to reexamine his or her view of pornography. She says that, “male power makes authoritative a way of seeing and treating women that when a man looks at a pornographic picture... the viewing is an act of male supremacy” (130). This form of expression dictates the way in which men view women as a class. The uneven distribution of power in this system makes pornography a form of discrimination. “Pornography causes attitudes and behaviors of violence and discrimination that define the treatment and status of half the population” (147). Not only women are subject to this form of oppression. “Pornography is the

Food For Thought (FFT), an organization founded in 2016, is one of my most prideful activities of completion. FFT is a local food pantry that is run by National Honor Society (NHS) members. Members pack food that feeds over twenty students and families each week. After I was elected Vice-President of NHS, I was offered the presidential position alongside another colleague to run the pantry. Working within the pantry allowed me to care for my community, gain morality and change the world. The world will change when individuals take action and I was honored to do just that through FFT.

Humanity has struggled with determining the best option to solve their ethical dilemmas that they run into in their life. Analyzing and determining the best option to take can leave an individual lost in faith and building a relationship with God. Building a God foundation in your life will help you in every ethical dilemma that you face. The only way to solve an ethical dilemma with viewing pornography is to view the dilemma according to a Christian worldview and compare different options to solve the ethical dilemma.

Supporters may be varied and polarized but most believe that there is a real problem and

One issue that feminists should bring to the open and question is the definition of pornography. Often times anti-porn feminists argue that we can tell what is and isn’t porn easily. Yet the definition these feminists use to decide what counts as porn and whether it should be censored from the public applies to many things as Lumby points out in paragraphs nine and twelve. She draws up the movie Siren as an example of how Elle Macpherson’s nudity in the movie was widely accepted and went uncontested, but then Lumby points out how Macpherson’s shoot for Playboy was more modest than some of the shots in the film yet the photo shoot receives more flack because it’s categorized as porn (par 9).