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Morality reasoning essay
Morality reasoning essay
Morality reasoning essay
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Patrick’s Pursuit of Pleasure Patrick should have the legal right to watch pornography in a public setting. There are many who disagree. They cite various reasons, some of which can be somewhat convincing, as to why Patrick’s right to view should be restricted by law. They suggest that it is, among other things: immoral, offensive, a public nuisance, bad for business, a bad influence for youngsters and degrading to women. While these are indeed good points, further examination will help us to see the flaws in each of these arguments. Those who support Patrick’s legal right to view argue that Patrick is causing no harm, nor is he disrupting the public …show more content…
Morality, though, is a somewhat subjective concept. What constitutes moral verses immoral varies from religion to religion, culture to culture and even over the span of time within a culture. For example, Christianity permits one wife per husband. Polygamy is considered immoral (and illegal) in the United States. Whereas in Islam, a man is permitted to have up to four wives and it is considered moral and acceptable. Also, certain sex acts (oral, anal, and homosexuality) that were previously considered immoral by society as a whole, have now become “acceptable” . These acts are no longer considered immoral by western society, in general, though there are segments of society, mostly religious, who still view them as such. Incest , another example, while taboo in western culture today, is considered acceptable in other cultures. In Europe, incest was common during the medieval period all the way up until World War I. It is clear that what is deemed as immoral is not clearly defined and can change over time. Therefore, due to its constantly changing nature, morality cannot effectively be used as grounds to argue against Patrick’s legal right to watch pornography in a public …show more content…
We can certainly agree that degrading porn is degrading. But, we must be careful not to speak in terms of absolutes. It is neither black or white; in fact, there are shades of gray in between. The question that should be asked becomes, “is all pornography degrading to women? Most certainly, there is pornography that is very degrading to women. It depicts them in a most submissive, and demeaning manner often being the victim of some act of violence. But, one could just as easily argue that there are many pornographic films depicting men in a similar fashion. They are depicted as dumb, unemotional and often violent “studs” devoid of emotion and having even less intelligence. They are usually abusive and even outright violent with their partners and seem to derive a great deal of pleasure from their inhumane behaviors. Certainly, most males would object if their “significant other” viewed them in this manner. Furthermore, one must take into consideration, the pornographic films that actually depict women and men in healthy relationships. In these films, women are not degraded or beaten into oblivion before the sex act; they are simply willing (and equal) participants. At the end of the day, they walk away unharmed. As for pornography being responsible for the male abusive behavior, it would be difficult to blame this
Kristol, I. (1971). Pornography, obscenity, and the case for censorship. In L. Faigley & J. Selzer (Eds.), “Good reasons with contemporary arguments.” (pp. 535-538). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Now more than ever, it is becoming clear that some men think it is natural to objectify women. While pornography is obviously not the only factor, I think it plays a significant role. I think Jensen did a good job of pointing out the way men “should” fit into this certain category of masculinity or face being ridiculed. They are taught what men should be and how they should act through society; clearly, if they are getting their hands on pornography in grade school this is going to influence them in some way. Do I think pornography is all bad?
Susan Jacoby, in her essay entitled “A First Amendment Junkie,” attacks those who believe that the first amendment should not be cause for the continuation of public obscenity. Jacoby, adamant defender of the first amendment, questions those who wish for the freedom of expression to be denied in the case of pornography, yet seem complacent about the racism and sexism that comes from freedom of speech as well. Additionally, Jacoby argues that it is too difficult to distinguish pornography from beauty and art from obscenity. One person may see David as a wonder to behold, and yet another may look at it as degrading towards men. Jacoby believes that rather than censorship-supporters controlling what their family watches, they want the government
14 Baird, Robert M. and Stuart E Rosenbaum. Pornography - Private Right or Public Menace. Pg. 51
Andrew Altman, in “The Right to Get Turned On: Pornography, Autonomy, and Equality” supports and defends rights to production, selling, and viewing of pornography, even hard-core pornography depicting sexual violence. He argues that sexual autonomy gives right to produce and access pornography, including the ones that contains sexual violence. However, his argument is too focus on the sexual autonomy right of an individual that he fails to give importance to issues such as the harm that violent pornography brings to the society.
Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet” is an persuasive essay written by Susan Brown Miller stating and giving her reasons on why she thinks pornography should be removed from all the shelves in America. She goes on to state what kind of influence porn has negatively on society, and how it’s no good in our society to persuade readers that pornography should be taken off of public shelves. In her article, she does state very valid points and substantial reasons why pornography should be removed from shelves. But also, she does sound a lot like a person who is very critical of something that she believes is wrong morals wise because that’s how she was raised perhaps. Some of the methods she uses are the analogy method, quantitative method, and some emotional appeal as well. She also has some unsupported generalizations that she had made up herself. Either way, there were a few instances to where I was completely against with Miller’s arguments, but they were outweighed by the instances where I did agree with Miller. In all, this essay persuades me to support her opinion on pornography being taken out the public shelves because of the valid reasons and points that she used to support her opinion.
modern media is objectified and put on the screen for male viewers. Films are a
The application of morality begins at a young age for many people. Many children take on the morality of their parents through the daily events that influence their development. In many ways, parental sexuality means fidelity, and the ability to stay monogamous in order to properly raise a child in a complete family unit. This in turn expresses sexual fidelity as a form of morality, and without sexual fidelity, there will be painfully undesirable consequences. Along with the family unit being an influential aspect of sexuality, religion, particularly Catholicism, claim that sexual activity is solely justified by the reason of procreation. Freud also perceived sexuality as the dark and evil part of the human being, when allowed to freely express sexuality, the person i...
...of pornography as an expression that should be defended. I have described ways that pornography is currently being battled for in modern legislation, as well as the Liberal Feminist arguments for pornography as expression. The Radical Feminist arguments against pornography were addressed and negated, as not having any empirical support to their theoretical claims. Pornography has no substantial evidence in favor of harm to women, in terms of subjugation or violence, and therefore cannot be regulated as a form of free speech.
In her essay “Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet,” Susan Brownmiller, a prominent feminist activist, argues that pornography should not be protected under the First Amendment (59). Her position is based on the belief that pornography is degrading and abusive towards women (Brownmiller 59). She introduces the reader to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, and explains how it relates to her beliefs on censoring pornographic material (Brownmiller 58). In addition, she provides examples of First Amendment controversies such as Miller v. California and James Joyce’s Ulysses to explain how the law created a system to define pornographic material (Brownmiller 58). She described the system that used a three-part test as confusing (Brownmiller 58). Regardless of whether or not the First Amendment was intended to protect obscenities, she and many others believe that the legislatures should have the final say in the decision of creating and publishing pornography (Brownmiller 60).
When deliberating over whether access to pornography should be prohibited, four areas of contention must be elaborated upon and evaluated critically to provide a sensible basis on which a judgement can be made. Firstly, it must be concluded whether pornography can be classed as a form of speech, and whether it enjoys the same protections as art and literature under the principle. Secondly, works such as those of Catherine MacKinnon can be drawn upon to offer a feminist perspective of the effects of pornography on the treatment of women within modern democratic society. Moreover, the principles of Devlin and Feinberg offer relevant acumen regarding the criminalisation of pornographic media. Overall, this essay will argue that whilst access to pornography should not be entirely prohibited; publications that depict ‘extreme’ situations should be subject to regulation and restriction.
Sexual videos, magazines, movies and websites set unrealistic expectations for both women and men, and contribute to rape culture. Most porn videos are set up with a male-domination power theme, with the woman being controlled, sometimes even violently. Since men, and even young boys, are viewing women in these scenarios over and over, they start to believe that that’s how sex really should be, and that women are just sexual objects to look at and be played with. This has real life repercussions on how men treat and view women, affecting relationships and potentially even creating criminals, by putting the idea in some men’s heads that assaulting or raping women is perfectly fine.
Again, there are different ideas of what is considered pornographic from artwork, movies, and books. While one may look at a painting that depicts nude forms or read a book that includes sexual acts may not see this as a form of pornography while others would find it morally offensive. Feminist would argue that the morality of porn is it is degrading and humiliating to those involved, not of its sexual nature. Their concern is that it promotes sexism and violence against women or children. “What is objectionable about pornography…is its abusive and degrading portrayal of females and female sexuality, not its content or explicitness” (Rodgerson & Wilson, 1994) However, others may feel that it is sexually liberating and in no way degrading to those involved. Those women feel in control of their sexuality and choose to participate in acts as a way of expressing themselves while feeling it has no barring on their moral character. While others would argue that it promotes immoral behavior which would lead to criminal acts or an unhealthy obsession with sex. “The most commonly feared adverse effects of pornography include undesirable sexual behaviors (e.g. adultery), sexual aggression, and loss of respect for traditional family structures and values, loss of respect for authorities, and a general nonspecific moral decay.” (Hald & Linz,
an also kept very private. Since feminists and adult film has come together over the past couple of years , many adults films has not been the same. Feminist bring a middle ground of the fantasy world and some social problems together. They bring about ways that stop inequality , from the color of your skins to your sexual orientation. Society see adult films as woman being degraded , but feminist see it as woman being empowered and coming in tune with one self. So in this paper we will discuss how many people see adult films as a social problem and others question why should it be a social problem.
In recent years, pornography has established itself as perhaps the most controversial topic arising out of the use of the Internet. The easy availability of this type of sexually explicit material has caused a panic among government officials, family groups, religious groups and law enforcement bodies and this panic has been perpetuated in the media.