While the question of free speech is philosophical, the question of whether porn does any social harm is an empirical one. And the data is pretty clear: Pornography either reduces sex crime by giving males a non-violent outlet for excess sexual impulses, or it has no effect.I find this result pretty unsurprising, but of course I tend toward a libertarian perspective on social issues.
The debate over pornography has always made for strange bedfellows. Feminists usually oppose it, arguing that sexual objectification of women leads to violence against women. Social conservatives typically see it as a gateway to infidelity and a threat to strong families. For years, both groups have maintained that the research bolsters their argument, pointing to (among other things) the methodologically flawed Meese Report as evidence of the connection between porn and various social ills. But most of the recent research suggests quite the opposite.
While it’s impossible to produce a perfect study on the subject, it seems fairly clear at this point that pornography is not the evil that many on the left and right insisted it was.
The implications for feminism are quite profound. If pornography reduces violence against women, isn’t it something that should be promoted? Should visceral opposition to sexual objectification really trump empirical reality?
Social conservatives confront a similar dilemma. The crime rate has long been an important metric for those on the right. Many conservatives have argued that pornography leads to antisocial behavior, which ultimately leads to higher incidents of crime. But if the opposite is true – if pornography actually reduces crime – shouldn’t social conservatives rethink their position?
I realize that there are broader points of opposition among feminists and conservatives, but at the very least, I think that both groups need to seriously wrestle with their ideological preconceptions on this issue.
2 comments:
Feminists usually oppose it, arguing that sexual objectification of women leads to violence against women.
I think you're somewhat overly broad in this statement. Historically, yes, most feminists opposed pornography, especially Second Wavers. However, if you look around at feminist thought in the Third Wave, there are a lot of groups and subgroups who consider pornography part of sex positivism. These are bloggers I can't link to from work, for what I think are obvious reasons! But there is both substantial academic pursuits as well as work in feminist-friendly porn and sex shops. In other words, it's a broad world out there.
There are still a lot of feminists who do oppose pornography, but their opposition doesn't purely stem from the idea that porn promotes sexual violence against women by sexually objectifying them. It is that porn is sexually objectifies women, full stop. And then there is the almost-rape aspect a lot of porn trends towards, which is a problem for feminists even if it does not lead to more violence against women.
I think you're somewhat overly broad in this statement. Historically, yes, most feminists opposed pornography, especially Second Wavers. However, if you look around at feminist thought in the Third Wave, there are a lot of groups and subgroups who consider pornography part of sex positivism.
That's certainly true. I should acknowledge that feminists are not necessarly of one mind on this subject.
In fact, as an undergrad, I remember reading a well-argued defense of pornography written by a self-described feminist.
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