Critically consider how feminists should view pornography and/or prostitution - Essay Example

?[Your full full July 08, Introduction Before going into the discussion regarding how differentgroups of feminists should view pornography and prostitution, let us get a brief overview of what these terms actually are in order to get a better understanding of the issue. Pornography refers to the act of displaying sexual images in order to make the viewers arouse sexually. People view pornographic material to get sexual satisfaction. Pornography is one of the easiest and widely observed ways of getting sexual pleasure. People involved in the act or business of pornography show pornographic material to other people through many ways, such as, books, websites, magazines, paintings, photos, and videos. Child pornography is one of the most criticized forms of pornography. Wiesen states, “In some countries, all depictions of sexual activities are considered illegal pornography and the punishments for possessing or distributing such materials can be severe”1. In the Middle East, governments of many countries have banned the depiction of pornographic material or sexual acts regardless of the level of nudity shown in the images. In case of the United Kingdom, the rules regarding child pornography are very strict and the government has put a strict ban over the display of child pornography through any channel. If we talk about prostitution, we can say that it is one of the most disgraceful and oppressive acts done by any person. Prostitution is the act of getting payment in return of providing sexual services. Prostitution is the business of providing sexual services to other people for getting money. Prostitution has become a high revenue generating business for human trafficking groups these days. Bartley states, “Prostitution is a terrible strain upon civilization”2. There exist many groups in different countries, which supply women and children to other countries in order to earn high amount of money. Damewood states, “Although the sex is traditionally traded for money, it can also be bartered for jewelry, clothing, vehicles, housing, food—anything that has market value”3. However, prostitution in any form is illegal because it destroys the dignity and status of women. Therefore, it can never be regarded as a good profession for earning money. Question: The question, which will be addressed in this paper, is that how feminists should view pornography and prostitution. The paper will address both issues in accordance with the point of view of the feminists. My stand for these issues is that pornography and prostitution are both illegal and disgraceful acts and the government of every country needs to take proper steps to control the spread of these businesses. The main reason behind putting ban on these businesses is that these businesses spread immorality and sexual frustration in the society, which lead the society towards many social problems. In the following section, we will discuss and compare different feminist views regarding pornography and prostitution. Feminists’ View Regarding Pornography Feminists’ view regarding the issues of pornography and prostitution is very influential. If we talk about their view regarding pornography, we come to know that they have been observed criticizing pornography since 1970s. Kate Millet, Andrea Dworkin, and Katherine McKinnon are some of those feminists who criticized the business of pornography in all forms. Their stand was that pornography injects sexual frustration in the minds of people, which leads them towards sexual crimes. Lehman states, “Representations of women, clothing, and other diverse practices all invoke sexuality”4. It is because a person, after watching adult material either on the internet or on any other place, gets sexually frustrated and tries to do whatever he has watched, and when he does not get a chance to do such actions practically, he tries to do it by force, which is called rape. Collier found that crime is a masculine phenomenon up to a great extent5. Smart found that in the act of rape, men fulfill their sexual desires by using power on women6. Barry found that radical feminists view pornography as breach of women’s rights7. According to Code, pornography is placed at the centre of female subordination and male domination8. Collier found that in relation between law and male sexuality, pornography is one of the destructive qualities of male sexuality9. According to MacKinnon, in pornography, violence is termed as sex because it arouses a man sexually10. Feminists view that if the government puts a ban on the availability of such material on any platform, the society may come out many sexual problems and issues. Pornography makes people involve into illegal sexual activities, which leads them towards many problems, such as forced rapes and unwanted pregnancies. Feminists say that if there is a complete ban on the presence of all sorts of pornographic material on the internet, people will not get sexually frustrated which will ultimately make the society free of all sorts of sexual issues. According to Tong, radical feminists believe that men use women’s sexuality for their own pleasure11. Edwards, in his work, found that pornography not only arouses sexual feelings but also it acts as a source for promoting discrimination against women12. Potter found that radical feminists discard all appeals towards moralizing in the anti-pornography campaigns13. Feminists believe that projection of women as sexual objects is completely against gender equality. It is a fact that women are shown in nude style in about 95 percent of all pornographic material which is very demoralizing thing for women. Feminists believe that women are not sexual objects or sex slaves, rather they have equal human rights and no one has the right to portray them or display their nude bodies for the promotion of their magazines and websites. Nicolson and Bibbings found that crimes could only be reduced if there is strong implementation of criminal laws14. According to the belief of radical feminists, pornography is such a bad crime in the society, which demoralizes the values and ethics of a society. Feminists also say that if children get unlimited access to the internet, they get attracted to the pornographic material available on different websites, which distracts their attention from real cause and makes them take interest in viewing that material. It is not only a complete waste of time but also it makes children get poor grades in their educational careers. It is a fact that people, usually children, have a great interest in sex and they like to watch sexual stuff available to them on any platform. There is a group of feminists, known as liberal feminists, which believes that men and women are equal, and a woman has a complete right over her body and snatching the right of porn from a woman is like snatching the sexual freedom from that woman. According to McCormick, “Some liberal feminists dislike pornography but oppose restricting it to safeguard free speech”15. Barnett states, “It is argued, against radical feminists, that not all pornography is violent”16. Not all feminists are completely against all forms of pornography. There is a group of pro-sex feminists, which believes that access to pornographic material is the right of every individual. Such feminists believe that pornography does not harm the status of women in a society rather it makes women fulfill their sexual frustration while keeping their privacy intact. Such feminists also believe that sex is the basic right of every individual and if the government of any country censors pornographic material on any channel; it will violate the level of freedom of the citizens of that country. If we talk about the United Kingdom, we come to know that the rules regarding pornography are strict in the country. Bridgeman and Millns, in their research, found that feminist perspectives on law is a socio-legal text and it examines the interaction that exists between lives of the women and the law17. Government of the United Kingdom has allowed the citizens to possess pornographic material except child pornography, which is strictly banned in the country. People can watch pornographic material for satisfying their sexual needs but they cannot watch child pornography in any case. The key legislation regarding pornography is the Obscene Publication Act 1959. Under this act, neither any person can publish any sort of adult material anywhere nor can he/she possess adult material with the aim to make it public in the future. A very famous case related to this act was the case of Penguin publishing company in which the company published the photos of the lover of Lady Chatterley and then the people involved in this action faced a much-publicized trial. The Protection of Children Act 1978 is one of the most considerable laws regarding prohibition of child pornography in the United Kingdom. Under this act, people cannot possess any pornographic material showing children under the age of 16. The Sexual Offenses Act 2003 extended the age to 18 years. The only relaxation in that law is that a person can possess child pornographic material only if that person has married the subject of the photograph or if the possessor and the subject are in long-term relationship with each other. Radical feminists believe that the exposure of children to licentious material adversely affects their social and educational development. Pornography destroys the standards of social ethics and values of the children and makes them try what they see on the internet. Children are usually unaware that what they watch and try to do practically affects their sexual health, which creates many sex related problem for them in the future. This is the reason why feminists are against pornography and demand complete ban on the presence of all kinds of adult material everywhere. It is the responsibility of the government to restrict access of the children to all kinds of adult material in order to develop a socially and mentally strong society. Feminists also believe that exposure to nudity to any person should be illegal because it adversely affects the social and moral ethics of a person. Feminists’ View Regarding Prostitution Having discussed the view of the feminists regarding pornography, let us now discuss their stand regarding prostitution which is also a very critical issue being faced by all countries of the world. According to Spector, radical feminists believe that prostitution is a bad institution18. O’Neill found that prostitution had been treated as a form of sexual slavery in the initial stages of feminism19. According to Weisberg, prostitution is the extreme breach of civil women’s civil rights20. There are different viewpoints of different groups of feminists related to prostitution. Radical feminists believe that prostitution is the degradation of women because in this business, women do not do anything based on their own will rather are forced to do such activities. If we talk about liberal feminists, we can say that their view over prostitution is very different from radical feminists. Liberal feminists believe that prostitution is not a forced sexual activity rather it is a private business transaction. Radical feminists believe that women are forced to provide their bodies to men whereas liberal feminists view this activity as a business based on the will of the involved woman. Another difference between the viewpoints of radical and liberal feminists is that of men’s personal interest in women. Radical feminists believe that men who make use of women’s bodies for sex are not interested in the women rather they are only interested in their bodies, which is a complete degradation of women. On the other hand, liberal feminists believe that prostitution is a business and one’s personal interest in the other person does not matter in a business. Another group of feminists, which is Marxist feminism, discourages prostitution and believes that prostitution is associated with the wrong policies of the governments. They believe that when women do not get equal wages, they get involved in illegal sexual activities, which is a very oppressive and degrading fact. Socialist feminists believe that prostitution is associated with the class distinction that exists in many societies. Socialist feminists strongly discourage the business of prostitution and demand that the governments should take steps to eradicate class distinction in order to avoid women from becoming prostitutes. The viewpoints of Marxist feminists, Radical feminists, and socialist feminists are somewhat same to each other as all of these groups oppose prostitution from different angles. However, liberal feminists are somewhat in favor of prostitution and believe it to be a business transaction rather than degradation of women. They believe that if a woman enters the business of prostitution willingly, then it is her right and no one can snatch the right of sexual freedom from any other person. If we analyze the laws regarding prostitution in the United Kingdom, we come to know that the government of the United Kingdom has implemented strict laws regarding paid sex. Under this act, paying for the sexual services of a prostitute is considered an offence, which cannot be tolerated in any case. Running brothels is also illegal in the United Kingdom according to the Sexual Offences Act 1956. My Viewpoint Regarding Pornography and Prostitution My view regarding pornography is that it is totally against social and moral ethics. I believe that pornography is the key towards rape and other forced sexual activities. In my view, when a person views some pornographic material, he wants to do that in real and this raises different sex related problems in the society. I firmly believe that pornography is very degrading and demoralizing for women because it gives rise to violence against women. I do believe in sexual freedom but I do not agree with the viewpoint of pro-sex feminists. I believe that sexual freedom should be given to the people but it should be restricted to the will of both sex partners to perform sex willingly instead of allowing people to watch pornographic material in name of sexual freedom and make them go for forced sex in order to relieve sexual frustration. About prostitution, I would say that it is a very shameful act because the body of a woman is not for doing any kind of business. I believe that a woman is a very respectable and highly regarded part of any specific society and there should not be any law, which should allow people to use women for illegal sex. I would like to raise my voice to stop prostitution in all parts of the world because it is very shameful act, which degrades dignity of the women. Conclusion Summing it up, pornography and prostitution are two of the most common issues, which are under discussion in almost all countries of the world. Pornography is the act of displaying sexual images in order to make the viewers arouse sexually whereas prostitution is the act of getting payment in return of providing sexual services to another person. Radical feminists believe that prostitution is the violation of civil rights of women. They believe that pornography is the degradation of women and it injects sexual frustration in the minds of people, which leads them towards sexual crimes. Liberal feminists have different viewpoints regarding the issues of pornography and prostitution. They believe that pornography and prostitution should be legal because they are the sources of sexual freedom for women. The debate on the issues of pornography and prostitution has been controversial until now. Therefore, the government of the United Kingdom needs to do effective legislation in order to resolve the issues in an appropriate manner. Works Cited Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality. London: New York University Press, 1995. Print. Barnett, Hilaire. Introduction to feminist Jurisprudence. London: Cavendish Publishing Ltd., 1998. Print. Bartley, Paula. Prostitution: Prevention, and Reform in England, 1860-1914. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Bridgeman, Jo, and Susan Millns. Feminist perspectives on law: law's engagement with the female body. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1998. Code, Lorraine. Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print. Collier, Richard. Masculinities, crime and criminology: men, heterosexuality and the criminal(ised) Other. Michigan: Sage, 1998. Collier, Richard. Masculinity, Law and the Family. London: Routledge, 1995. Print. Damewood, Cassie. “What Is Prostitution?.” Wisegeek.com, n.d. Web. 07 Jul. 2011. Edwards, Susan. 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