Women and Law: The Issue of Pornography - Term Paper Example

Women and Law: The Issue of Pornography. My focus in today's presentation is on the concern of the feminists on issue of pornography and to answer the questions given us to resolve in the presentation. It has been the great concern of the feminists to highlight ways in which women are portrayed in advertising, television programmes, drama, magazines, newspapers, and so on. The question the feminists have been posing is, should there be an attempt to change the law regarding pornography Some of them are in favour of changing the law and they call it constructive to address the harm done by pornographic illustrations of women. The others are not in favour of clamouring against the law either because they have no trust on the authorities to address this issue or they do not take pornography as harmful. However, both statute and common law phrase the question very differently: as a matter of public morality. The definition of Pornography.: This has been problematic. To sexual liberals pornography is about sex whereas the feminists see it as having potential to arise a physiological response in a male audience. See Sex and Gender in the Legal Process, Blackstone Press, 1996 Dworkin (1989) goes farther while saying that it has an implicit hatred for women. It degrades woman who is simply presented as an object. See Andrea Dworkin. Pornography: Men Possessing women. E.P Dutton, 1989. On the other side many people reject this idea. They do not see it as exploitative of women. The fact is that many of the pro-pornography feminists have paid no significant attention to take it as separate issue. They did not go beyond definition, given in The American Heritage Dictionary (1973) "Written, graphic or other forms of communication intended to excite lascivious feelings". English law does not discuss or define pornography as it is defined by the anti-pornography feminist; instead, it relies upon the concept of "obscenity". The definition of obscenity is given in section 1 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Going through all the articles we find the concern of this law is not its content but its effect upon viewers. The aim of the Act is "to protect the less innocent from further corruption". See for detail the case (DPP v Whyte [1972] 3 All ER 12) and. (Clader and Boyars Ltd [1969] 1 QB 151) in which the effected are defined as persons, who are likely to read, see or hear the matter" The leading cases do not discuss pornography in the traditional sense, but are rather concerned about "immoral" behaviour being promoted or facilitated: Shaw (Shaw v DPP [1961] AC 220,) was concerned with a "directory" giving details of prostitutes, while Knuller v DPP [1973] AC 435 involved the prosecution of a magazine which carried contact advertisements from gay men. It is also observed that English Law treats pornography as a moral issue and European Union is concerned with the economic issue. See Jo Bridgeman and Susan Millns, Feminist Perspectives on Law: Law's Engagement with the Female Body, Sweet & Maxwell, 1998. Thus the European cases which also form part of English law focus upon free movement of goods. It means that it is like making human bodies as market objects. Thus, many feminists attribute that women's subjection in terms of their use either as role models in magazines or in sexually explicit movies can be understood as sexual function that not only manifests the male power to create categories between women but also promotes women's role as a weaker utility which affects our society. It is not necessary that photographs in magazines are sexually explicit, but what concerns us is that one way or the other the substantial number of the bodies which the magazine or a movie portrays encourages the material which is classed as pornographic. Anya don't have any particular need to advice Bob on importing such material, but what she can suggest is to make Bob realize that since pornography do not require a rule-based defense in the way that so many of women's vital interests do, therefore it is not necessary that importing sexual explicit material do not impact the society. It impacts the society in ways which enforces women to enter into prostitution and trafficking. If we want to address the root cause of prostitution, we must negate all the forms to alleviate or discourage prostitution among which pornography serves as one. On the other end, importing such material encourages men's society who has a profound participation in making women 'prostitutes' thereby encouraging male pornographers to keep up with the good work they are doing. Pornography is more instructional since watching pornography triggers sexual desires among men, and there starts the idea of prostitution, according to many feminist writers (Jeffreys: 54). Pornography is a growing industry which promotes prostitution (Sigel: 2), therefore Anya would advice Bob not to be a part in endorsing prostitution through any means. In other words here Anya would be an anti-prostitution feminist. Anya in relation to her offer of sexual work (though no physical intercourse), where Anya would be free to 'choose', it is likely that she would remain in a debate of 'pro and anti-prostitution positions where Anya would have to decide which 'truth' of performing such sexual acts, she is going to accept. This way she would be in a pro-prostitution position, where she would be marketing prostitution in the form of 'performing arts'. As a performing artist who believes in optimistic sexuality, Anya would never be arrested for the reason that she herself is free to choose from among several sexual attitudes, a positive attitude. The way in which Anya remains in between the debate of pornography as anti and pro; it confides that she has an exposure to pornographic culture, where she gets an opportunity to solve her problematic social issues thereby negotiating with the assigned roles (Kipnis: 62). Many issues are raised by the above discussion which escorts feminists to honor the injuries to masculinity and identity that marks womanhood with a brand of optimism. Anya believes that doing such acts or by selling her in context with pornography, she would find a way to simultaneously ventilate and submerge problematic contents that are never expressive in public forums. Such disparities on the basis of feminism and pornography make us realize that pornography fits into a capitalist economy for it can be easily traded (buying and selling) and works better for underprivileged group, but it lacks the explanation that satisfies anti-prostitution feminists because other women issues are never addressed. What about the abortion and reproductive issues Therefore the problem does not highlight the notion that pornography benefits and works better for men than for women, but that many feminists finds it not easy to swallow that the doctrine not fits them at all. Pornography generates sensitive issues which are rarely being addressed in our courts, like male sexual violence towards women, prostitution, trafficking etc. Therefore while moving the ideological battle of pornography away from the difficult area of society and morality into the consensual area of sex or violence allows feminists and social scientists to consider that their research lacks action measures (Wilson: 36). Conclusion: Feminist campaigns against pornography focus on the alleged relationship between violence and the images of women in pornography and what media presents Western women. Sticking to such concepts, feminists see pornography as fulfilling the philosophy of rape and as a form of sexuality that institutionalises the dominance of males over females. Such philosophy portrays pornography not only as a reflection of men's sexual desires, but more as one of the mechanisms that sustains men's systematic and historical domination of women. But since modern feminists gave it as a form of 'free-will', feminists like Anya perceive it as a mechanism to express oneself; either pessimistically or optimistically. Rape, sexual violence and trafficking are viewed as optimistic measures, however prostitution and choice to sell one's body comes under the umbrella of an optimistic domination. References Baer A. Judith, Our Lives before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence: Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ. 1999. Jeffreys Sheila, The Idea of Prostitution: Spinifex: North Melbourne, Vic.1997. Kipnis Laura, Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America: Duke University Press: Durham, NC. 1999. Sigel Z. Lisa, International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography, 1800-2000: Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ. 2005. Wilson R. Paul, Dealing with Pornography: The Case against Censorship: University of New South Wales Press: Sydney, N.S.W. 1995. Read More