Ethical Theories and Perspectives on Pornography - Essay Example

Ethical Theories and Perspectives On Pornography and number submitted Introduction Pornography maybe seen as bold presentation of sexual activities either in films or in prints for the purpose of erotic stimulation rather than what the traditional and common films promote like aesthetic and emotional considerations (Maes & Levinson, 2012). Therefore, pornography is definitely viewed specifically for sexual arousal. A sexually-active adult needs sexual arousal as a primary condition in order to successfully engage in the sexual activity that is purely human. For this matter, watching or having material linked to pornography can satisfy the condition for sexual arousal. However, pornography is linked to moral and social controversy. People especially both adult and young individuals who are used to watching porn may consider watching it as not harmful for as long as it does not harm others. This moral reasoning prevails nowadays, but despite of this, controversy linked to pornography persists. It is of this reason that the work at hand applies substantial ethical theories and perspective in order to present a remarkable ethical view about pornography. For this purpose, the ethical theories particularly utilitarianism and deontology are included in the work at hand. Furthermore, the perspective on ethical issues introduced by emotivism and ethical egoism are discussed. Understanding pornography Pornography in contemporary time belongs to a billion dollar industry. There is a remarkable earning from it as it has become a widely accepted business even if there is a prevailing ethical issue linked to it. In this ethical issue, there are various opinions coming from the society concerning solely on the ethics and moral issues that the public considers as the remarkable social concerns in general. In other words, pornography is not just all about the issue of business, but a major component of it includes the idea concerning its acceptability under the general social context. There are many claims that pornography is considered not that beneficial in the society even if it has become a vital piece of a billion-dollar industry. In the first place, arguments prevail that only the business persons will be able to enjoy the monetary rewards associated with it. However, on the other side there are also many individuals who will substantially benefit from the pleasures linked to watching pornography. However, on the contrary, there are also people who will be exploited along the process. In fact, there are government efforts created in order to regulate pornography online. One of these movements is to protect children from exposure or actual working in this condition (Ferraro & Casey, 2005). In addition, in some published sites containing pornographic materials, the visitors will be asked to consider their age prior to their actual usage. This remarkably depicts the point that the age of the viewers at some point is viewed by the society as a significant or primary concern with respect to the exposure to adult-content-online platforms. On the other hand, some argued that pornography is a specific exploitation and degradation of woman’s right (Mackey, 2002). Feminists argued that pornography is a thing that runs against the opportunity of women to be equal with men. In the actual pornographic film, women are more likely considered as the object of lust of men, just the mere sexual toys and depicted as objects of entertainment (Winter, 2002). Although men are also exposed to it, their dominance over women are more likely considered as the ultimate point that pornography is not a good manifestation of what the women are fighting for especially on the aspect of obtaining equality with men. However, in contemporary time, it is not only adults who are involved in pornography, but children too. Children or minors are involved in the act of performing it for public viewing and others are on the active involvement through a dynamic online interaction. Today, as early as twelve-year old, a child will be able to have access to online free pornographic sites. The society considers this a not that healthy exposure for minors. Others believe that the younger age as twelve will be too early for exposure to sexual activities in pornographic films, those that are only supposed to be for the consumption of the responsible adults. Analysing the above information, it could be deduced that pornography has become a controversial issue, because it is closely monitored by varying groups advocating the moral concerns and the welfare of every concerned. For instance, the group of women advocates that are trying to ensure protection of women’s rights will definitely oppose to the idea of pornography. In addition, those who try to protect children’s welfare will definitely do not want to go with the idea of pornography and online prostitution particularly on the one involving minors. For this reason, it is safe to say that not everyone has the intention of allowing pornography to proliferate even if there are many people will find pornography pleasurable. In the first place, even if the government may approve online pornography, there are still various moves that are created in order to regulate it. This means that there are still associated moral concerns or duties that the government would want to ensure with regards to the existence of pornography in the society. Speaking of duty, the utilitarianism contains relevant principles concerning the ethical issue involved in pornography. Understanding pornography based on the utilitarian principle It is therefore clear that the benefits linked to pornography is not for everyone, because in the process, there will be those who will be exploited or harmed in the process, as manifested in the various stands of groups against pornography. From the point of view of utilitarianism, something that is of greatest benefits to either the community in general or the individual and must not provide harm is considered good and must have to be recognized ethical at some point (Budd, 2006). Kant argued that people must stand as end by themselves and not the means, which means that nobody should be exploited for the benefit or pleasure of others (Marietta, 2006). However, applying this point of view in the case of pornography seems to be remarkably controversial at some point. In the first place, online pornography may involve minors, those individuals who are viewed in the society as ones not yet responsible to decide for themselves and require adult supervision for that matter. Their involvement in the pornographic industry must therefore be considered a form of exploitation on their part. If this case is present, then the point of utilitarian principle about what is ethical should remarkably stand or condemn pornography at some point. On the other hand, many parents, like those who look forward to the their children’s welfare will definitely do not agree that there young will be exposed to online pornography, even though there is already a substantial number of young adults who are now being able to have access to online pornography. Pornography therefore adds to the worries of parents and even to the remarkable concern of the government in general, which only depicts the point that pornography based on the utilitarian perspective should be considered a danger to the preservation of what is right. In the first place, the utilitarian principle adheres to the ideal that the ultimate ethical action should always optimise happiness rather than harm, risk or threat. If happiness cannot be truly optimised in the presence of pornography, then the act of public exposure of sexual activities either in films or in prints for the purpose of erotic stimulation cannot guarantee total happiness for all even knowing the fact that every sexually active person should have remarkable concern for erotic stimulation. This is due to the point that pornography nowadays does not only involve the act of sexual activity between the opposite sexes, but of the same sex as well and even with the emancipation of taboo practices that the rest of the people in the society may find illegal and unethical at some point. For this reason, since there might be evidence of reaction of it, pornography as the name itself implies or suggests cannot stand as a good practice for the whole society and even in the entire world. In fact, when one will visit a pornographic site, the primary consideration is the legality of the age of the one exploring the site. This means that pornography is observed to be as an activity that is not suitable for minors or those people who are not yet in the legal age to explore adult contents especially on the web. This means that in this restriction alone, one can truly be confident of the fact that there must be something wrong with pornography at some point, and it is something that may not provide a necessary benefit for all. Under this context, the utilitarian principle is therefore making sense to tell that pornography is unethical. Understanding pornography based on deontological ethics Pornography showcases the human sexual act, with primary considerations of other important promotional ideas highlighting sexual exhibitions that may be regarded as pleasurable for the target audience. The audience however, may not only be limited to adults, because there are young people who are able to get access to online pornographic sites nowadays. It is for this reason that pornography, as already discussed, has become a controversial social issue at present, because it certainly does not exist for the consumption of adults alone, but at some point there are young individuals or children linked to it. There are many cases by which children are involved in the online pornography and even the actual victim especially in the case of involving minors in the actual sexual act. This raises several reactions from the public, highlighting the need to secure the young people from the perils associated with pornography. In fact, there are many claimed threats or risks involved in pornography. Aside from health-related claims, there are also those which involve sociological and psychological contexts that are linked to moral considerations. Those who want to secure the young people from the perils linked to pornography are concerned individuals adhering to their duty to do the right thing. This is the remarkable principle relevant to the deontological ethics or known as the duty-based ethics (Lovin, 2011). Philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that the only reason that one will be able to do the right thing is because of duty (MacKinnon, 2012). Government restrictions about pornography are very common. In fact, there are major policies that in other countries the government is strongly on the go to ban online pornography or other things or activities related to it. Public servants or those having authorities in the government are trying to do the right thing. In fact, in various cases for instance, the social welfare workers are always there to perform their functions of helping the abused children or minor because of their engagement in pornographic business activities. Due to the mark of pornography that may go beyond the extreme where minors and illegal activities are included, the government or public officials and authorities are on the go of implementing their duties and even not condoning those ethical acts in line with pornography. They have remarkably done this because of their duty that they are obliged to do the right thing. On the other hand, it is certain that Kant will also eventually oppose to pornography at some point. This is based on his argument that people should stand as the end in themselves and should never be as means just for the achievement of something (Marietta, 2006). Kant might probably view pornographic actors without question as eventually mere subjects for the pleasures of others or for the advantage of someone else. They eventually perform daring sexual act in front of the camera in the hope of promoting sexual arousal, which is something that will bring them under the category as means and not the end in themselves. The government at some point has the obligation to protect its people. This means that there necessary things it must remarkably do in order to protect the welfare of everyone and as much as possible prevent the emancipation of exploitation for the sake of adhering an advantage to the other party but a remarkable disadvantage on the exploited ones. The government may significantly view pornography as a form of exploitation, and Kant would most probably agree to the fact that pornography is just using individuals as means of achieving for something. In this case, as the definition implies, pornography is a means of sexual arousal and gratification or even a form of business that eventually will provide financial gain for someone else, that may not be able to consider the welfare of those involved in the actual act involved in pornography. This is something that the authorities are remarkably having great concern, because it is their duty to ensure the welfare of everyone, especially in the context of illegal exploitation. So far, while the ethical theories may have relevant views concerning pornography, the ethical perspectives on pornography as an ethical issue have also something remarkable to say. Ethical perspectives on pornography From the standpoint of emotivism as an ethical perspective, pornography and the moral statements associated with it are meaningless issues. This is due to the point that emotivism adheres to the belief system that moral statements are meaningless and they only express the speaker’s feelings about the issue (Bowie, 2004). In other words, people may simply look at pornography with their subjective point of view about it, which leads to the idea that the moral statements about it cannot be objective in a sense if one will base it on the emotivism ethical perspective. On the other hand, the ethical egoism which happens to be quite similar to utilitarianism is encouraging a person to do what is best for one’s self (Angel, 1994). If this perspective will be used to view pornography as an ethical issue, it might be able to sufficiently address the ultimate justification of the two sides of this issue. First, this perspective will allow those who stand in favor of pornography to justify their prevailing view about it, primarily if they find it pleasurable and something that is best for giving them their needs or desires for sexual arousal. On the contrary, those who stand against pornography will be able to justify that the best thing to do is to eliminate or put this activity to a halt as there are other negative sociological issues it brings that definitely will not be able to optimise the best that an individual might truly deserve. As discussed, the pornographic actors or the subjects might just be considered as products of exploitation and the means for the pleasure of others. However, this point is definitely contested by the thought that moral statements are meaningless because they might just be expressing the feelings of the one who proposes it, if one will base it on the perspective of emotivism. Without question, due to these varying points of views about pornography, one will not definitely wonder as to why it remains a great controversial ethical issue at present. Conclusion The work at hand just presented pornography as an ethical issue based on the chosen ethical theories and ethical perspectives. The chosen ethical theories are utilitarianism and deontological ethics. Emotivism and ethical egoism were the ethical perspectives employed in the discussion. Using these theories and perspectives in ethics, one will be able to sort things out about pornography and eventually considers it as an ethical issue based on the varying point of views. These theories and perspectives, as found, will lead an individual to a meaningful understanding about pornography and why it remains a controversial issue in the society at present. References Angel, L. (1994). Enlightenment East and West. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Bowie, R. A. (2004). Philosophy of Religious and Religious Ethics for OCR. London: Nelson Thornes. Budd, J. W. (2006). Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Lovin, R. W. (2011). An Introduction to Christian Ethics: Goals, Duties, and Virtues. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. Mackey, T. C. (2002). Pornography on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. MacKinnon, B. (2012). Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. McGrath, M. (2005). Investigating Child Exploitation and Pornography: The Internet, the Law and Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. Maes, H., & Levinson, J. (2012). Art and Pornography: Philosophical Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Marietta, D. E. Jr. (1996). Philosophy of Sexuality. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Winter, R. (2002). Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering Passion & Wonder. Madison, WI: InterVarsity Press. Read More