Restricting the Production, Distribution, and Sale of Pornography in Canada

Professor’s Comment: This powerful essay contrasts the views of two feminist, Catherine MacKinnon and Sallie Tisdale, each of which perceives pornography in widely divergent ways. While MacKinnon's 'Not A Moral Issue' explains the adverse impacts of pornography to women and society as a whole, Tisdale's 'Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex' is receptive to pornography despite these adverse impacts, suggesting in fact that the solution to the problems associated with pornography is a greater role of women in production of that pornography.

Many people say that pornography should be censors and other say that it is helpful. Pornography is used all around the world for many reason whether if its use for masturbation, other use it to release stress or for there personal needs and it may help relationships. Brownmiller states “pornography represents hatred of women, that hat pornography’s intent is to humiliate, degrade, and dehumanize the female body for the purpose to erotic stimulation and pleasure” (62). So what Brownmiller is saying is that because of pornography women are targeted and hated by many and this is why it should be censor. I disagree with her because pornography does not bring women down nor is it only used for pleasure. This example says the opposite to what Brownmiller said, “pornography, for example, doesn’t degrade women; women are degraded by our culture, and certain forms of pornography reflect that.” (McWilliams). McWilliams states that pornography isn’t the one who is degrading women but who is really humiliating women is ones culture. Our culture is the one who is corrupting the society and not pornography. I agree with McWilliams that society should be the one who is censor and not pornography. Because as a society we are the one who is hurting

Jean Kilbourne’s essay Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt is a powerful piece of work that brings the problems of the sexualization and objectification of women and children in advertising out in the open. Kilbourne states that this pornographic advertising is promoting male dominance over women, and in return promoting male violence against women. Domestic abuse and violence against women have always been a problem, but the media may be making it worse. Her audience is middle-aged and younger women who are most likely to experience male violence. She does try to include a little for a male audience, but her main focus is on strong and independent women who will understand her point about the use of degrading pornography in ads.

Whilst many disagreements have arisen in feminist discourse over the years, none has been quite as prevalent or divisive as the issue of the commodification of sexuality. There are two central groups in feminist ideology that are divided on this issue, liberal feminism and radical feminism. Liberal feminism is influenced by the ideas and values of liberalism. Thus, these feminists share a contractarian view which places an emphasis on a woman’s ability to make choices for herself and that the selling of one’s sexuality is merely an expression of that choice. Paradoxically, radical feminists believe that because women live in a patriarchal society, the commodification of sexuality can never be a choice or a form of expression. Rather, forms of sexual commodification such as pornography and prostitution just enforce male oppression. This essay will explore these two ideological positions in regard to their divergent definitions of human nature and freedom which has created a division within feminism about the commodification of sexuality.

This means, the Canadian government should have certain control over the media and internet to ensure that there are minimal threats to and for society. Have you ever noticed innocent children playing awfully violent games? Have you seen children imitating gunshots and hit others? The source of that pesky behaviour is the bad influence from television and video games. Censorship is a necessity to keep children to avoid getting wrongly influenced by media.

The pornification (or alternatively pornographication) of the social world has created lasting effects in the lives of people that they must deal with every day (Dines 1998, p. 164). Pornification is the process by which the social and cultural world is sexualised. This occurs through the expansion of media technology and the pornography industry, as well as changes in media regulations and restrictions which allow pornographic imagery to intrude into public spaces (Tyler 2011, p. 79). This essay will offer explanations for why the pornification of the social world is occurring, how the phenomenon differs from a freedom of expression issue and is instead considered a sociological issue, what consequences and harm arise from these explanations, and will offer social measures that can be adopted in order to deal with the issue. Pornification has occurred in almost every realm of the social world, including in its unaltered form on the Internet, social media, marketing, advertising, music, fashion, sport, and art. However, this expansion of easily accessible pornified content is a stark and confronting challenge for our social world.

The key Arguments found in the film Status Quo and chapter four of Feminist Issues Race, Class, and Sexuality is that Canada is moving in the wrong direction for women’s rights, the Ideas we have about social media and women are given to us through Patriarchy and Dualism and that not every gender study is the same. The argument that Canadas women’s rights is being reinforced with the numerous issues with violence and the number of women in this documentary looking for escape at safe houses from abusers. The variety of interviews and cases shown in the film make the information all the more impactful. In the section of the film regarding women’s reproductive rights and the whole situation with New Brunswick violating Canadas health care act toward giving equal right to abortion brings even more to their argument.

Pornogrophy is currently as legal in the United States and Canada as alcohol and tylenol, but should it be? Firstly, we must define what pornogrophy constitutes, as it can be seen as anything from a raunchy adult comedy to Penthouse Magazine. It seems as though many definitions of porogrophy use terms like that of “explicit” sex, but that is only a surface-level conclusion. Within Sociology, pornogrophy is defined, typically, in three ways: Functional, Genre, and Labelling. Functional definitions of pornogrophy put forward that pornogrophy is anything used for the intentional purpose of sexual arousal (Goode, 1997). However, this is noted as a broad statement, as even the likes of romantic novels could be concidered as pornogrophy if an individual uses it to become aroused. Genre definitions suggest that pornography is described as a product created for the purpose of sexual arousal. However, this also causes issues in definition, as products like that of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue may be seen as intentional sexual arousal and also simple photography. Labelling definitions suggest that pornography is anything that a community deem as obscene (Goode, 1997). This view is the most commonly supported view in law, as even the Canadian Criminal Code defines what is considered obscenity under Section 163. Again, however, we have to question this view because it only takes into account what individuals tolerate other individuals seeing and not what they themselves

She comments that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides not only formative but substantial protection from inequalities. Unlike the U.S., Mackinnon comments that the Canadian system seeks to alter the poor treatment of disadvantaged groups and amend their status.[6] The Court utilized this approach in the case of R v. Butler where it recognized that the “humiliation, degradation, and subordination of women – was harm to society as a whole” as it led to an inequality.[7] In other words, the court recognized the social and communal harm imposed by pornography, that is to say it recognized the “context” under which the pornography occurred. Recognizing not only the harm from pornography but more importantly the inequality that it perpetuates, the Canadian courts ruled in an opposite manner to their U.S counterparts.

Ethics Pornography is a social problem and is a commodity brought into existence by certain characteristics of a highly developed civilization. The problem with pornography is that any form of censorship or downplay cannot solve it. It is difficult to draw the line between ones right to express their ideas and or opinions or sexuality

To paraphrase Nair, pornography is regulated by the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Officially pornography is not legal in the UK. However due to societal values changing over time since this act was written some content that would have been deemed obscene half a century ago could be more accepted nowadays. ? The internet became public in 1991, this caused more of a cultural change making the Obscene Publication Act even more outdated. Alternatively, the act can still play a part in court in modern day cases, to find obscenity. For example, in 2012 there was a court appeal decision stating “It was argued on behalf of Gavin Smith that internet relay chat falls far beyond what the Obscene Publications Act 1959 ever had in mind”. Even though the

One issue that feminists should bring to the open and question is the definition of pornography. Often times anti-porn feminists argue that we can tell what is and isn’t porn easily. Yet the definition these feminists use to decide what counts as porn and whether it should be censored from the public applies to many things as Lumby points out in paragraphs nine and twelve. She draws up the movie Siren as an example of how Elle Macpherson’s nudity in the movie was widely accepted and went uncontested, but then Lumby points out how Macpherson’s shoot for Playboy was more modest than some of the shots in the film yet the photo shoot receives more flack because it’s categorized as porn (par 9).

2.)The work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state (or federal) law, and

Thesis – Multiple outlooks have been taken on the ethics of pornography, and the means by which it may either negatively influence power in sexuality, or actually provide some sort of social value and worth. These different ethical perspectives display the flaws in the industry and what it represents; yet they also end up proving the fact that it can be modified with positive influence and that pornography is not something to be deemed utterly unethical.

MacKinnon argues that pornography defines male treatment of women, and is the clearest demonstration of male dominance. Her perspective is radical, but valuable because it forces one to reexamine his or her view of pornography. She says that, “male power makes authoritative a way of seeing and treating women that when a man looks at a pornographic picture... the viewing is an act of male supremacy” (130). This form of expression dictates the way in which men view women as a class. The uneven distribution of power in this system makes pornography a form of discrimination. “Pornography causes attitudes and behaviors of violence and discrimination that define the treatment and status of half the population” (147). Not only women are subject to this form of oppression. “Pornography is the