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From: jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.women
Subject: Pornography
Message-ID: <511@osiris.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Sep-85 22:44:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: osiris.511
Posted: Tue Sep  3 22:44:05 1985
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	Even though I agree that some types of pornography are degrading
to women (and some degrading to men), I do *not* favor a ban on pornography.
First of all, who is to decide what is pornography and what isn't ? Andrea
Dworkin, Phyllis Schlafly, Hugh Hefner, Judge Wapner ? James Joyce's
"Ulysses" has already been banned once this century. What about gay men's
publications ?  Or lesbian porn and S&M mags (women tying up other women, 
"On Our Backs", "Tits&Clits")?  The diaries of Anais Nin ? Why, we could
re-bowdlerize Shakespeare, and put jockey shorts on the "David". Is "Our
Bodies, Ourselves" porn ? What happens to "The Joy of Sex" and all those 
tantric love manuals ? And there's always the Bible - talk about sex,
violence and the subjugation of women !
	Publicly banning pornography does *not* make it go away and it does
not prevent rape or abuse of women. The Victorians were hysterical about
public porn yet they had an extensive underground of privately-published
pornographic materials. (I have a catalogue from an auction of erotica at
Sotheby Park Barnet and it's, well, very interesting) For an excellent analysis
(and quotes from "The Pearl" and "My Secret Life") of the dicotomy between
words and actions re Victorian sexuality, see Ronald Pearsall's "The Worm
in the Bud". Pornograpny of any sort is completely banned in most Arabic
countries, where women are treated horribly, but it is freely available
in Scandanavian countries, where women enjoy more rights than they do here.
	Pornography that degrades any individual is not the cause of violence
or abuse, it's a symptom of the attitude which causes people to behave
that way toward others. Banning the symptom will not cure the illness and
it will set a dangerous legal precedent. Nor is all pornography bad or
violent - perhaps 15% of all porn depicts acts of violence. Alot of couples
use "naughty" videotapes to get it on, so that even the stereotype of
the lone man using porn to jerk off isn't really that common. And as they
say, erotica is what you like, and pornography is what the other guy likes.
	*Please note that I am NOT here addressing the problem of CHILD 
pornography, in which children are exploited without their informed
consent, and taken advantage of by sick adults. The adults who pose for
porn mags and films are old enough to know what they are doing; if they
are dumb enough to want to do it, what can you say ? But children are a
different problem altogether - don't confuse the two. (I think the perveyors
of child porn probably ought to be boiled in oil)
-- 
jcpatilla

"The bland leadeth the bland and they both shall fall into the kitsch."