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From: foy@aero.ARPA (Richard Foy)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Possible Ban on Pornography
Message-ID: <416@aero.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 5-Sep-85 11:55:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: aero.416
Posted: Thu Sep  5 11:55:08 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Sep-85 16:42:39 EDT
References: <369@scirtp.UUCP> <1870@reed.UUCP>
Reply-To: foy@aero.UUCP (Richard Foy)
Distribution: net
Organization: The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Lines: 28
Summary: 

In article <1870@reed.UUCP> ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) writes:
>> 
>> Face it, pornography is a pretty small price to pay
>> for something as important as freedom of the press.
>
>I disagree strongly with this position, popular as it is among
>the white liberal males of my acquaintance, and some of the
>women.  First of all, Todd reveals that he has already formed
>
I agree with the importance of freedom of the press. I also agree that
there can be a lot of harm done by pornography.

However I wonder if banning it might just be counterproductive.  When
laws against selling pornography were abolished in Scandinavia, at first
there were large sales. Later the sales dropped to almost nothing except
to foreigners, mostly from the US and Germany. 

I wonder if a much more important source of the dehumanizing of our society
is not commercial TV which so often displays in effect the same attitudes
as hard core pornography ie: women are sex objects to be exploited. This
portrayal in a much more culturally acceptable manner, I believe effects
many more men and allows them to exploit women with peer approval. Some
of this exploitation turns to violence perhaps because many males can't
get the big cars etc that TV says are the way to get to exploit women.

I suspect that if the majority of TV programs showed male female
relationships as wholsome, healthy, joyfull, mutual etc., the sales
of pornography would drop to essentially zero.