Is Pornography Degrading To Women?

"The literal definition of pornography is taken from the ancient Greek porne, meaning female sexual slaves, and graphos, meaning writings or graphic depictions thereof" (Stock). As time has went by there have been many depictions of pornography, but the real quarrel started in the 1600's. "Danish criminologist Berl Kutchinsky traces the beginnings of of modern pornography to the 1650s, when three pornographic classics appeared." (Anonymous). Pornography is found to be not only destructive to people in general, but degrading to women as well. Pornography is degrading to women because it serves as an instruction manual for violent sexual acts, it portrays violence against women as an acceptable thing, and it portrays women as useless sex toys. Therefore, the explicit content of pornography is degrading in many ways to the women of our country.

Pornography serves as an instruction manual for violent sexual acts. There have been many sex crimes in the U.S. that have been linked to pornography in one way or another and it has been proposed that because of the many different acts of violence and forced sex in pornography, this is a cause and basic instruction manual on how to commit these acts of violence. Author of Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (S1), Diana Russell, pornography "predisposes some males to desire rape or intensifies this desire." Many others have also agreed in the point that because the violent acts committed in pornography seem to be acceptable, it may seem to some that these acts are acceptable in everyday life. If a man watching pornography sees a woman being forced to perform oral sex at gunpoint, he may perceive this as an acceptable act and proceed to commit this act of violence himself. The same is also true for younger males who are still in the experimental stages of sexual acts. If these adolescent males witness a women being tied up and raped in a pornography video or magazine, than the male, who is still curious about sexual activity, may believe that this is an acceptable thing and that sex is only consensual by the male and the female has no say in the matter. It is these types of events that have led many to believe that pornography is closely tied with acts of violence. Violence is one of the biggest problems in America, and if pornography was done away with, there could be less violence in the U.S. today.

Aside from the fact of violence against women, pornography is also accredited to promote physical and mental violence against everyone. "Just one issue of PenthouseÐ'...advertised bestiality

films, psuedo- child pornography, sadistic sex, boys with men, and women with dogs, cats, gorillas, and pigs. (S2)" Technology has brought us to the point that almost anyone can access pornography from almost anywhere. Even our children can access pornographic pictures and videos from the local library. I believe that putting filters on all computer systems is a bad idea but I do believe that some type of restriction needs to be placed on computer to see that 11-year-old children are not witnessing such acts of sexual discrimination. United States military bases have made the viewing of pornography as easy as walking into the base convenient store and looking on the shelves next to the regular magazines. The latest issues of Hustler, Playboy, and Penthouse can be found right next to the latest issues of Hotrod Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, and even next to the latest comic books. They are within plain view and reach of any child who would like to buy the next volume of Spiderman. And although the women in these magazines are voluntarily participating in these acts as a career choice, most people fail to remember that these are still "real women in the pictures and they are enduring real pain. (S1)" Many arguments have also arisen in an attempt to prove pornographies innocence and that pornography is protected