li
17. Peanuts are good for you. A million
18. "There is no justice in the world. Amelia Earhart's plane went down, and
despite fifty years of looking, no one has ever been able to find her. But
Yasser Arafat's plane goes down, and he's rescued in fifteen minutes."
[Jay Leno, The Tonight Show]
19. "The following is in response to the letter, “Let the Middle East fight its
own wars.' I can understand the writer's concern about not wanting to start
a war with Iraq. However, if Saddam Hussein poses a threat to the whole
world—be it with nuclear or germ warfare—shouldn't we Americans take
it upon ourselves to help protect the world? Or should we sit back and wait
until Saddam is triumphant in developing his nuclear arsenal? Our inter-
vention is considered necessary for all the present turmoil that's been
taking place in the Middle East. We are the most intelligent and developed
country in the world. We owe it to the lesser-developed counties to be
peacekeepers. I ask the writer this: Where would the world be today if the
United States had sat back and watched as Adolf Hitler rained terror on
Europe?" [Letter to the editor, Buffalo News, November 29, 2002]
20. Freedom is a necessary component of the good life. The good life is some-
thing that every human being has a right to. Everything that humans
have a right to should be acquired by any means necessary. Therefore,
any war conducted to secure freedom for any of us is justified.
Writing Assignments
1. Study the argument presented in Essay 3 (“A Feminist Defense of Pornog-
raphy") in Appendix A. Identify the conclusion and the premises and ob-
jections considered. Then write a two-page critique of the essay's
argument.
2. Write a three-page essay arguing for a position that directly contradicts
the conclusion defended in Essay 3. You may cite imaginary but reason-
able evidence.
3. Select an issue from the following list and write a three-page paper de-
fending a claim pertaining to the issue. Follow the procedures discussed
in Appendix D for outlining the essay and identifying a thesis.
Should the U.S. government be permitted to kill American citizens
overseas who have been identified as terrorists?
• Should the federal government permit same-sex marriages?
• Does pornography lead to violence against women?
• Should the police or other security officers be permitted to use racial
profiling to prevent terrorist attacks?
li
17. Peanuts are good for you. A million
18. "There is no justice in the world. Amelia Earhart's plane went down, and
despite fifty years of looking, no one has ever been able to find her. But
Yasser Arafat's plane goes down, and he's rescued in fifteen minutes."
[Jay Leno, The Tonight Show]
19. "The following is in response to the letter, “Let the Middle East fight its
own wars.' I can understand the writer's concern about not wanting to start
a war with Iraq. However, if Saddam Hussein poses a threat to the whole
world—be it with nuclear or germ warfare—shouldn't we Americans take
it upon ourselves to help protect the world? Or should we sit back and wait
until Saddam is triumphant in developing his nuclear arsenal? Our inter-
vention is considered necessary for all the present turmoil that's been
taking place in the Middle East. We are the most intelligent and developed
country in the world. We owe it to the lesser-developed counties to be
peacekeepers. I ask the writer this: Where would the world be today if the
United States had sat back and watched as Adolf Hitler rained terror on
Europe?" [Letter to the editor, Buffalo News, November 29, 2002]
20. Freedom is a necessary component of the good life. The good life is some-
thing that every human being has a right to. Everything that humans
have a right to should be acquired by any means necessary. Therefore,
any war conducted to secure freedom for any of us is justified.
Writing Assignments
1. Study the argument presented in Essay 3 (“A Feminist Defense of Pornog-
raphy") in Appendix A. Identify the conclusion and the premises and ob-
jections considered. Then write a two-page critique of the essay's
argument.
2. Write a three-page essay arguing for a position that directly contradicts
the conclusion defended in Essay 3. You may cite imaginary but reason-
able evidence.
3. Select an issue from the following list and write a three-page paper de-
fending a claim pertaining to the issue. Follow the procedures discussed
in Appendix D for outlining the essay and identifying a thesis.
Should the U.S. government be permitted to kill American citizens
overseas who have been identified as terrorists?
• Should the federal government permit same-sex marriages?
• Does pornography lead to violence against women?
• Should the police or other security officers be permitted to use racial
profiling to prevent terrorist attacks?
says for Evaluation
Lon" of women:
mean? If taken
only beings do
for poor rheto-
parts, reducing
to choose hinges on the right to make a "wrong" choice, just a
A Pro-Sex Defense
woman from doing what she thinks she should do.
religion entails the right to be an atheist. After all, no one will prevent a
As a "pro-sex” feminist, I contend: Pornography benefits women, both
as much their
Oresent women
person-
sense of humor
hy is it degrad-
any and politically
. It provides sexual information on at least three levels:
pleasure.
It gives a panoramic view of the world's sexual possibilities. This is true
even of basic sexual information such as masturbation. It is not uncommon
for women to reach adulthood without knowing how to give themselves
ct relationship
ng women, es-
as to whether
etween images
port admitted
ble.
McCormick in
t Women, find
rce suppressed
to returned the
It allows women to "safely" experience sexual alternatives and satisfy a
nography can be a source of solitary enlightenment.
healthy sexual curiosity. The world is a dangerous place. By contrast, por-
• It offers the emotional information that comes only from experiencing
something either directly or vicariously. It provides us with a sense how it
would "feel" to do something.
Pornography allows women to enjoy scenes and situations that would be
anathema to them in real life. Take, for example, one of the most common
fantasies reported by women—the fantasy of "being taken." The first thing to
understand is that a rape fantasy does not represent a desire for the real thing.
Why would a healthy woman daydream about being raped? Perhaps by losing
control, she also sheds all sense of responsibility for and guilt over sex. Perhaps
it is the exact opposite of the polite, gentle sex she has now. Perhaps it is flatter-
ing to imagine a particular man being so overwhelmed by her that he must have
her. Perhaps she is curious. Perhaps she has some masochistic feelings that are
vented through the fantasy. Is it better to bottle them up?
Pornography breaks cultural and political stereotypes, so that each woman
picting graphic
pita than in the
bhy. Not one
with whom I
ho had been.
dustry has its
man perform
such pictures
s the right to
can interpret sex for herself. Anti-feminists tell women to be ashamed of their
appetites and urges. Pornography tells them to accept and enjoy them.
Pornography can be good therapy. Pornography provides a sexual outlet
for those who—for whatever reason-have no sexual partner. Perhaps they
are away from home, recently widowed, isolated because of infirmity. Perhaps
they simply choose to be alone. Couples also use pornography to enhance their
relationships. Sometimes they do so on their own, watching videos and explor-
ing their reactions together. Sometimes, the couples go to a sex therapist who
advises them to use pornography as a way of opening up communication on sex,
By sharing pornography, the couples are able to experience variety in their sex
Pornography benefits women politically in many ways. Historically, pornog-
lives without having to commit adultery.
are so trau-
gh women in
at no psycho-
pornography.
women have
from them-
interviewed
enjoyment in
ely a unique
sonality. She
r actions. In
s outside the
ss. The right
raphy and feminism have been fellow travelers and natural allies. Although it
nography and that of feminism, they both demand the same social conditions
is not possible to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between the rise of por-
Pornography is free speech applied to the sexual realm. Freedom of speech
is the ally of those who seek change: it is the enemy of those who seek to main-
tain control. Pornography, along with all other forms of sexual heresy, such as
namely, sexual freedom.
d
Of
every
market for commercializing women as "body parts," which demeans women. In
be an attack, Lisa Steel comments:
service of profits, reduces society to "consumer groups." And marketing is
Sexist representation of women ... is all part of the same system that, in the
bit as conservative as the military.
a few to make profits from the rest of us.
Such muddled and ambivalent "defenses" often offend the sex workers they
y
... we pay dearly for the "rights” of
intended to protect.
S
Pro-sex feminism. Over the past decade, a growing number of feminists-
labeled "pro sex"-have defended a woman's choice to participate in and
S
V
current or ex-sex-workers who know firsthand that posing for
1
a
2
2
2
to consume pornography. Some of these women, such as Nina Hartley, are
pornography
is an uncoerced choice that can be enriching. Pro-sex feminists retain a con-
sistent interpretation of the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right"
and insist that every peaceful choice a woman makes with her own body
must be accorded full legal protection, if not respect.
Pro-sex arguments sometimes seem to overlap with liberal feminist ones. For
example, both express concern over who will act as censor because subjective
words, such as "degrading," will be interpreted to mean whatever the censor
wishes.
The statute that banned Margaret Sanger because she used the words syphilis
and gonorrhea is no different, in principle, than the one that interprets obscen-
ity today. There will be no protection even for the classics of feminism, such
as Our Bodies, Ourselves, which provided a generation of women with the first
explicit view of their own biology. Inevitably, censorship will be used against
the least popular views, against the weakest members of society including
feminists and lesbians. When the Canadian Supreme Court decided in 1992 to
protect women by restricting the importation of pornography, one of the first
victims was the lesbian/gay Glad Day Bookstore, which had been on a police hit
list. Among the books seized by Canadian customs were two books by Andrea
Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women and Women Hating. Such an event
should not have surprised Dworkin who declared in Take Back the Night, “There
is not a feminist alive who could possibly look to the male legal system for real
protection from the systematized sadism of men" (p. 257).
On the dangers of censoring pornography, pro-sex and liberal feminists
t
s
often agree. On the possible benefits of pornography to women, they part
company
up
under examination?
Dissecting Anti-Porn
Do the specific accusations hurled at pornography stand
pornography is degrading to women. Degrading is a subjective term. I find
Commercials in which women become orgasmic over soapsuds to be tre-
define what is degrading and liberating for herself.
Essay 3
ed.
ne
Wendy McElroy
A Feminist Defense of Pornography
on
ur
ts.
ere
ere
a more extreme defense of pornography than most feminists are comfortable
tence opens my book XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography, and it constitutes
with. I arrived at this position after years of interviewing hundreds of sex
ze,
its
workers,
ее
ild
sly
categories. The most common one-at least, in academia-is that
Ese
ed
of
d-
DW
ed
m-
eir
Feminist Positions
Feminist positions on pornography currently break down into three rough
pornography
is an expression of male culture through which women are commodified and
exploited. A second view, the liberal position, combines a respect for free speech
with the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right” and thus produces a de-
fense of pornography along the lines of, "I don't approve of it, but everyone has
the right to consume or produce words and images." A third view-a true de-
fense of pornography-arises from feminists who have been labeled "pro-sex"
and who
argue
that
porn
has benefits for women.
Little dialogue occurs between the three positions. Anti-pornography femi-
nists treat women who disagree as either brainwashed dupes of patriarchy or
as apologists for pornographers. In the anthology Sexual Liberals and the Attack
on Feminism (1990), editor Dorchen Leidholdt claims that feminists who believe
women make their own choices about pornography are spreading "a felicitous
lie" (p. 131). In the same work, Sheila Jeffreys argues that "pro-sex" feminists are
"eroticizing dominance and subordination." Wendy Stock accuses free speech
feminists of identifying with their oppressors "much like ... concentration camp
prisoners with their jailors” (p. 150). Andrea Dworkin accuses them of running a
"sex protection racket” (p. 136) and maintains that no one who defends pornog-
raphy can be a feminist.
The liberal feminists who are personally uncomfortable with pornogra-
ni-
ger
in-
be
ific
zure
phy tend to be intimidated into silence. Those who continue to speak out,
like American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen (Defending
Pornography) are ignored. For example, Catharine MacKinnon has repeatedly re-
porn.
"Pro-sex
rather than arguments.
11
fused to share a stage with Strossen or any woman who defends
feminists-many of whom are current or former sex-workers-often respond
1
with
anger,
Peeling back the emotions, what are the substantive questions raised by each
feminist perspective?
declared, "There's no feminist issue that isn't rooted in the porn problem." In
Anti-porn feminism. Page Mellish of Feminists Fighting Pornography has
and images, both of which would be protected by the First Amendment. She
her book Only Words, MacKinnon denies that pornography consists of words
considers pornography-in and of itself to be an act of sexual violence.
li
17. Peanuts are good for you. A million
18. "There is no justice in the world. Amelia Earhart's plane went down, and
despite fifty years of looking, no one has ever been able to find her. But
Yasser Arafat's plane goes down, and he's rescued in fifteen minutes."
[Jay Leno, The Tonight Show]
19. "The following is in response to the letter, “Let the Middle East fight its
own wars.' I can understand the writer's concern about not wanting to start
a war with Iraq. However, if Saddam Hussein poses a threat to the whole
world—be it with nuclear or germ warfare—shouldn't we Americans take
it upon ourselves to help protect the world? Or should we sit back and wait
until Saddam is triumphant in developing his nuclear arsenal? Our inter-
vention is considered necessary for all the present turmoil that's been
taking place in the Middle East. We are the most intelligent and developed
country in the world. We owe it to the lesser-developed counties to be
peacekeepers. I ask the writer this: Where would the world be today if the
United States had sat back and watched as Adolf Hitler rained terror on
Europe?" [Letter to the editor, Buffalo News, November 29, 2002]
20. Freedom is a necessary component of the good life. The good life is some-
thing that every human being has a right to. Everything that humans
have a right to should be acquired by any means necessary. Therefore,
any war conducted to secure freedom for any of us is justified.
Writing Assignments
1. Study the argument presented in Essay 3 (“A Feminist Defense of Pornog-
raphy") in Appendix A. Identify the conclusion and the premises and ob-
jections considered. Then write a two-page critique of the essay's
argument.
2. Write a three-page essay arguing for a position that directly contradicts
the conclusion defended in Essay 3. You may cite imaginary but reason-
able evidence.
3. Select an issue from the following list and write a three-page paper de-
fending a claim pertaining to the issue. Follow the procedures discussed
in Appendix D for outlining the essay and identifying a thesis.
Should the U.S. government be permitted to kill American citizens
overseas who have been identified as terrorists?
• Should the federal government permit same-sex marriages?
• Does pornography lead to violence against women?
• Should the police or other security officers be permitted to use racial
profiling to prevent terrorist attacks?
says for Evaluation
Lon" of women:
mean? If taken
only beings do
for poor rheto-
parts, reducing
to choose hinges on the right to make a "wrong" choice, just a
A Pro-Sex Defense
woman from doing what she thinks she should do.
religion entails the right to be an atheist. After all, no one will prevent a
As a "pro-sex” feminist, I contend: Pornography benefits women, both
as much their
Oresent women
person-
sense of humor
hy is it degrad-
any and politically
. It provides sexual information on at least three levels:
pleasure.
It gives a panoramic view of the world's sexual possibilities. This is true
even of basic sexual information such as masturbation. It is not uncommon
for women to reach adulthood without knowing how to give themselves
ct relationship
ng women, es-
as to whether
etween images
port admitted
ble.
McCormick in
t Women, find
rce suppressed
to returned the
It allows women to "safely" experience sexual alternatives and satisfy a
nography can be a source of solitary enlightenment.
healthy sexual curiosity. The world is a dangerous place. By contrast, por-
• It offers the emotional information that comes only from experiencing
something either directly or vicariously. It provides us with a sense how it
would "feel" to do something.
Pornography allows women to enjoy scenes and situations that would be
anathema to them in real life. Take, for example, one of the most common
fantasies reported by women—the fantasy of "being taken." The first thing to
understand is that a rape fantasy does not represent a desire for the real thing.
Why would a healthy woman daydream about being raped? Perhaps by losing
control, she also sheds all sense of responsibility for and guilt over sex. Perhaps
it is the exact opposite of the polite, gentle sex she has now. Perhaps it is flatter-
ing to imagine a particular man being so overwhelmed by her that he must have
her. Perhaps she is curious. Perhaps she has some masochistic feelings that are
vented through the fantasy. Is it better to bottle them up?
Pornography breaks cultural and political stereotypes, so that each woman
picting graphic
pita than in the
bhy. Not one
with whom I
ho had been.
dustry has its
man perform
such pictures
s the right to
can interpret sex for herself. Anti-feminists tell women to be ashamed of their
appetites and urges. Pornography tells them to accept and enjoy them.
Pornography can be good therapy. Pornography provides a sexual outlet
for those who—for whatever reason-have no sexual partner. Perhaps they
are away from home, recently widowed, isolated because of infirmity. Perhaps
they simply choose to be alone. Couples also use pornography to enhance their
relationships. Sometimes they do so on their own, watching videos and explor-
ing their reactions together. Sometimes, the couples go to a sex therapist who
advises them to use pornography as a way of opening up communication on sex,
By sharing pornography, the couples are able to experience variety in their sex
Pornography benefits women politically in many ways. Historically, pornog-
lives without having to commit adultery.
are so trau-
gh women in
at no psycho-
pornography.
women have
from them-
interviewed
enjoyment in
ely a unique
sonality. She
r actions. In
s outside the
ss. The right
raphy and feminism have been fellow travelers and natural allies. Although it
nography and that of feminism, they both demand the same social conditions
is not possible to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between the rise of por-
Pornography is free speech applied to the sexual realm. Freedom of speech
is the ally of those who seek change: it is the enemy of those who seek to main-
tain control. Pornography, along with all other forms of sexual heresy, such as
namely, sexual freedom.
d
Of
every
market for commercializing women as "body parts," which demeans women. In
be an attack, Lisa Steel comments:
service of profits, reduces society to "consumer groups." And marketing is
Sexist representation of women ... is all part of the same system that, in the
bit as conservative as the military.
a few to make profits from the rest of us.
Such muddled and ambivalent "defenses" often offend the sex workers they
y
... we pay dearly for the "rights” of
intended to protect.
S
Pro-sex feminism. Over the past decade, a growing number of feminists-
labeled "pro sex"-have defended a woman's choice to participate in and
S
V
current or ex-sex-workers who know firsthand that posing for
1
a
2
2
2
to consume pornography. Some of these women, such as Nina Hartley, are
pornography
is an uncoerced choice that can be enriching. Pro-sex feminists retain a con-
sistent interpretation of the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right"
and insist that every peaceful choice a woman makes with her own body
must be accorded full legal protection, if not respect.
Pro-sex arguments sometimes seem to overlap with liberal feminist ones. For
example, both express concern over who will act as censor because subjective
words, such as "degrading," will be interpreted to mean whatever the censor
wishes.
The statute that banned Margaret Sanger because she used the words syphilis
and gonorrhea is no different, in principle, than the one that interprets obscen-
ity today. There will be no protection even for the classics of feminism, such
as Our Bodies, Ourselves, which provided a generation of women with the first
explicit view of their own biology. Inevitably, censorship will be used against
the least popular views, against the weakest members of society including
feminists and lesbians. When the Canadian Supreme Court decided in 1992 to
protect women by restricting the importation of pornography, one of the first
victims was the lesbian/gay Glad Day Bookstore, which had been on a police hit
list. Among the books seized by Canadian customs were two books by Andrea
Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women and Women Hating. Such an event
should not have surprised Dworkin who declared in Take Back the Night, “There
is not a feminist alive who could possibly look to the male legal system for real
protection from the systematized sadism of men" (p. 257).
On the dangers of censoring pornography, pro-sex and liberal feminists
t
s
often agree. On the possible benefits of pornography to women, they part
company
up
under examination?
Dissecting Anti-Porn
Do the specific accusations hurled at pornography stand
pornography is degrading to women. Degrading is a subjective term. I find
Commercials in which women become orgasmic over soapsuds to be tre-
define what is degrading and liberating for herself.
Essay 3
ed.
ne
Wendy McElroy
A Feminist Defense of Pornography
on
ur
ts.
ere
ere
a more extreme defense of pornography than most feminists are comfortable
tence opens my book XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography, and it constitutes
with. I arrived at this position after years of interviewing hundreds of sex
ze,
its
workers,
ее
ild
sly
categories. The most common one-at least, in academia-is that
Ese
ed
of
d-
DW
ed
m-
eir
Feminist Positions
Feminist positions on pornography currently break down into three rough
pornography
is an expression of male culture through which women are commodified and
exploited. A second view, the liberal position, combines a respect for free speech
with the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right” and thus produces a de-
fense of pornography along the lines of, "I don't approve of it, but everyone has
the right to consume or produce words and images." A third view-a true de-
fense of pornography-arises from feminists who have been labeled "pro-sex"
and who
argue
that
porn
has benefits for women.
Little dialogue occurs between the three positions. Anti-pornography femi-
nists treat women who disagree as either brainwashed dupes of patriarchy or
as apologists for pornographers. In the anthology Sexual Liberals and the Attack
on Feminism (1990), editor Dorchen Leidholdt claims that feminists who believe
women make their own choices about pornography are spreading "a felicitous
lie" (p. 131). In the same work, Sheila Jeffreys argues that "pro-sex" feminists are
"eroticizing dominance and subordination." Wendy Stock accuses free speech
feminists of identifying with their oppressors "much like ... concentration camp
prisoners with their jailors” (p. 150). Andrea Dworkin accuses them of running a
"sex protection racket” (p. 136) and maintains that no one who defends pornog-
raphy can be a feminist.
The liberal feminists who are personally uncomfortable with pornogra-
ni-
ger
in-
be
ific
zure
phy tend to be intimidated into silence. Those who continue to speak out,
like American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen (Defending
Pornography) are ignored. For example, Catharine MacKinnon has repeatedly re-
porn.
"Pro-sex
rather than arguments.
11
fused to share a stage with Strossen or any woman who defends
feminists-many of whom are current or former sex-workers-often respond
1
with
anger,
Peeling back the emotions, what are the substantive questions raised by each
feminist perspective?
declared, "There's no feminist issue that isn't rooted in the porn problem." In
Anti-porn feminism. Page Mellish of Feminists Fighting Pornography has
and images, both of which would be protected by the First Amendment. She
her book Only Words, MacKinnon denies that pornography consists of words
considers pornography-in and of itself to be an act of sexual violence.
which Christina Hoff Sommers calls "gender feminism."
Why is pornography viewed as both the core issue of modern feminism and
an inherent act of violence? The answer lies in radical feminist ideology,
Gender feminism looks at history and sees an uninterrupted oppression of
women by men that spans cultural barriers. To them, the only feasible explana.
tion is that men and women are separate and antagonistic classes whose inter-
ests necessarily conflict. Male interests are expressed through and maintained by
ample, in the watershed book Against Our Will, Susan Brownmiller traces the in-
as weapons. Brownmiller writes: “From prehistoric times to the present, I believe,
a capitalistic structure known as "patriarchy.
The root of the antagonism is so deep that it lies in male biology itself. For ex-
rape has played a critical function. It is nothing more or less than a conscious
process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear." How
Brownmiller acquired this knowledge of prehistoric sex is not known.
Another tenet of gender oppression is that sex is a social construct. Radical
feminists reject what they call "sexual essentialism"—the notion that sex is a
natural force based on biology that inclines women toward natural tendencies,
such as motherhood. Even deeply felt sexual preferences, such as heterosexual-
ity, are not biological. They spring from ideology.
Men construct women's sexuality through the words and images of society,
which the French philosopher Foucault called the "texts" of society. After such
construction, men commercialize women's sexuality and market it back in
the form of pornography. In other words, through porn man defines woman
sexually--a definition that determines every aspect of her role in society. To
end the oppression, patriarchy and its texts must be destroyed.
Liberal feminism. Liberal feminism is a continuation of 1960s feminism that
called for equality with men, who were not inherent oppressors so much as
recalcitrant partners to be enlightened. Equality did not mean destroying the
current system, but reforming it through such measures as affirmative action.
The liberal principle “a woman's body, a woman's right" underlay arguments
ranging from abortion rights to lifestyle freedoms like lesbianism. The stress
was upon the act of choosing, rather than upon the content of any choice.
Liberal feminists share the general liberal bias toward free speech, but they
are in flux on pornography. Some liberal organizations like Feminists for Free
Expression (FFE) have consistently opposed censorship in any form. Some
liberal feminists like Sallie Tisdale (Talk Dirty to Me) have staunchly defended
sexual freedom. But many liberal feminists commonly reason as follows: "As a
woman I am appalled by Playboy
free expression."
on several
arguments are not pro-pornography. They are anti-censorship ones based
.
.but as a writer I understand the need for
Such
pressed; and a creative culture requires freedom of speech.
grounds, including: great works of art and literature would be banned;
the First Amendment would be breached; political expression would be sup-
Other liberal feminists, who have accepted many of the ideological assump
tions of the anti-porn position, seem willing to sacrifice free speech for the
greater good of protecting women. For example, they also condemn the free
Purchase answer to see full
attachment