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Introduction
Pornography is depicted through pictures, writings and other materials with the main intention being to cause sexual arousal. The word pornography is coined from a Greek word, pornograpaphos, whose meaning is literally writings about prostitutes. Initially it only showed any work that was talking about the life of prostitutes. It is believed to be ancient but very obscure as it was not imagined that it could be worth being relayed to others (Kendrick, p. 24). The practice can be conveyed through various media like books, videos, drawings, sculptures, photos and paintings. sexual performances on a live audience is however not regarded as pornography. Most of the erotic behaviors in relation to pornography were manifested in religious contexts. Initially pornography was meant to entertain and not to arouse as it is widely used now (Moulton, p. 34). Recent happenings show that it has been a vehicle of social unrest as it has always exposed the misdeeds of the society. Pornography was mainly advanced by the developments in showing motion pictures and more clarity in pictures (Wagner, p. 19). The 20th century has seen a lot of activities that relate to this behavior because of the rapid use and accessibility of the internet.
As we have moved towards the 21st century there have been more pornography activities which have prompted many governments to come up with laws to try and restrict it. Child pornography, for example, is totally unlawful in most of the countries (Hunt, p. 28). Nonetheless many dirty books with pornography content have been the best sellers showing that people are still embracing pornography.
The first attempt to curb pornography started in the US where there was the establishment of a commission on pornography and obscenity (Frantz, p. 15). This later made other countries to also follow suit. The obscenity that is portrayed by pornography mostly affects the women who have been used as the objects to market these materials. It is argued that the more people are exposed to pornography the more they yearn for more advanced materials (Foxon 21). It is now very easy to acquire pornography materials than ever before. Though there has been some resistance, pornography has gone to the extent of being included in academic contents. There is need for more emphasis to be put on censorship to ensure that the contents in most of the products shown for viewing are not corrupted. The long term aim has been to protect the children. Many people have not agreed to what should be the boundaries of what should be termed to be pornography (De Jean, p. 45).
There is need to restrict pornography through laws. The effect of pornography on the society has been enormous and hence it is a high time the governments become more vibrant to fight it through laws. Opposition to pornography should emanate from the many sources that we have like laws, religion and feminism. Pornography has been known to increase the rates of crime in the society. It is demeaning to women and should be fought from all angles. Religious leaders have been at the forefront pressurizing governments to come up with the right laws to help fight pornography. Since we have a lot of changes taking place allover the world we need to come up with laws that will go in a long way to redefine the way we look at pornography. It should be subjected to legislation as it is very complex.
Discussion
Having looked at the dangers that have come up as a result of people consuming various pornographic materials there is a need to restrict access. This is due to the need to protect the youths who are the largest consumers and the innocent children. There are many reasons that have made it necessary to use laws to restrict pornography. Some of them are the internet, increased production and the youths who are the most exposed.
Pornography should be restricted by law because most of this content is found on the internet (Cornell, p. 13). The internet is accessed by everybody everywhere, even the under age children. For instance long before the introduction of internet children had to work to access pornography but nowadays with computer skills they can access it easily and freely. Most of the pornographic materials are found on sites that are not controlled at all. In the process they have been downloading pornographic materials on these sites at their own will so as to get as many viewers as possible. It is also relatively easy to purchase these materials online than it would be physically.
The internet being global as it is, needs to be regulated and legislated. Governments are supposed to take control of the way their citizens use the internet. It can come up with ways that will restrict downloading of any content on the internet until certain conditions are met. This can mostly be done through vetting of the material. There are also other methods like the use of prices. They can increase the costs of running such sites through partnerships and make it costly for these people to manage the sites. The long term effect of the internet due to its accessibility is that people have gone on to even access pornographic material where they are not supposed to (Cate, p. 28).
Pornographic material has ended up being transmitted in movies and even into homes through the TV. In the process the material has ended up getting to the wrong consumer. For instance, a sophomore watched a movie in which a young man recorded himself having sex with a young woman and after recording it distributed it to his friend. After watching the movie, the man did the same thing and showed the movie to students who were later expelled from school after this was known by their teachers.
The production of pornographic material has been going on at a very high rate. It needs to be restricted as there are evidences that restriction of pornography have decreased the number of rape cases. The only way by which these can be achieved is through laws. Whenever producers of these materials are coming up with the final products they have mostly been more concerned with making high sales. The government can ensure that there is less pornographic contents in the movies and TV programs by coming up with laws that will allow for scrutiny of the content in the movies and in the process reduce pornographic incidences.
Youths have been engaging in early sexual activities because they have learned it through pornography. For instance, there have been a lot of reports that before or during the sexual assault pornographic material was being involved. Early sexual activities have been responsible for a lot of early pregnancies and in some occasions led to contraction of STIs (Tumor, p. 15). This is a direct impact that pornography has on the society and as such needs to be guided by law.. There is need to restrict the access of these materials to the youths through laws. They obtain these materials from vendors who are easily accessible. For example, some of the vendors sell these pornographic materials along busy streets. The government can come up with laws that will define the age that allows one to be sold such material.
There should also be laws that will force all the media companies to censor some of the shows that are aired with pornographic material. It is well known that pornography has an indirect impact on the family. Hence these materials should be restricted and this will be done by censorship laws.
There are others who have argued that laws should not be used to restrict pornography. As a result of this many arguments have come up to support these. It has been said that laws should not be there as they restrict the freedom of people to express themselves. Many people are of the view that pornography does not harm anybody and as such it does not need any laws to govern it. In addition to these having access to pornography does not imply that one is immoral: this does not give enough reasons to warrant laws against it.
Opponents of legislation have seen no threat that is posed by pornography and as a matter of fact they have seen no reason why laws should be there. The society cannot operate without any laws and therefore needs some areas to be regulated like pornography. Most of those who use pornographic materials do not see any reason why they should be restricted from accessing them.
Most of the opponents are of the view that pornography does not in any way pose any risk to the society. There is a feeling that people are free to access any material that they want to consume without asking anybody or being restricted in any way. Since there is freedom of expression it should not be used negatively. The society is composed of different and diverse people and some of them need to be guided and this can be done through laws. By enforcing laws to restrict pornography the government does not in any way limit freedom of expression as children are supposed to be protected from accessing such materials. This is because when they access such materials they are influenced negatively. For example a young girl of 10 years was found to have had sex with a man who lured her by showing her a pornographic material.Freedom of expression that will warrant access to pornographic materials will lead to abuse of this free space and even manifest itself through societal moral decay. Banning it amounts to overreaction.
Others have argued that there is no need to restrict pornography through laws as it does not harm anyone. No matter how people watch or access these materials privately they will always have some unforeseen effects on them (Cornell, p. 23). Pornography has some numerous negative effects on the society and this is reason enough for it to be put under legislation. For example pornography makes adults display sexual deviations such as rape, promiscuity and incest. In addition, people develop bad images in their minds. A concerned government is supposed to guarantee the safety of the youths and the children by ensuring that they are not negatively influenced.
Through proper legislation it will be easy to control the behavior of the youths and save them from STIs and unwanted pregnancies as pornography has been a major contributor. The assertion that pornography does not harm anybody is unfounded and should not be entertained. This therefore calls on all concerned people to join in and help in coming up with the right laws to restrict pornography.
There has been an opposition to laws against pornography because there is a feeling that it does not make one immoral and hence should not be restricted. These are people who feel that it is a normal societal norm to consume pornographic materials. Most of the pornographic materials have revolved around sexuality and in these occasions the opposite sex has been used to promote them. The end result of these materials has been sexual excitement.
Sexual excitement involves the brain and in the process peoples thinking is interfered with. In the process they start thinking about immoral activities especially the youth. For example, a young boy was found molesting her sister and when the cause of this was found to be as a result of the boy watching pornographic materials late night. Laws should be there to ensure that the society is not exposed to a lot of pornographic material. This is the reason why the church has come up to be in the forefront encouraging the government to come up with legislations that can curb pornography. The church’s concern is raised on the effect that pornography has on people’s morals. So to help check the society’s morality issues there is need to come up with proper legislation that will help in reducing the levels of pornographic materials that are consumed by the people.
From history we have been having legislations about pornography. For example United state obscenity law, United Kingdom and New Zealand obscenity law among others. Governments have been making a lot of efforts to ensure that the rate at which pornography materials are consumed reduces. On the other hand opponents of legislation have argued that these laws have been there and not achieved anything and as a matter of fact they are not supposed to be drafted any more. We can not run away from having the right laws to counter pornography because others have failed as there is need to learn from past mistakes that led to failure of previous laws.
Opponents have also added that history does not give anything substantial about pornographic laws. Pornographic trends that are being witnessed now cannot be compared to previous ones. As technology is changing so is pornography and these therefore calls for a new approach towards it. In the long run we need to come up with laws that are relevant to the existing situation about pornography.
Conclusion
Right from the time that pornography came into existence we have been having legislation. In some cases it has achieved considerable success while in some instances it has not been able to achieve the expected results. As it has been noted pornography has been evolving and taking different forms. The use of the internet which is cheap and accessible has further reinforced the issue of pornography. There is also a lot of production of pornographic materials and the youths and children are becoming the biggest consumer’s everyday.
All these are reasons enough to show why we should use laws and regulate the way people access pornographic materials. The use of pornographic materials affects our morals. This is in relation to the sexual arousal that comes about as a result of access to them. There are a lot of advancements in the way that pornographic materials can be formed and conveyed to the final consumers. In relation to these there is need to be changing laws that will govern the ever changing pornographic market trends.
Most of those who are opposed to legislation from the way pornographic materials are consumed are probably underestimating the effects that accrue from them. People are certainly supposed to be educated to know the dangers of using these materials on their morals. It is only through legislation that the government can control the way people use these materials. Most of the TVs that air programs need to be more responsible in the way they select them so as to avoid those ones that might have incidences of pornography.
Works Cited
- Cate, Fred. The Internet and the First Amendment: Schools and Sexually Explicit Expression. Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa International. 1998. Print.
- Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. Print.
- De Jean, Joan. The Reinvention of Obscenity: Sex, Lies, and Tabloids in Early Modern France. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2002. Print.
- Foxon, David. Libertine Literature in England, 1660–1745. New York. 1965. Print.
- Frantz, David. Festum Voluptatis: A Study of Renaissance Erotica. Ohio: Cengage Learning,1989. Print.
- Hunt, Lynn. The Invention of Pornography: Obscenity and the Origins of Modernity, 1500–1800. New York: Cengage Learning, 1993. Print.
- Kendrick, Walter. The Secret Museum: Pornography in Modern Culture. New York: McGraw Hill, 1987. Print.
- Moulton, Ian. Before Pornography: Erotic Writing in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Print
- Turner, James. Schooling Sex: Libertine Literature and Erotic Education in Italy, France, and England 1534–1685. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.
- Stan, Adele. Debating Sexual Correctness: Pornography, Sexual Harassment, Date Rape, and the Politics of Sexual Equality. New York: Delta, 1995. Print.
- Wagner, Peter. Eros Revived: Erotica of the Enlightenment in England and America. London: Prentice Hall, 1988. Print.
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