Introduction
The term pornography refers to any material read or watched that is intended to cause sexual excitement whereby the reader or the viewer obtains pleasure. The meaning from dictionary of the term Pornography is displaying sexual materials with an intention of arousing the reader or the viewer sexually. Pornography may be presented through books, magazines, photos, drawings, films and video. However, real sex is not pornography and this means that shows on sex as well cannot be termed as pornography (Copp and Wendell 23).
Censorship of Pornography
A lot of effort has been put forward in order to censor materials and ensure that they are not Pornographic before they are watched or even read in the media. However, this has not been an easy task due to the fact that there are various differences both historical and cultural that exist among different societies. Various religions all over the world have been in the front line opposing pornography, terming it as one of the major factors leading to moral decay in our societies.
The need to censor materials to determine if they are pornographic was as a result of mass industrial production of pornographic materials, which ended up being either watched or read by a large number of people exposed to them especially the youths. These materials came in form of discs and the emergence of internet, which influenced the attitude of many young people towards liking pornographic materials. Pornography through the internet spreads very fast due to the fact that most of it is watched or read free of charge as long as one has an access to the internet. According to (Feinberg 53), this implies that anyone can gain access to it despite their age.
Towards the end of eighteenth century, pornographic materials played a significant role in shaping the minds of the intellectuals. Such materials used to sell very fast and were therefore used to spread any form of criticism to the public. Towards the end of the same century, there was an emergence of a strong avenue for pornographic materials to spread through series of novels that even portrayed rejection of both political and religious norms held by the societies at that time.
Pornography regarding females is particularly regarded as a form of oppression and misuse of power against women by their male counterparts who are seen as the stronger sex. This is so because in most of pornographic materials, it is women’s private parts that are displayed and when they are watched by males, they cause excitement. This is due to the fact that pornography is all about exploitation of an individual in maters pertaining to sex as well as violence exercised on females by their male counterparts. Materials containing pornography in a way silences women and promotes hostility by men. This has led to rape cases and other sex related crimes which go unreported in the society despite the fact that they are committed on daily basis (Hunt 51).
Pornography has the potential to cause conflict in the society and worse still is the fact that little attention is paid to complaints from women regarding their sexual harassment or even their opinions. This is so especially if their opinions appear to disagree with the contents of pornographic materials already exposed to society; they are simply dismissed. Whenever such women speak, they are either not understood or their opinions are misunderstood.
Studies have shown that pornography has caused a notion that when a female says ‘no’ to sexual advancement, she means ‘yes’. This means that, even if females continue being aggressive in the fight against sexual exploitation it will only serve as an encouragement to men to continue oppressing such women. This then becomes a major problem and for a solution to be found, the public requires to be educated on how pornography can be harmful (Feinberg 60).
Any exposure to pornographic materials is detrimental to the society because it leads to moral degeneration resulting to a weak society. Such a morally weak society will engage in promiscuous sex and sex violence which are a threat to many families as well as religious institutions. The state ought to prohibit publication of pornographic materials as well as watching and reading even if it is done in private in order to promote good morals. This will be effective to those who are already exposed to pornography as well as potential consumers of such materials (Baird and Rosenbaum 39).
Pornography has also been termed as a tool through which character is being corrupted, hence preventing the consumers from living a healthy life according to the societal norms and religious norms. Such materials will always promote women abuse and use of insulting words against women. Pornography is also characterized by dehumanization of female bodies which is termed as a vice by most families that are decent as well as religious values. This is due to the fact that citizens in any given society strongly hold to religious values which are against such pornographic contents (Copp and Wendell 27).
Studies have revealed that not everyone feels that censorship of pornography is fair. Several materials have been published with an intension of explaining why it is not important to censor materials to find out if they contain pornographic materials before they are published. Pornography is better viewed as a sex aid because it is not “mentally-intermediated” or “persuasive” speech. The ideas portrayed in pornography are always attractive and encouraging the consumer to continue reading or even watching them without resistance (Chester and Dickey 43).
Those people who defend pornography argues that there is no evidence that it can lead to sex related crimes because, if it were so there would be strong prohibition against it. On the other had those people against pornography strongly believes that majority of rape cases and sex related crimes are as a result of exposure to pornographic materials in the society. However, there is no study that clearly leads to a conclusion that sexual crimes majorly result from access to pornographic materials. Several studies have shown that sexual crimes are manifestations of ones personality and this is rooted in ones childhood. Therefore, when one desire to watch or read pornographic materials it is more of a symptom and not the cause of sexual crime (Feinberg 22).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is need for censorship of pornography. If possible any government should prohibit citizens from freely publishing and viewing pornographic materials. This is because contrary to what many would refer to as violation of human rights and freedom; it would primarily focus on curbing the harm pornography may cause to women and children in terms of social position and moral degradation. Also this will help in the reduction of sexual crimes like rape including marital rape.
Works cited
Baird, Robert & Rosenbaum, Stuart. Pornography: Private Right or Public Menace. Buffalo: Prometheus, 1991. 39.
Chester, Gail & Dickey, Julienne. Feminism and Censorship. London: Prism Press, 1988. 43.
Copp, David & Wendell, Susan. Pornography and Censorship. Buffalo: Prometheus. 1983. 23, 27.
Feinberg, Joel. Pornography and the Criminal Law. London: Prism Press, 1983. 22, 53, 60.
Hunt, Lynn. The invention of pornography: obscenity and the origins of modernity, 1500-1800. New York, 1993. 51.