Philosophy of Sex and Love (PHIL 2170)
Floor van de Water (B00521451)
1. Introduction
For a long time, pornography has been viewed as something exclusively for men. In the 1980’s, pornography was a feminist issue in which feminists claimed that pornography was a form of violence against women (Sun et al., 2008). Often enough, it has been claimed that women do not have any interest in explicit representations of sex. However, in the past years, women have increasingly started to become interested in pornography. But most pornographic materials are made for and by men. However, there are even some pornography magazines aimed at women readers (Smith, 2007). Not only the consumption of porn, but also the production and direction of pornography seem to be activities where women are involved in more than ever before.
Pornography has been a subject of philosophy for a number of philosophers. Some of them, including Larry May, believe pornography harms groups of people. In contrast to Larry May, Sallie Tisdale argues that pornography can be of help to individuals.
THESIS: There should be different kinds of porn (more artistic/realistic/made by womenmore artistic) so that porn has no negative effects / to enlarge the positive effects of porn / abolish / diminish the negative effects. 2. Exposition
-How porn can help
Tisdale argues that porn can help in many different ways. First of all, she emphasizes that porn is part of our sexuality. The first advantage Tisdale discusses is that porn can help to see how many different things sex can mean. Secondly, being able to expose your true self makes it easier to expose yourself to others. Thirdly, being exposed to pornography helps letting go judgments about yourself, which, in turn, makes you let go of judgments against the desires and acts of others. Also, porn clarifies your interests (only aware of it after exposure to it) and might create new
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