Pornography

Pornography can be defined as any form of material which depicts the exploitation of sexual matters explicitly with the sole intention of arousing the viewer sexually. However, pornography can also be seen as the free expression of sexual desires, which would be culturally acceptable in many countries. Since pornography is speech, words, and pictures about sexuality, in terms of speech, there is a certain form of protection due to freedom of speech.

However, this brings us back onto the debate of whether pornography, although protected by freedom of expression, is infringing the viewers’ freedoms by making them uncomfortable. Many people argue that pornography is only for arousing sexual excitement and for no other purpose, furthermore, those who wish to view pornography are usually people who are not offended by it and who choose to view it for their own viewing pleasure. In some special cases where people do not have the chance to be involved sexually, they find solace by merely viewing pornography, be it on magazines or on the Internet. For these people in society, pornography is merely another means of fantasizing about the sexual pleasures that they cannot have with their own partners. Furthermore, whether or not pornography is disturbing depends solely on the viewer, and since the viewers are fine with it, pornography can be accepted as a form of art.

Pornography materials often depict women as wanting to be sexually exploited and this therefore degrades women and their moral standards. However, from another viewpoint, we can see that women who are involved in the pornography business actually enjoy the process and they often make a profit out of it. There are those that become famous after being labeled a “porn star”, who go on to become a famous figure in the modern world. Therefore, pornography is not completely immoral in the present society.

Despite all that, there are also downsides to pornography. Over the past few years, where pornography has become readily available, it has been linked to all sorts of crimes and public perception is that if someone watches porn, that person must have committed a crime and it is unwise to get close to him. The downgrade of women into sex objects is another cause for worry. Due to pornography fuelling male fantasies, many males tend to get overly excited, and not satisfied with only watching pornography, they decide to act it out on those sex objects. This is the major cause for many cases of rape of women and children, where the men who rape them see them as no more than an object that can be manipulated to fulfill their sexual desires. As a result, pornography becomes the fuel for crime because they impart the wrong morals into the viewers’ minds.

In conclusion, pornography can be accepted as a form of art if it does not infringe the viewers’ rights, but it is also the main cause behind rape cases and therefore not completely morally right.