The Politics of Pornography: A Critique of Liberalism and Radical Feminism

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The nature and significance of pornography are controversiaL Con trasting liberal, conservative and radical feminist views on the relationship between sexuality and pornography are analysed. The radical feminist definition of pornography and the associated attempt to distinguish pornography both from sexual realism and from erotica is examined. Radical feminist arguments purporting to show pornography causes sexual violence against women are criticised on the grounds that they are inconclusive, and anyway rest on the liberal way of drawing the private-public distinction. Whilst the argument that pornography is offensive may usefully be invoked to condemn the open display of hard-core and sexually violent porno graphy, it is of limited use to feminists since it too rests on the liberal private-public dichotomy, which feminists are committed to dis pensing with. There is a consistent and distinctively feminist thesis that pornography is harmful in constituting a serious moral affront to women. This argument has some force, but is flawed sometimes by confusion between the fantasy content of pornography and literal representation, sometimes by a simplistic view of how fantasy will be realised in male sexual behaviour.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: