Violence And Pornography — страница 5

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Bosnian war. Part of the ethnic cleansing process the Serbs are practicing in Bosnia involves thegang-raping of all Muslim and Croatian women. AndreaDworkin states that it is mandatory for the Serbiansoldiers to rape the wives and female children of Muslimmen. Concentration camps are set up as brothels wherewomen are ordered to satisfy the soldiers in the mostpainful and dehumanizing ways imaginable. The women inthese camps are taped with cam-corders and the videos aredisplayed everywhere throughout the camps to lower thewoman s will and need to resist. Were do the soldiers getthe inspiration to commit these crimes, from commercialpornography. Serbian troops are basically force-fed porn;it is present all through training and is made readilyavailable to (even pushed upon) the

soldiers. They arebasically asked to watch and learn . After the seed isplanted not much is needed to be done, because they arenaturally instilled with the desire to repeat what theyhave seen, and are not concerned with the feelings of thewomen. They have seen that some women have no feelingsand are meant to be used merely for sexual gratification(M2-M6). To add insult to injury, some of the tapes ofthese women being victimized have entered the blackmarket, being sold internationally, possible infecting theminds of millions. Pornogrpahy has enamored itself as a large part ofour modern society. It is seldom discussed and oftenhidden as a dirty secret, but porn still seems to play amajor part in the shaping of our morals and behaviors.Although some say pornography is relatively

harmless, aconsiderable larger group seem to uphold the assumptionthe porn works in negative and disruptive ways on thosewho view it and participate. Nearly all the researchsupports this assumption, so it is evident the the topicis in need of much more examination and debate. Even though the majority of modern society viewspornography as objectionable and sometimes obscene, thereare some that do not agree with the assumption thatpornography is guilty of the defamation of women and theirsexual roles. Social observationalists, such as MaryWhite, at the University of Michigan often agree with herstatement on the part women play in pornogrpahy whichexplains that since most pornographic material plays upto male fantasy, women are usually the aggressors, hencewomen are given a

semblance of empowerment. Also, themajority of these women in the material are veryattractive, therefore seen as the forms of beauty anddesire, something to be respected and worked for (72).Although White may not realize it, this statementreinforced most of the arguments made in support of thenotion that pornography is subordinating and degrading towomen. By saying that being sexually aggressive gives awoman empowerment, she limits a woman s ability to reachempowerment to sexual activity alone, and by claiming thatthe use of attractive women in pornographic material lendsto a view of women being desirable, she inadvertentlyexcludes women that don t fit society s mold of the modelphysical female, (i.e. overweight, small breasted, short,etc.). Most of the arguments similar to White

s followthe same line of reasoning, and are easily broken down inthe same manner as hers. In regards to pornogrpahy perpetuating violent actstoward women, pornography defenders claim that the use ofpornographic material can act as a cathartic release,actual lessening the likelihood of males committingviolent acts. The reasoning is that the pornogrpahy cansubstitute for sex and that the want to commit sexualcrimes is acted out vicariously through the pornographicmaterial (Whicclair 327). This argument, however, doesnot explain the crimes committed by serial killers likeTed Bundy and John Wayne Gacey, who regularly viewedpornography during the lengths of their times betweenmurders and rapes (Scully 70). By saying that pornogrpahywould reduce harm to women through cathartic

effects,pornography defenders display a large lack in reasoningbecause through their argument the rise in the productionof pornography would have led to a decrease in sexualcrimes, but as has been shown previously, that simply isnot true. Pornographers and pornography defenders proclaim thatthe link between pornography and violence is exaggeratedand that the research linking pornography to sexual crimesis inconclusive. They state that the fundamentals of sexcrimes are found inherently in the individuals and thatthe sexual permissiveness of American society cannot beblamed on the increase of pornography s availability(Jacobson 79). David Adams, a co-founder and executivedirector of Emerge, a Boston counseling center for malebatterers, states, that only a minority of his