Pornography: the Validity of Contrasting Arguments - Assignment Example

Pornography: the Validity of Contrasting arguments In the modern age which questions the validity of every established practice or convention, by deconstructing the ideas and concepts with the assistance of lofty theories, one of the chief and popular topics to be tested is that of pornography. The validity analysis of such a topic becomes more meaningful when we consider the factor that there are various countering arguments on the same. Most prominently, the effect of pornography on the society which has made it a popular topic for recent discussions has contributed to the significance of an analysis of the validity of the different arguments. Among the various ways to analyze the subject of pornography, a very prominent approach is to view the issue from the point of view of the feminists, who feel that “the most terrible thing about pornography is that it tells male truth. The most insidious thing about pornography is that it tells male truth as if it were universal truth.” (Dworin 42). There are other views which consider pornography as a popular concept. Many often, the discussions have centered on the familiar questions regarding this popular concept and the intellectuals, following their traditional role, arbitrate on such questions for the benefit of the society. However, it is of important observation that the result of such an approach “has been to neglect the actual conditions under which the great bulk of pornography has been produced and consumed as an object of popular taste.” (Ross 175). In the modern life we are provided with ample examples of this popularity of pornography and, to note a specific instance, many often when you are in a video library you find an adolescent entering the library and asking the shop keeper something very secret. And the keeper is engaged in some secret discussions and searching and you soon gather that they are finding the most popular porn films and videos. Then you think why they are confused or why they take much time for the selection of some popular video. The simple reason will be that most of the videos that the shop keeper suggests are already watched by the customer and they are seriously in search for the best one that suits the customer’s demands. Such a situation is the most common one in the new age and the popularity of pornography has reached greater heights. According to Andrew Rose, the specific claims raised by the feminists on the issue of pornography have got significance and they need to be clearly comprehended. There are, of course, two remarkable views that the feminist antiporn movement has raised. The first claim which is leveled “against all men, and on behalf of all women, of all classes, colors, and sexual orientations,” even though “proposes to redefine cultural conflict along gender rather than class lines,” in effect, only “reproduces the same languages of mass manipulation, systematic domination, and victimization…” (Ross 175-76). However, the second claim of the feminism, which insists on “the personal is political” theory, has been successful in redefining “the “private” as a realm of experience that ought, in certain instances, to be subject to public inquiry.” (Ross 176). Therefore, the validity of all these arguments needs to be checked, and this paper undertakes, in its totality, a similar endeavor. As we comprehend by now, the two articles afore-quoted, "The popularity of pornography" and "pornography and grief," present very diverse views on the effect of pornography. While the latter is completely focused from a point of view of the feminist fundamental thinking, the former, in a very authoritative manner, means to deconstruct the concepts of the feminists and bring about its conclusions. In an attempt analyze the views as formulated through these articles we need to go through the articles very closely, reading between lines for the exact meanings of their authors. A very obvious remark regarding the validity of the arguments presented through both the articles is that they both treat the matter, though from very diverse points of view, to provide a very significant precedence to the issue. The importance of the discussions concerning pornography is reinforced by the arguments presented through the different articles. In addition, such various arguments assist in enhancing the scope of the debates on pornography which in turn give rise to greater opinions and viewpoints. At this juncture, it needs to be specifically maintained that the most contrasting view on the question of pornography is provided by those who argue on the basis of the feminist theories and those who objectively criticize the prejudiced standpoint adopted by the antiporn feminists. Therefore, the arguments are mostly centered on the specific subject pornography and feminism and the most significant duty of the one engaged in an analysis of the different arguments on pornography now turns towards the testing of the arguments of the antiporn feminists. Prior to 1970s, before the arrival of the women’s liberation movement, moral terms determined the topics of public debates on pornography. With the evolvement of new feminists who were liberated from the male-dominated political associations, a new thinking regarding their rights to control their bodies and sexualities at their wish came up. The result of such new thinking, reformed reading habits, and high organized movements was the radical feminist position which took its interest in debates regarding pornography among many other concerns. Thus there began the era of the radical feminist theorists who “persuasively argued that explicit sexual imagery did not necessarily enhance women’s lived experience of sexuality. In addition, they argued that pornography encouraged women to eroticise their own inequality, by representing exploitative or non-consensual sex as ‘normal’ heterosexual relation.” (Albury 259) It is in this background that the arguments put forward by Andrea Dworin in her article gets meaning and relevance. The arguments of Dworin are very strong as she presents the feminine concepts of the issue in the powerful personal voice attracting the attention of the listener. Her voice is powerful as fire on the listener when she argues that “pornography has defeated me in a way that, at least so far, life has not.” (Dworin 42). The psychic violence in pornography is unbearable to her and the celebrations of violence and cruelty in pornography has made life meaningless to her. However, her conclusion about pornography that it “exists because men despise women, and men despise women in part because pornography exists” may be pointed out as one of the most valid concepts of the article. (Dworin 42). Ultimately, the author calls for the unification of all the women to walk together, rather than walk alone, at night, in order to conquer it until the effects of pornography on women and their destiny have ended. Whereas the discussions of the feminists have focused mainly to see the issue on the basis of sexual differentiation rather than finding the popular version of the issue as exists, there is a view represented in the article of Andrew Ross who presents the determined activities of a group to liberate the question of pornography from the chains of sexual categorization. In this attempt, the most relevant matter concerning pornography is to view it as a popular concept which has evolved due to various factors and the claims of the antiporn feminists form part of it. The article by Andrew Ross presents the more careful stand of the feminist critics of antiporn, who attend to the “psychoanalytical and commodificatory” problems of “which have nonetheless succeeded in opening up the discussion of pornography to include an emphasis on activity and pleasure as well as passivity and danger.” (Ross 190) There is an argument which very well represented in the article by Ross which attempts to view the issue as it really is rather than to blame the sexual distinctions for the reasons of pornography. Accordingly, pornography is a matter to be judged on the basis of its popularity in the modern world and the questions that need to be responded include those which find the exact reasons for the increasing popularity of the issue. Therefore, there are various questions regarding the popularity of pornography such as whether the popularity is due to the pleasure provided by it or due to the educational desire etc that are most perennial to the issue. These are presented in the work by Ross and this argument is directed towards liberating the discussions on pornography from the hegemonic interpretation of the feminist antiporn movement ultimately focusing on the core of the real issue. Towards this crucial moment of the analysis, it needs to be established that the arguments regarding pornography take a very key turn towards feminist position of pornography and the opposing view which, while it intends to include the women’s concerns, mainly focuses on the examination of the popularity of pornography rather than just categorizing the issue of pornography on the basis of sex. It is remarkable that “the feminist anti-porn movement has achieved at least temporary hegemony over the terms in which debates on pornography take place” and “pornography is defined as a discourse about male discourse about male domination… theorized as the determining instance in gender oppression.” (Kipnis 373-74). However, this view of pornography forms only part of the whole and therefore cannot be considered as absolute. It is remarkable that the viewpoints of Kipnis are effective in finding out one of the most significant reasons for the increase in the popularity of pornography. Thus, she finds the claims of the antiporn feminists which emphasize the gender difference as the strong contributor to the popularity of pornography and she, in an affected emotional but powerful voice expresses the victimization of the female sex in and through pornography. She even goes to the extreme when calling upon the fellow women, in a very poetic voice, to join their hands to fight the effects of pornography on women. This view, of course, contributes to the general topic of pornography by finding out one of the central causes of the popularity enjoyed by pornography. However, the more important question is the popularity of pornography itself which will not get the focus of debates if only a part of the general topic, i. e. the reasons for the popularity of pornography. It is the central concern of the article by Ross, which directs the focus to various aspects of the questions related to pornography. In this attempt he even tries to deconstruct the undue importance provided by the feminist point of view in understanding the relevant issue of the popular pornography. As we understand, the more relevant matter is that the popularity of pornography is analyzed and conclusions arrived at in order to enhance the debates on the topic and resolve the issues related. The primary aim of the article, “The Popularity of Pornography” by Andrew Ross is such an involved analysis of the issue, free from the bounds of any specific issue involved in the general topic of the popularity of pornography. Therefore, in ultimate conclusion it needs to be established that, though the arguments that the feminists put forward is relevant enough, the opposite arguments, those vindicated in the article by Andrew Ross is the superior one. Bibliography Ross, Andrew. “The Popularity of Pornography.” No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, (1989): 171-208 Dworin, Andrea. “Pornography and Grief.” Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell. Oxford UP, (2000): 45-47. Kipnis, Laura. “(Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustle.” Ed. Lawrence Grossberg et al. Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, (1992): 373-391. Albury, Kath. “Pornography.” Perspectives in Human Sexuality. Ed. Gail Hawkes and John Scott. Melbourne: Oxford UP, (2005): 259. Read More