Moral Issue and Arguments Against Pornography

Rationalizing one’s position with a sound argument is the basis of critical thought. This essay will consider the position of Catharine MacKinnon regarding her arguments against pornography. According to MacKinnon pornography’s connection with being a moral issue is primarily tied to one key component. Pornography hinders the progression for women to become truly equal to men. This essay will argue why changing the depiction of women and informing consumers of potential risks is the best possible solution to the pornography issue.

Catharine MacKinnon is a lawyer, professor, and published author. She is known for works such as Are Women Human, Sexual Harassment of Working Women, Feminism Unmodified and many more. Catharine has been an influential figure internationally by creating legislation which has banned prostitution in Sweden. The Canadian government has also accepted her views on equality and hate speech in their legislation. MacKinnon’s article is titled Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech. The moral tradition associated with her article is virtue ethics. Virtue ethics argues upon the basis of deficiency and excess. The balance of excess and deficiency will lead you to being virtuous. MacKinnon’s argument centers heavily around the equality and freedom dilemma. She believes the solution to the problem can be found in the middle, much like virtue ethics. “Central to the institutionalization of male dominance, pornography cannot be reformed or suppressed or banned. It can only be changed” (Mackinnon 1). MacKinnon argues that the current state of pornography must change for the negative ramifications to be avoided. Mackinnon and her partner Andrea Dworkin describe the current state of pornography as the following. “We define pornography as a practice of sex discrimination, a violation of women’s civil rights, the opposite of sexual equality” (MacKinnon 273-274). With this definition in place to defend pornography is to defend the subordination of women to men. She believes the effective way of changing pornography is to portray men and women as equals. “It eroticizes hierarchy, it sexualizes inequality. It makes dominance and submission sex. Inequality is its central dynamic” (MacKinnon 271). This inequality that is so central to pornography’s depiction of women leads MacKinnon to argue that it denies women their first amendment right to equality. “The point is also that the assumptions that the law of the first amendment makes about adults-that adults are autonomous, self-defining, freely-acting, equal individuals” (MacKinnon 275-276). To conclude MacKinnon’s argument pornography must reach a point where it finds the golden mean of equality for women and freedom for men. This is going to require a change in pornography that will allow for women to be depicted equally to men.

My position on pornography is one very similar to MacKinnon’s position. I do not believe that pornography is something that should be banned by the government. Government intervention would create a black market for pornography and would compromise women’s safety in the industry. A person who would not agree could counter argue by saying that stopping pornography outweighs the safety of these women. I also believe the most effective way to change pornography is by changing the depiction of women to be equal to men and I believe that pornography changes the way men view women. Although I believe these things to be true, I do think pornography poses a real risk to both men and women. Despite our similar positions, I believe she understates the negative impact it has on men’s lives. Pornography is a gateway to the most powerful natural dopamine release in the human body. This makes it highly addictive with a lot of men struggling with pornography. People who would not agree would counter argue by saying that it is a natural function and there is no harm, but I would argue that pornography’s addicting nature can lead to men struggling to maintain a balance which in turn can start effecting relationships in their lives. These risks need to be highlighted more as many believe that pornography has no down sides to men. Men should strive to be informed and make a risk assessment on whether the benefits outweigh the potential risk. MacKinnon’s failure to address these risks can lead to men not agreeing with her position or not being entirely informed. Despite her never emphasizing the negatives that effect men I agree with her position overall.

In conclusion the pornography issue has many different sides and perspectives. It is important to rationalize the position that you agree with in order to find a solution. MacKinnon’s argument states the solution to pornography is to change the depiction of women. She argues pornography systematically denies women their first amendment right to be qual to men. My argument compliments this with the notion that men also experience negatives because of pornography. These negatives can effect their relationships and create an unhealthy addiction to pornography. Overall, we should make it a point to inform people about this issue and spread awareness.

Works Cited

1. Catharine A. MacKinnon, Not A Moral Issue, 2 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. (1983).
2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylpr/vol2/iss2/8
3. Mackinnon, Catharine “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech” from Jonathon Wolff Readings in Moral Philosophy W.W. Norton & Company, New York 2018 (P 268-278)