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What is pornography? Is it the art of sex, the struggle against morality, the world's leading epidemic of sexual violence, the biological and social distinction between how a man and a woman behave, or the ongoing struggle for First Amendment rights? The American Heritage Dictionary defines pornography as "written, graphic, or other forms of communication intended to excite lascivious feelings." Wendy McElroy feels, "it is the artistic depiction of men and women as sexual beings," but Ntozake Shange argues that pornography is "the use of sex to intimidate and control women and children and anyone else who is subject to a situation like that." Susan Brownmiller thinks it is "the undiluted essence of anti-female propaganda." Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this topic is that there is no distinct definition and ultimately a person has to decide what he sees as pornographic for himself.
Why do so many people care about this issue? Because pornography is more just than arts, or freedom of sexual expression, or the liberation of women. In fact, its potential harmful affects on society have been ignored because it is as terrifying to mention as death in everyday life. Father Paul Murphy, Morality in Media's late president warned, "too many decent grassroots Americans have been drifting and dreaming while a monster has grown in our midst."
In reviewing the literature on the affects of pornography, there is a variety of evidence suggesting risk and the possibility of harm. "In over 90% of my patients, regardless of what the original initiating causes were-pornography may act as a facilitator... to their sexual addiction and illness," says Doctor Victor B. Cline, a psychotherapist specializing in family/marital counseling and sexual addictions at the University of Berkley. According to him, once involved, the porn-consumers kept coming back for more and still more. The material seemed to provide a very powerful sexual desire followed by sexual release, most often...
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