FREE Erotica Pornography in American Society Essay (original) (raw)

Rape is an extremely violent act that is very prevalent in American society. Somewhere in America, a woman is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes. In 1996, 307,000 women were the victim of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, and between 1995 and 1996, more than 670,000 women were the victim of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault [National Crime Victimization Survey, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1997]. In 1996, only 31% of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement officials - less than one in every three. By these statistics more then 1 million violent sexual acts are taking place within our society every year. Many causes can be argued for the statistics but I believe that by making certain types of pornographic (erotica) material illegal, it would decrease the amount of victims in our society.
What is the definition of pornography? Pornography stems from the Greek words for porno, meaning prostitutes, and the word graphos, meaning writing. "The Carnegie Mellon Pornography Study" (http://venus.soci.niu.edu/\~cudigest/rimm/rimm.html) adopts the definition utilized currently by pornographers. Pornography is defined to include the depiction of actual sexual contact ("hard-core") and depiction of mere nudity or lubricous exhibition ("soft-core"). One notable feminist, scholar and author, Dr. Diana Russell, defines erotica to be, "material that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behavior". By these definitions Erotica is to be considered a type of pornography. .
The topic of pornography is the one that elicited the most emotion from me when we where discussing it in class. I found that this hit home more then other topics because a friend of mine was raped. I feel that any depiction of the same acts for sexual gratification of anyone is wrong.

1. The Sociology Of Pornography

Pornography in the American Social Strata The debate over pornography and its place in society has grown immensely in the last few years, becoming one of the hottest issues in America. ... Some distinguish between erotica and porn, with porn being more violent, portraying unequal power in sexual relations or showing activities that are judged to be immoral. ... Within western society, sex itself has been consideredevil? ... As with any business, pornography is about supply and demand and despite societies? ... In terms of race, since there are a more whites than blacks in America, it was...

2. Free Speech and Pornography

The First Amendment, as cited in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States of America, declares, "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech."" ... Should pornography be restricted or not? ... Under the notion that the Founding Fathers of the US would not appreciate the use of the First Amendment of the US Constitution to justify the publication of pornography, Hacker believes that the First Amendment was, "designed to protect political speech "not demoralizing filth "in a democratic society-(1). ... This form of illegal indecency allows arousing "...

3. Pedophiles

Many of these offenders have extensive collections of child pornography or child erotica that feed their fantasy world. ... Child erotica collections will vary in quality and quantity, often depending upon the economic status of the collector. ... The closet collector maintains and views his erotica in secret and does not molest children. ... His deviance is defined as criminal only because society has deemed it so. ... First, child erotica and pornography are utilized in his crimes. ...

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