英国硕士dissertation格式范文
本文主要讲述了长久以来的色情行业。文中作者回顾了英国的定义中的色情现象和法律方面的发展。此外,作者还分析了色情问题对青少年的危害和影响。本文的主要论点是对色情言论自由的保护使用以及讨论了“社会的不足是否足以保护下一代的孩子免受色情危害吗?“最后作者对未来提出了一些建议。
“The legal regulation of pornography in the 21 st century in the United Kingdom”
Abstract:
Pornography accompanied humanity for a long time though the expressions of pornography vary with time and technological progress.
Previously, the pornography industry was concentrating mainly in painting, with the invention of printing the pornography was widespread, later on with the invention of photography it led to the dissemination of pornographic pictures, furthermore the invention of cinema led the pornographic films in a similar vein - and now video web, soon joined the pornography industry.
Proper social and legal attitude toward pornography is a controversial subject for many years, some think about pornography in terms of obscenity breakthroughs based on religion or morality and refuse to discuss the problem or give it attention, others think of pornography in terms of liberal sexual liberation and freedom of expression and catch it embodies basic rights that protect them from oppression and mute.
In the 70th new sound was heard - the female voice is also joining the feminist opposition camp, as demand for gender equality and concern for the status of women. The problem of pornography remained a debate that hadn't been decided and resolved; the subject of pornography raises difficult issues relevant theoretical and philosophical issues of ethics, morality and arouses many legal disputes.
In the following paper I will review the phenomenon of pornography in the United Kingdom in the context of the definitions, legal aspects and the developments. Furthermore I will analyze the problems that come with the pornography, the harm and the influence that it has on the children and youth.
The main argument of this paper is the use of the freedom of expression to protect pornography.
Other not less important argument in this paper deals with the question “whether the society does enough to protect young children and the next generation from the harms of pornography?”
And eventually I will conclude the topic by including some suggestions for the future.
Introduction
Defining Pornography
One of the main problem with the pornography is the fact that it is not defined in a clear definitions that can refer to each person individually. According to the online vocabulary the pornography is defined as “The explicit depiction or exhibition of sexual activity in literature, films or photography that is intended to stimulate erotic, rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”.
Any material such as pictures, videos, CD's, books or even words that are sexually explicit qualifies as Pornography. The definition explains the meaning of the pornography by saying that pornography involves more physical feelings rather then the emotion feelings, but the definition is not explaining the meaning of the term “Sexually explicit”. That's when the definition problem plays the key role, how can we define what sexually explicit is when each person sees and understand things differently based on their culture, religion and personal preferences and morals, in certain countries showing woman's uncovered ankles is considered as sexual explicit while in most of the modern western countries bare ankles, arms or even belly is not considered as anything unusual, however even in modern society some materials still count as sexually explicit such as representation of sexual acts in a written or visual way and a demonstration of very intimate exposed body parts such as the genitalia . The contradiction here is that an important question can be a raised “Does medical book considered as pornography?” based on the fact that Medical books contain demonstration of exposed genitalia pictures. The answer is that anatomy medical books are not viewed as pornography because of its purpose, the purpose of the anatomy book is to educate and give necessary information to the medical student it does not involve entertainment or stimulation of the viewer. According to the Etymology (Study that deals with the history of the words and how their form and meaning have changed over the centuries) the history of the word “Pornography” starts in 1857, and is translated as "(“description of prostitutes") from French “pornographie” and from Greek “pornographos” "(one) writing of prostitutes," from porne "prostitute," originally "bought, purchased" (with an original notion, probably of "female slave sold for prostitution;" related to pernanai "to sell," from PIE root per- "to traffic in, to sell," cf. L. pretium "price") + graphein "to write." Originally used of classical art and writing; application to modern examples began 1880s. Main modern meaning "salacious writing or pictures" represents a slight shift from the etymology, though classical depictions of prostitution usually had this quality”
The Greeks were writing and painting such frescos on the walls of their brothels in order to advertise the homes were women sold their “love” to Greeks for money.
As it was mentioned earlier it is a difficult task to define Pornography legally and morally as an individual due to the fact that most people can not distinguish the difference between Pornography and Erotica, it is very common to consider that Erotica is a “liter” and more censored version of Pornography. According to the Etymology the meaning of the word Erotic appears in 1621, and can be translated from the Greek word “Eroticos” as “sexual love”. If to compare the meanings and the definitions of the words Pornography and Erotica it is quite clear that Erotica is explained as something more pure and emotional rather when pornography is shown as something more physical and dirty. But mostly the term Erotica or Erotic is usually used my the artists and the art industry itself, furthermore artists after creating piece of art that include nudity or uncensored words that describe sexuality justify their work by saying that their piece of art is an Erotic rather then Pornographic due to the fact that the art represents something meaningful and has a point or a story to tell, it was created as a thought and it is not made in order to sexually stimulate the viewer. But again it is all in the eyes of the viewer to decide whether it is erotic or pornographic display that they see.#p#分页标题#e#
In the case of Jacob Ellis v. Ohio, 1964 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."
The words “But I know it when I see it” reinforce the point that it is up to the individual to decide whether it is pornography or not.
The 21st Century Concerns
Through the history of democracy freedom of expression and preoccupation always won the argument, the only time when it really straggled was when the debate was about the issue with the Pornography.
The discussion over the engagement to permit the pornography takes place in countries among the most active broad issues in the field. From preoccupation with the limits of freedom of expression, freedom of religious and belief or alternatively, the separation between religion and state, questions about women's equal rights feminism, and more.
Pornography, then, surprisingly, is deeply connected with it being a democracy.
All these discussions about democracy are related and constitute an essential part of any such system.
Democracy, if it wants to survive, requires providing an extensive freedom of expression also things that the community may not like to see, and allow its members to practice them and choose for them selves as long as it is not violates the rights of the others.
Pornography also touches on gender, the country's morality, crime, constitution and relations between the sexes.
Regardless of the major issues and impacts that pornography has on children and women it is impossible and incorrect to prohibit pornography the answer is to restrict it to the levels where young children are protected and have no access to it, while the adults are free to have an access to pornography as long as it is not harming others.
The only time when Pornography must be prohibit and banned is in the case of a child pornography and violent pornography. For the reasons that children are not able to protect them selves that's our duty as an adults to make sure children are away from those industries furthermore violent sex must be prohibit due to its nature. Adults that watch violent and extreme pornography are influenced by them and start to behave similarly. True it is not the video that makes a person to develop their personality and behavior, person is developed by their nature and nurture but those videos have an influence that might change one's views and believes by believing and accepting the porn as real. And the best argument for it is the example of advertising if images, videos and books are not influencing people then why people use advertisement? People are captured by the images and the human brain receives tons of images and information even when the person is not trying to obtain them.
The main concern in the 21st century is the improvement and the development in the technology, the importance of the internet is major. People and most curtain children enjoy the virtual life due to the fact that internet is a free world where one can “slide” from one world to another as an anonymous. There is no need to prove your identity and your age. And those places on the web that do require identity prove such as the age confirmation it is very easy to lie or give false information and there is no way to check the reality of the one.
The law protects the children and young people under the age of 18 in the real world by prohibiting the expose of the children to pornography and the prohibition to sell and provide pornographic materials to under aged young people and children. The law considers that a child would not be able to hide their age because those that sell the pornographic materials must check some ID that will prove their age. But that protection is not working on the virtual world at all.
On the internet anyone and anytime can access pornographic materials such as videos and images for free and there is no need to provide any ID or proof of the real age of the viewer. Those websites that require providing an age by registering and providing the date of birth it is extremely simple to fool by typing a year of birth that is under the year of 1991.
The problem in 21st century is the fact that the freedom of expression and speech is very important and can not be changed even if it means to protect our children from been exposed to Pornography. By prohibiting Pornography the rights of the creator and the consumer of the porn are violated, for the creator of porn because it is freedom of expressions, freedom of speech while for the consumer it is the right to enjoy the information or in the case of pornography materials. Yes if can be changed by arguing that children are more important then the right to create pornography but the problem here is not prohibition of pornography it's the issue with the later circumstances that will follow the prohibition. In that can other people can try ban, limit or control other ways of freedom of speech and expression. One exception will lead to other exceptions and furthermore the freedom of the speech will be under the danger.
For example in China the government decided to fight with pornography by banning and prohibiting Pornography totally including virtual pornography as well. All the major internet search bars such as Google yahoo and local Chinese tudou and beidu are blocked when ever users try to search for porn/pornography/sex. Not only are those, users that try to search those materials automatically appearing in the list of people that need to be under control. It might be a good idea to do so in a case of child pornography, in that way it would be easier to catch pedophiles but to block all the pornographic materials is not a correct way and to be honest impossible hackers can re open those websites secretly without any problems. It is a human nature to be curios and be interested in what is considered to be “forbidden” by restricting and prohibiting pornography materials the Chinese government is rising the curiosity of the youth to find out what is banned and why. Furthermore it can affect the youth in a bad way, some young people are shy and cannot consult with a doctor regards sex therefore they try to find out the information online. By blocking all the information regards sex the youth might not know the risk that it has (Chinese government is blocking not only pornography websites but any website or materials that include or describe sex and sexuality).#p#分页标题#e#
Focus Of The Paper
The paper will discuss and analyze a very interesting and important question of the Legal regulation of the Pornography in the 21st century in the United Kingdom. The question of the pornography is a complicated subject that has a major influence on the people.
The paper is divided into chapters and each chapter deals with an individual subject or an issue that comes with the terms of the pornography.
Introduction: the introduction to the subject of the pornography has three sections.
First section deals with the definitions of the term pornography and the etymological definition of the word.
Second section deals with the issues that occur with the pornography in the 21st century such as the freedom of speech and the first amendment that protects the pornography from been banned.
Third section explains the focus of the paper by the chapters.
The regulation of the pornography is divided into four sections.
First section deals with the origins of the pornography with the historical evidence of the first pornographic illustrations, and the evolution of the pornography through the centuries with some famous pieces of art and literature that are defined as pornography. Not to be confused chapter two, section one deals with the background of the pornography itself and not the definition and meaning of the term “pornography” as it is in the first chapter, section one.
Section two: The evolution of the pornography in the United Kingdom explains the influence and the development that lead pornography into United Kingdom, and illustrates the development of the pornography industry in the United Kingdom.
Section three deals with the legal regulation of Pornography in United Kingdom, through the history.
At last section four discusses the obscene publication act 1959, the power of the act and the bars that it created. Furthermore the section deals with the changes in the pornography industry and the legislations in the second half of the 20th century.
The Danger Of The Pornography Is Divided Into Two Sections That Deal With The Harm Of The Pornography And The Influence It Has On The People.
Section one deal with the issue of the children and pornography, the section discusses the danger and the influence that pornography has on the children, how the law protects the children from the pornography on the internet and in the everyday life.
Section two deals with the topic of women and the pornography, how the pornography changed the views on women and the behavior of the men towards them, furthermore the section deals with the views of the feminists and the psychological studies that deal with the affect of the pornography on the violence towards women.
Pornography and the morality is divided into two sections
Section one deals with the changes that pornography brought into our lives, and the important problem that most of the countries deal with, the lost of the cultural and the traditional values influenced by the pornography.
Section two of this chapter deals with the question of the pornography and the morality, the right of the one to be protected from been exposed to the pornographic materials, and furthermore how the religion deals with the rapid spread of the pornography industry.
criticism and suggestions is divided into two sections.
Section one deals with the criticism of the law towards pornography, the first amendment and the freedom of the speech that are used as a protective umbrella for the producers and the people that create the pornography industry and how the law protect one's right by limiting other persons rights.
Last section of the chapter four deals with the proposals and suggestions that can and need to be done in order to protect the children from been exposed to the pornographic materials and to put a balance between freedom of speech and the pornography that is harmful, and finally to try to find a solution that will increase the protection from the pornography rather then to simply try to ban it.
Pornography law cases and famous scandals
This section illustrates the famous law cases and scandals that involved the topic of pornography in the United Kingdome and the rest of the world that influenced and lead to new legal terms.
Conclusion The conclusion of the paper.
The Regulation Of Pornography
The Origins Of Pornography
Pornography has its own story as well it turns out that the history of the Pornography is almost like a long history of mankind. The first pornography images actually appeared before the modern era, researchers discovered rock paintings demonstrating coitus and hunting between ancient people. It is slightly inaccurate to define those Petroglyphs as pornography based on the fact that the purpose of drawing those images is unknown. Human sexuality always documented throughout history, beginning with nude pictures on vases in Greece and Rome, where naked men and women were documented as an expression of beauty and admiration.
In an ancient India scholar named Vatsyayana created the first Sanskrit text known as the “Kama Sutra” that explains the rules and manuals of sex, love and marriage. The Kama Sutra includes very detailed sexual intercourse images and explanations, Kama Sutra is the first and the most known pornographic text book, and furthermore Vatsyayana feared that the papers would disappear with time and decide to decorate the temples of Kajuharo with pornographic images of people having sex.#p#分页标题#e#
With the beginning of the Christianity and the rise to the power, and with the fall of the Roman Empire, sex and sexuality started to be referenced variously.
Species currently perceived as a source of sin, the cause that brought the expulsion of the first man from Eden.
This moral concept came to serve as an alternative to the Roman liberated morality.
In fact, with the change of human perception good creature has become a potential sinner, and that changed the attitude towards sex and it became anathema.
St. Augustine's writings reference woman and sex as the most negative kind.
Augustine divides people into two - the God-loving minority vast majority - that love meat. People are uncontrollable with lust, especially when it comes to sex. Thus medieval Christianity tries literally to delete sex and sexuality. Sexuality will be used for breeding, and this only to prevent the extinction of the human kind. When sexuality becomes illegal the pornography began to fill in the space by creating rough sex charts and nudity illustrations.
Throughout the middle Ages pornography was perceived as sexual sin, was addressed by the institutions accordingly.
Sex ratio has not changed throughout this period until the Renaissance, which presented the female body as an expression of divine beauty with the paintings of many contemporary artists.
Nudity and sex were further accepted as something artistic and beautiful rather then something sinful as it was earlier.
It all changed during the days of Queen Victoria in Britain, which issued a number of laws prohibiting sexual publications. Ironically under this prohibition actually was published the most erotic newspaper written during that time called "The Pearl", the pearl was an erotic newspaper that included numerous erotic stories and poems and was published in underground.
Nudity and sexuality bursting again with the invention of the cinema, two years after the invention first time woman was undressed on the movie screens of French film Le BAIN from 1896. Early 20th century sexuality wins legitimacy and continues until the mid-thirties, when the American Film Committee takes laws and regulations that prohibit sexuality and nudity on the screen.
But again, when sexuality is outlawed and prohibited it finds a way to get back in with some surprising ways.
These constraints and prohibitions forced many screenwriters to come up with various ways of allusions to sex; known among them is the line: "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
With the beginning of the sixties sexual revolution begins in the United States. This brings the bloom of magazines such as Playboy, first published in - 1953 was the first men's magazine. Penthouse came out second after the Playboy in 1969, and the Hustler that surged into the world in1974. The last one reached the courts due to its contents, and the U.S. Supreme Court acquitted the magazine from its opponents claim with the right to the freedom of expression and preoccupation.
Sexuality is among at last, and institutional recognition opens the legitimacy it has never won before.
In the 20th century the pornography era grow and put its stamp in the business industry becoming part of normal modern life, with the inventions of the technology such as VCR and later on DVD In the 90th including the Internet breakthrough making pornography available to the home computers and a telephone lines it become so easy for a viewer to watch Pornography online. the access to pornography become easier and more private and that factor increase the demand for pornographic materials. It is very interesting how fast the civilization showed a progress, in 19th century people who were caught spreading pornography were brought to the court and had to pay fines. While today in the 21st century pornography is legalized almost in all countries with exception of Muslim states, India and China.
The Evolution Of The Pornography In United Kingdom
In addition to the legal definition, pornography was also at the centre of debates on elite and mass culture, and on the legitimacy of modernist literature, especially in interwar Britain. The nature of this debate evidently had its origins in the question of cultural authority and artistic value which preoccupied rational elites between the wars, and produced the disdainful Leavisite attitudes towards the masses catalogued by John Carey and D. L. LeMahieu. Though, this was not only а debate about culture.
For sex reformers, it was also about new social practices. Before and after 1945, sex radicals not merely decried the form of mass culture, but also attacked а variety of practices of commercial leisure that were playing а constitutive role in the making of modern heterosexuality. These practices emerged from а culture of heterosexual courtship which was increasingly based on public spaces and commercial leisure.
As the family was supplanted by commercial and public space as а site for courtship, new rules, practices and pathologies were associated with these spaces of leisure.
New rituals such as ‘dating', pre-marital sex in the form of petting, the use of public and semi-public spaces like dance halls and parks as an arena for courtship, and а vibrant and expanding obscene print culture, all formed part of а complex of practices in opposition to which new standards of sexual knowledge and health were defined. For sex reformers, the principal problem with these new forms of expression was that they encouraged forms of sexuality that were inherently unsatisfiable.
Sexually titillating material of all kinds in cinema, theatre, print culture and in social practices such as dating or petting threatened to arouse the sexual instincts outside а moral or ethical context.
For conservatives, the threat posed by obscenity resulted from the lack of the former, for sex reformers, the latter. The result was а culture which was assumed to produce forms of sexual expression such as petting, homosexuality, masturbation or fantasy which were at best emotionally detached and at worst were foreign to the true nature of the sexual impulse. The ignorant sensuality of the masses and the passivity of their new recreations was one of the cliche′s of interwar cultural debate.#p#分页标题#e#
However, а characteristic attribute of sex radicalism was the conviction that such ignorance was not unavoidably the fault of the masses themselves, but resulted principally from British habits of suppression. The argument put so ferociously by D. H. Lawrence, that censorship eroticized confidentiality, and thereby distorted the sexual impulse, was widely adopted. Edward Charles, author of an investigation into the nature of the sexual desire, was only one author to put Lawrence's case. He described а fixation on the veil of secrecy which was ‘very like fetishism' and which ‘obsesses probably 70 per cent of the population'. As а result, an ‘unsatisfiable lasciviousness' characterized the treatment of sex in accepted culture, while most people were satisfied to ‘spiritually masturbate before the knees of chorus girls or the walnut-stain sun-tan of the athletic-looking gigolo'.
Part of the antidote to mass taste was the spread of expertise. George Bernard Shaw, stating ‘The need for expert opinion in sexual reform' to the World League for Sexual Reform Congress in 1929, observed that the masses were intrinsically conservative and unable of self-realization. Brought up as they were in clouds of secrecy, ‘the mass of people . . . have no idea of liberty in this direction'. On the contrary, he continued, they were ‘the most ferocious opponents of it'. Democracy, in which this inert mass ruled, tended only to reinforce this tendency.
Arguing along similar lines, the progressive journal Plan stated in 1935 that sex education must ‘eradicate the obscurantist view of sex' through ‘the premeditated adoption of а scale of values based upon reason and knowledge as distinct from superstition'. This was to be done through the institution of networks of expertise, through the provision of ‘easily available sources of information (e.g. public clinics, lectures, books) upon sexual questions'. In spite of this indistinctness, it was usually accepted that controlling the trade in such ‘low' material was both necessary and desirable. The predicament was that the current law was not precise enough.
The extraction of the Well of Loneliness in 1928 focused the debate on the breakdown of the law to differentiate between ‘frank' pornography and art. But in the wake of the trial, many supporters of Radclyffe Hall and D. H. Lawrence were happy to argue that ‘actual' pornography should be appropriately policed. The publisher Eric Partridge was not the first to conclude, following the case, that the Obscene Publications Act permitted ‘genuine literature to be confused with worthless pornography'. Partridge, whose firm published Norah James's Great War novel Sleeveless Errand which was banned in 1931, wrote that although literary censorship was foolish, ‘Few would care to countenance the importation of books and pictures so filthily pornographic that they horrify and nauseate.'
Equally those in literary circles, like the journalist Kingsley Martin, who was also а member of the FPSI (foundation for public service interpreting) board, argued: ‘Most people agree that it is а
good thing to maintain а hold over the vendors of books and postcards whose only object is to excite passion.
Selling Pornography, Selling Science
Historians of the twentieth century have tended to think of the market in pornography as furtive, largely invisible and devoid of the ‘real' erotic content and photographic detail that has defined contemporary culture. However, networks did exist which brought pornography directly and indiscriminately into the middle-class home via the postal service.
The sale of erotic postcards and literary classics seems to have functioned in two ways. Customers were either approached by speculative mail shots or were reached through the careful compilation and sharing of names by distributors.
By the 1930s, the other principal outlets for pornography were the bookshops in most major cities. Some pornography was also distributed by legitimate companies. The problem posed by this market for sex reformers was not just that canonical works of sexology, but also their own books, often circulated along the same networks. Not only did the nature of the Obscene Publications Act make this situation uniquely problematic, but some of the obscene genres which emerged at this time, such as pulp magazines, set themselves up as more digestible, accessible and successful rivals of more serious sex reform and education. It was, he argued, ‘perfectly legitimate for а reader to respond to writing which may be classified under the category of erotic realism'.
Since it was ‘entirely legitimate' for any reader to be interested in such things, it was ‘equally healthy and legitimate for him to derive instruction and enlightenment from such works - whether they be fiction, poetry, or strictly scientific studies'. There was, though, an equality of value between these media because now, more than ever, ‘the man in the street may well, in fact, derive more enlightenment from an erotic novel than from а medical treatise.' Yet for sellers, buyers and advertisers of these different genres, such equivalence had always been obvious, and had made up а vital element of the sexual life world of individual readers. А body of sexual knowledge, which linked therapeutics and instruction with а new ethos of lifestyle pornography, was formed therefore partly via the protracted but ultimately enthusiastic compromise of expert opinion with consumerism.
The Legal Regulation Of Pornography In United Kingdom
Before the 1960s, sex education was conceived by sex reformers to be а problematic business of ‘reforming' an inadequate and possibly perverse public. For these reformers, the problem of sexuality in mass society was typified by the conjunction of two things: first, by а generalized and pervasive sexualized aesthetic, which was held by many intellectuals before and after 1945 to epitomize the incitements and repressions of popular culture; and second, by pornography and other obscene material. Although it has#p#分页标题#e#
Been attempted, defining obscenity and pornography is impossible unless the protean nature of the terms is addressed.
As а number of writers has demonstrated, the obscene is an empty category, usually legal and cultural, which can include anything and is not necessarily defined by its sexual content.
Cultural battles to secure the meaning of pornography and obscenity are therefore inherent in the very formation of the terms as legal and cultural categories, and are best seen as varied attempts to establish а particular brand of artistic or moral authority.
As Walter Kendrick has pointed out, the obscene is always deemed to be in the process of threatening the health and welfare of an imagined reader.
For the Victorians this reader was of sex, young and probably working class.
Protecting the consciousness of the consumer, ostensibly preventing social pathologies and properly dividing aesthetic categories of art from pornography are the aims of those who seek to define precisely what is meant by the obscene and the pornographic.
Since the 1970s and the rise of а feminist critique of pornography, the imagined reader, prey to psycho-sexual neuroses of all kinds, has been the adult, heterosexual man. In the worldview of early twentieth-century sex reformers, the object of concern was an undifferentiated mass of new working-class readers and consumers with sufficient leisure and disposable income to place themselves in peril and multiply their misconceptions. Battles over the meaning of pornography were, then, not only used to establish the authority of modernism, but also featured strongly in the formation of а new breed of expert who defined sexual health and education as his or her field of action, and who sought to reach out to this mass readership and revolutionize its knowledge.
Arguments over what was properly obscene had to encounter the fact that the legal meaning of obscenity and the nature of the pornographic changed in important ways in the early twentieth century.
These changes can be mapped in legislative and cultural terms, and can be traced in а legal sense to the Obscene Publications Act of 1857.
The interpretation of that Act in the case of R v. Hicklin in 1868 described the obscene in famous terms, as that which has the capacity to ‘deprave and corrupt'.
Walter Kendrick and Lynda Nead have pointed out that the Hicklin judgement made the obscene а question of access. While nudity or sexual imagery were confined to high art, or restricted to those assumed to practice moral self-possession, it was not necessarily considered problematic.
However, if mass print culture made such material accessible to а wide audience, including vulnerable groups like women or the young, then it could be judged obscene.
Nead suggests that the category of the obscene in Victorian London contained not only postcards depicting sexual acts, but also а huge variety of borderline material ranging from pictures of
actresses and nude ‘art studies' to French novels. From its legal beginning in 1857 obscenity was а per formative category, dependent on specific judgments about production, sale and distribution, and on police practice. Its definition depended on an enormous range of variables.
However, one way for magistrates and juries to judge whether an article had the required capacity to ‘deprave and corrupt', and to decide what the audience was for any obscene material, was to judge the ‘circumstances of publication' - how and where а book was advertised, sold or displayed.
Therefore, if artistic or medical works about sex were sold, advertised or distributed next to hard-core or even mildly indecent material, then they too could be judged obscene on the grounds that they would reach а ‘corruptible' audience. Moreover, the police practice of raiding bookshops and confiscating indiscriminately а vast volume of different material for examination by а magistrate made the situation even worse. In those circumstances serious works of instruction or of sexology could be bracketed with indecent magazines, cheap postcards or erotic literature at subsequent court hearings.
The result of the way the law and the police worked was а series of trials in Britain which revolved around the question of ‘circumstances'. In addition to the founding imprecision of the Obscene Publications Act, other legislation worked to expand the category of the obscene.
In а 1907 case brought against the illustrated magazine Judy, the proprietor, Alphonse de Marney, was held to be responsible for the advertisements of pornography dealers which his magazine contained.
Papers like Judy, which were collectively known to the Home Office as the ‘illustrated press', were part of а racy genre which grew up after about 1910, and which included titles like Fun, Photo-Bits and Brighter London. These papers dealt in fiction on ‘advanced' topics, celebrity gossip and pictures of bathing beauties. In addition, most of them carried advertisements for art studies, sexual instruction books and, most damagingly, continental book traders who were known to the police as dealers in pornography.
The action against de Marney had been brought specifically as а test case in order to establish the possibility of controlling the pornographers who operated through the illustrated press, and as а way of reining in the obscenity of these papers by making them liable to prosecution.
Not only was obscenity а per formative category, dependent on the implementation of the law, it also differed depending on where you were. This situation reflected the notorious imprecision
of the Obscene Publications Act, and the necessary estimation by the courts of any potentially ‘corruptible' audience for obscene material. In London, the frequent assumption of courts was that metropolitan consumers were capable of reading works of sexual instruction which included detailed and explicit description.#p#分页标题#e#
Outside the capital, however, the same material often received very different treatment on the grounds that it was sold to an entirely different audience. Magistrates in the north of England were particularly zealous in their defense of provincial sensibilities.
Obscene Publication Act 1959
In 1857 the first obscene publication act was introduced by the lord Campbell, who was a lord chief justice. Lord Campbell decides to publish the act after the publications were made by the pornographic author William Dugdale who later on was arrested.
Since 1857, a number of laws regards the obscenity were regulated and published those laws are more known as the “Obscene Publications Acts” the law explains what can be published in England and Wales. According to the statement made by John Duke Coleridge, the first Baron Coleridge The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," 1868.
There Have Been Three Acts Of Parliament Of This Name:
Obscene Publications Act 1857
Obscene Publications Act 1959
Obscene Publications Act 1964
From those three acts listed a bow, only the 1959 and 1964 acts are still in force in England and Wales, recent legislation enforced and strengthened. Those legislations define the legal bounds of obscenity in England and Wales, and are used to enforce the censorship of obscene material. According to one of the chief opponents of the act Lord Lyndhurst objected that: “…but what is the interpretation which is to be put upon the word ‘obscene'? I can easily conceive that two men will come to entirely different conclusions as to its meaning.”
Furthermore Lord Campbell explained that the act was: “…intended to apply exclusively to works written for single purpose of corrupting the morals of youth, and of a nature calculated to shock the common feelings of decency in any well-regulated mind”
The 1959 Obscene Publications Act was created in order to resolve those issues that the previous obscenity legislation couldn't, and furthermore to define and distinguish novels and other books that might include some indecent literature or images (such as novels from Vladimir Nabokov -Lolita, Radcliffe Hall- The Well of Loneliness) to medical
Textbooks. The aim was both to clarify the law and to, in the words of the Act itself, "provide for the protection of literature".
The first big case that involved the Obscene publication act came in 1963, when D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover made a huge scandal and furthermore was prosecuted and famously acquitted - a major milestone in the history of censorship in Britain. Although the obscene publication act was originally intended only to cover literature, but later on House of Lords debate established in 1977 an amendment to the Act which brought film under its jurisdiction.
Major Amendments To The Obscene Publication Act:
1954- Convictions would not occur if the publications could be proved to be “in the interest of science, literature, art or learning” the authors and the publishers have the right to prove the intention of their work.
1964- The act now covered wholesalers, or any person having an obscene article for publication for gain, unless if they had suspicion that it was illegal.
1977- Erotic films were covered as well as written erotic materials.
1994- The criminal justice and public order act 1994 covered the computers and virtual transition of images electronically, the main intention if this act was the protection of the children.
The Danger Of Pornography
Some might argue that pornography is “just for fun” and that people make a big deal of a nothing but in reality pornography is more then just for fun, pornography has an impact on people and hidden influence that are not so visible. Pornography has an impact on people regardless of their gender and age; pornography has an impact on various aspects of life such as family life, health, work and future development.
According to the Psychologist Dr. Gary R. Brooks, in his book, The Centerfold Syndrome: Man that over watch pornography can develop the Centerfold Syndrome, the symptoms of the syndrome is the following:
Voyeurism-an obsession with visual stimulation that trivializes all other features of a healthy relationship
Objectification-obsessive fetishes over body parts and the rating of women by size and shape
Trophyism-treatment of women as collectibles and property
Fear of intimacy-inability to get beyond glossy, centerfold images of women to have a real relationship
The value of a woman is determined by her body, shape, and size. Only those women with a perfect physical appearance are valuable and worthy of being admired, desired, and loved.
This element can have detrimental effects on how women and girls view themselves. And also on how many teenage boys, consciously or unconsciously, measure the value of their girlfriends against the "bunny" images they see on the pornographic materials.
Pornography And Children
Child is like a flower, a flower that parents sow and take care in order to make sure that the flower will grow and become strong and beautiful, children are protected and taken care just like the flowers making sure that no one will harm them.
One is protecting the flower by building a wall around it so are doing the people building a protective wall around their children from the harmful aspects of life.
Unfortunately regardless of the protection that people try to provide for children the modernization does its work. Children are exposed into the “adult life” in various ways, trough the internet, the magazines, books and movies. The porn industry is meant to be created for adult people but the children are exposed to it even more often then the adults.#p#分页标题#e#
The new generation is more developed when it comes to the computers and the internet, adult people might have an easier access for pornographic materials such as magazines, movies and books while young people and mostly children have easier access to the same materials through the internet (just because they can use the internet and computers better then some adults).
Children that are exposed to the pornography are exposed to various dangers that can affect them psychologically and even physically.
Children that are exposed to the pornographic materials are exposed to sexuality and sexual acts too early, what can lead to the curiosity of the child to try it in reality. According to the psychologist more often children imitate what they see believing that what they have seen that's what the reality is about, that factor is extremely dangerous not just because children might try to imitate and duplicate what they saw on videos and magazines with the same aged children or older people, but they might try it on younger children that are even more fragile and fragile.
Children that are exposed to pornography are exposed to the way sex is described and illustrated on the pornographic videos and other pornographic materials, in most of the adult videos the actors are not using protection during the sexual act. Children that are exposed to those videos are not educated about sex and are not aware of the consequences of those sexual acts without using the protection. That factor leads to the major problem that United Kingdom deals with, the teen pregnancy. According to the BBC NEWS the UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands.
children that are exposed to the pornography are developing curtain behavior and character towards the meaning of the sexual act and the people participating in those acts, children that have an access to pornographic materials from young age, the age when children start to develop their personalities, their view on the life and their characters start to accept sexual act purely as an physical act rather then emotional.
The last problem is the most dangerous and most important from those that listed earlier. Children that explore the subject of the sex and pornography are more likely to be exposed and be tricked by the pedophiles (Pedophilia is a psychological disorder in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children, people with pedophilia have fantasies, urges or behaviors that involve illegal sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children generally age 13 years or younger) that try to track young children through the virtual communication from various sex chats and porn websites. Pedophiles pretend to be children or teens in order to start the communication with the children and during of a few month while communicating with them virtually pedophiles gain their trust and offer them to meet up, children been na?ve in their nature trust their new “friend” and agree to meet.
Pedophiles knowing that children are curios and want to explore pornography And sexuality in the internet, they search porn websites that have chat rooms in order to track down young children.
There is even a bigger and scarier problem then children viewing pornography and it is a child pornography where children are tricked and forced to participate in child pornography.
What child pornography is? According to NSPCC (The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) child pornography is “the visual record of the sexual abuse of a child, either by adults, other children or which involves bestiality”, indicant photography of a naked child or a child posing in a sexualized way.
“A common characteristic of child pornography is that the subject is generally smiling, it is rare to see pornographic photos of a child in distress. Smiling is important because it suggests that the child is happy, even enjoying, what is happening. It supports the fantasy of the viewer (most commonly a pedophiles) that the child is willing to participate in the sexual act.”
According to the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet. Most commonly Child pornography is created by the pedophiles and is collected and further distributed to the other pedophiles.
But recent studies by the British-based Internet Watch Foundation reported that the child pornography industry become very profitable and that fact lead to the situation where people who are not pedophiles record images of children and sell it to the pedophiles.
The danger that comes with the increase of the child pornography is discussed in many congress and meetings. During the World Congresses against Commercial Exploitation of Children
that was held in Stockholm in 1996, and later on in 2001 in Yokohama the participants showed a major concern about the issue that child pornography is not a genre of its own and is part of the child sexual abuse and exploitation. Over 120 countries legislated on child prostitution and general obscenity that can include child pornography as well, but only a few have legislation special legislation to combat child pornography.
According to the legal status of child pornography in United Kingdom:
It is illegal to take, make, distribute, show or possess an indecent image of a child.
In the case of saving an indecent image to a computer is considered as "making" the image, as it causes a copy to exist which did not existed before
Section 1(1) (a) of The Protection of Children Act 1978 states that:” it is an offence to take, or permit to be taken, any indecent photography of a child.”
But there is no definition or explanation what indecent means, there is no specification of what would count as a pornography image of a child, if indecent means naked then many parents can be considered as distributers of child pornography.#p#分页标题#e#
The issue of indecent images is very complicated and very delicate in a lot of cases it is really hard to distinguish if the image represents anything immoral or indecent.
For example most of the people have photos of their children when they were young some photos are taken during the bath and obviously on those images the children are naked, for the parents it is an innocent image while for curtain people it can appear as indecent image.
The legal definition of a “child” it verso from country to country based on that fact it is a real problem to combine all those factors into one international act that will cover all those issues over child pornography. But on the other hand there had been attempts to show the gravity of child pornography for example The UK Protection of Children Act 1978 is dealing with other aspects of child sexual exploitation. In section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 indicates that indecent photography of children is a serious offence, while the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 added the 'taking and distribution of pseudo-images of a child' to the legislation.
Pornography and Women
The pornography has a major role in the determination of what sex is in the eyes of the viewer. Young people viewing pornographic materials are more likely to consider sex as purely physical function and to view women as sex object with no feelings. According to the UHN research boys sick more pornography from young age and that donates a big part in their development and views on what sex really is, according to the UHN 38% of young man aged 16-18 deliberately visit web porn sites. While only 8% of girls same age search for web porn.
The latest upgrade in the pornography is the real videos that couples upload to the internet. The fact that it is not a movie it is a real video of a real couple having sex delusion the viewer to believe that it is reality and everyone is like those couples. The pornography has a various affects on women and on the stereotypes that come with it. Regardless of the fact that pornography has dangerous consequences it still attracts a huge number of women to be part of the industry. There are several reason for it some of them are made by the women deliberately while others are forced or tricked.
Mainly the reason to enter the porn industry is the easy and fast money. That's why young girls decide to enter the industry, for some of them money is the main reason, usually those are the people that grow up in a poor families and are desperate for money in order to be able to sponsor their studies and their families. While for the others publicity and a chance to become a famous is the reason why they appear on adult magazines and videos.
Very often women choose to be part of the porn industry in order to become famous, they believe that adult movies and magazines are the fastest and easiest way to Hollywood. As cruel as reality sounds it is actually true that kind of publicity brought a chance to many young porn stars and adult magazine models a chance to enter the Hollywood. Famous examples for that are: Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, Jasmine Bleeth and Carmen Electra all those four celebrities started their career by posing to the famous adult magazine “Playboy” and participating in pornographic videos and movies. After their photos and videos were published Hollywood directors and agents started to show interest and invite them to auditions what eventually brought them fame, yes there is no doubt that they are not considered as talented actresses and never play any serious roles in movies, but they achieved their aims, to become famous.
In order to understand the whole situation of the “easy and fast money” here is an example, a playboy model salary “According to the Playboy magazine website a Playmate will get $25,000. And If one of the 12 Playmate gets chosen to be Playmate of the Year she will also receive $100,000 as well as a car, motorcycle, publicity for Playboy which will bring in more money and another pictorial of her in the magazine, while a beginner model will receive 1000$(which equals to ~615~ GBP) per photo shot” While according to the UK's national statistics a female worker earns ~485~ GBP per week.
So lets compare 615 GBP per a photo shot that takes usually no longer then one day while 485 GBP per hard working during a whole week. Not mention that models that participate in adult movies earn much more per one movie, according to the porn industry annual report model can get approximately 5000$ per a movie ( that can be shot in one day). Those figures shows why young girls are so attracted into the porn industry it seems for them to be easier and faster way to earn money, good money and to enter Hollywood or any other celebrity society.
Another reason why young girls are in the porn industry is the fact that young models are tricked by the producers and the photographers that insure them that they only way that They can enter the high fashion industry is by showing some “skin” models that are not aware of their rights are tricked and participate while others that know it is a trick close their eyes on it and agree only because they are so passionate regards the modeling career.
There are some savvier cases where young girls are forced to enter the adult industry, by ricking the girls to sign a modeling contract but in reality those contracts are for the porn industry. Models that disagree to participate in those movies are often threatened that their secret will be told to their families.
And at last it is the entertainment factory: a factory that shows adult magazines as a positive thing. Based on the facts that the existence of those magazines fulfill curtain satisfaction and fantasies for those who view it, for many people it is simply a way to enjoy, to get stimulated and to explore sexuality.
Regardless of the reasons why young girls decide to participate in the porn industry it is very important to outline the harm and the danger that pornography brings along with.
One of the biggest problems and dangers of pornography is the health problem, AV stars usually are not using protection during the sexual act, not only it influence on the youth on not using a condom but it is a real danger to the AV stars them selves. In each movie the Av stars are performing sexual acts with different namoros partners without using protections. The adult industry insures that they check AV actors and actresses before each movie but it is quite impossible to have a test every week or a few days. That can explain the number of AV stars that died from AIDS.#p#分页标题#e#
The other danger that comes along is the threats towards the people in the industry, Often models from adult magazines are threatened and even in several cases physically Attacked by members of their own families and friends who feel a shamed and publicly insulted.
Furthermore in other cases people who believe that those AV actors are committing a sin that infects the whole society attack and even murder them, example for that is the case of a pornography model Anna Mills, according to AVN (Adult Video News) “while Anna Mills was posing for a fetish magazine in the Hollywood Key club five assailants that included 2 females and 3 males attacked the model by breaking 3 bottles on her head, neck and shoulders. The attack went approximately ten minutes what caused Mills serious and dangerous head injuries, 2 of the males were blocking the access to mills while the other 3 assailants were attacking her. The police did not even show up to the club and the unknown 5 attackers were set free” the incident only strengths the argument that “easy girl deserves what she gets”. Often AV stars are not protected and are considered as people that deserve what they get.
The following chart illustrates the figures of AV stars that were murdered, committed a suicide and died from Aids.
Another negative issue is the future impact, most of the people that decide to take a part in the adult industry are usually doing that in order to make more money or become celebrity, for some of them the industry is very helpful and kind for others its just a way of living, the AV stars been so young and na?ve never thing about the future impact on their life style choices.
For most of the AV stars it is very hard to come out of the industry, for some it's the contract obligations and for others it's the fact that they don't have any other profession or is to late to start everything over, in the future most of them will have families and children that they would like to protect from their past but it will be extremely hard based on the fact that the magazines and the videos are everywhere and the access to them is very easy and can be done even by using internet.
The Feminist Point Of View:
The debate about Feminism is more complex, since the subject of pornography is complicated and has different views on it. With strong opposition that feminism have against pornography, for the abuse of women, inequality and perception of woman as object kinds, some feminists support the right of pornography existence.
The views of the feminists oppose pornography are numerous and in some cases correct. The first argument lies in the humiliation of women.
Women in pornography are the 'vision' of the male directors that show women as silly objects that seek only for sex.
To feminists defining pornography as degradation of women is a primary element of it. According to Andrea Dworkin who defines pornography as - "a graphic description of sexual degradation of women that includes among others description of women as inhuman sexual objects that are delighted when they are raped or abused, as sexual objects that are taken by the men, including various intercourses with odd objects and animals”
Pornography in their eyes is perceived as a continuation of the female slavery by the men in a new modern way.
The slavery is based on the four components that include
hierarchy,
treatment as an object,
submission
violence
Pornography uses all these components of bondage to maintain the unequal status of the women relatively to men through sex.
In the feminists views the pornography creates a female slavery by the men due to the fact that women are shown as an objects for the men and not as equal.
Throughout the life feminism is fighting for equality for the rights of the women, but women are still raped and used as prostitutes in the man's world, although they are considered equal to men by the law. Despite the changes in the legislation and politics, women are still inferior to male society.
Equality that needs to be created is been distorted by the pornography.
Pornography, in the eyes of the feminists affects women's equality, cultural values and their right to self-determination.
Pornography makes women as enslaved sex objects that are not equal to the men according to the feminists that are against it therefore they have to fight it.
Pornography is not an expression of sexual freedom, but the cynical exploitation of a free woman's sexual activities and transformation of it into sordid and cheap.
To them, the essence of pornography is a male propaganda against women.
Another argument that the feminist bring is about the labor market itself. Often described as inhuman working conditions, sexual relations several times a day to make the film, inserting large organs in tremendous pain and incest, the most known to all is the story of Linda Labels, the star of 'Deep Throat', that was forced by her husband to participate in the film for a small amount of money.
Rape stories of the porn actresses in the movies and outside the filming areas, physical and mental health and the little help that they earn in the industry are known to all.
The absurdity is that while rape is prohibited by the criminal law, distribution of pornographic material including rape is protected by the freedom of expression.
Porn that is consumed in now days is considered to be the most violent ever; it represents a distorted reality of rape and sexuality, and may cause certain conditions to rape women. Youth are exposed to porn magazines at age 11. Until they get to high school they have seen all these issues. At the junior high students are already exposed to adult movies, most before age 13.
Canadian study reveals the vast majority of children aged 14 have seen a pornographic film.
Pornography according to Diana Russell creates mechanisms that can actually undermine the men from carrying emotionally about a rape.#p#分页标题#e#
Those elements are created by accepting pornography as reality:
Accepting women as a sexual object.
Creation myths of rape - pornography, argued that causes men to believe women are enjoying from been raped by them, bringing the cancellation mechanisms of self-restraint.
Violence - Harrison weakening mechanisms if men understand rape is normative behavior.
"Marginal" rape - rape becomes an act is permitted and "no so bad".
Creating masculine and tough approach to sex.
Acceptance of male dominance in intimate relationships.
Cancelation of male sensitivity to rape.
Pornography gradually eliminates the barriers that male have towards rape. It makes the woman a human being with equal rights and feelings to become an object owned by a man who can do with them what they wish.
Another question to ask about the feminism is whether this censorship will be on them to censor all films and books depicting the degradation of women, or are perceived as humiliating to them. If so, it will be necessary to censor the majority of TV and film, there are always elements such humiliating or others. Not only there will be a need to censor, but also the women's magazines, which is also where women are perceived merely objects, it is an absurd to ban and censor everything where women are seen as a sexual object or an equal to men. As long as women are not getting hurt and are having the same rights as men it is not necessary to censor everything , just to control the violence in the pornography which can lead to violence in the reality towards women.
Pornography And Morality.
The Lost Of The Cultural And Traditional Values
It seems that the world is dealing with the major modernization that changes the nature and the behavior of the people around the world , even the most religious and traditional countries are influenced by the west and are taking part in the modernization even if the governments try to control and prevent it. It is a human nature to be influenced and interested with the lives of the others. The biggest influence is coming from the United States, furthermore even countries that dislike the way of life in US still the youth is attracted and is interested to be like them if it comes to the fashion, way of life and the culture.
One of the biggest providers of the porn industry are Americans, the Americans influence other countries and cultures not by providing the highest numbers of porn but by considering pornography as something normal, civil and modern. In the traditional and religious countries it is very important to keep the culture and not be modernized as the Americans or the western people.
Muslim countries try to prevent the modernization and the possibility of cultural and tradition lost by controlling the people or by setting religious rules such as the Sharia law (Muslim or Islamic law, both civil and criminal justice as well as regulating individual conduct both personal and moral. The custom-based body of law based on the Quran and the religion of Islam. Because, by definition, Muslim states are theocracies, religious texts are law, the latter distinguished by Islam and Muslims in their application, as Sharia or Sharia law) that will intimidate the youth not to lose their traditions. Other countries in Asia such as China they try to control the behavior of their citizens by controlling the information that comes from the West or some specific American websites and information that can influence the Chinese youth. Again very important to mark the problem here it is not the fact that Americans provide a porn industry more then that pornography is made and provided in Asian countries as well and even in religious Muslim countries, the only difference is the fact that it is not so open it is more of an underground industries that work very discretely in order for not to be caught. The influence comes from the way pornography is treated in the west, no longer have the youth wanted to be modest and traditional they want to be like the west to be more free and to live their lives without any control. It is a big problem when curtain countries lose their culture and tradition that were kept for thousands of years, step by step by modernization the traditions will be lost and forgotten for the next generation. It is very hard to control people and not legal to take their rights to live the way they want to live, that's why the methods used by the Muslim countries or even China are not the correct way, taking ones right to gain information and to block access to the outside the world will only increase the curiosity and will lead to the point when people will want to rebel and break the rules in order to be more free. Furthermore in the countries that are already influenced by the west clashes already occur, for example in Turkey a country that is a traditional and most of their population is Muslims. The Turkish youth are influenced from the west and they stop care about the traditions of their countries, traditions that their parents and grandparent raised on. No longer Turkish young girls try to act modest and keep their traditions regards the relationship between men and women in Muslim countries now they are more free and not consider their culture and traditional values anymore. The modernization that comes by the influence of the west violates the rights of those that still keep their culture and traditions, the most recent example is the fact that Turkish government set a new law regards the hijab, no longer Turkish girls are allowed to wear hidjab in the Universities. Turkish government explains that they want to make sure that girls are not pressured to wear a hijab by their families the society and people around (that is a modernization and influence from the west where people believe that women should be more free in the Muslim countries) but the law regards the hijab violets the rights of those that regardless of the influence still want to keep their traditions and their cultural and religious values.
Obscenity, Moral Issues And The Religion
Public Morality, the issue of what is right and what is wrong is a really contradiction issue because each society has it's own different point of view and understanding based on their culture, religion, traditions, values and personal believe, so that factor makes it almost impossible to define what is a morality. But one thing is very clear sexual industry and pornography is not welcomed by the majority of the public based on an important factor such as a religion factor. Religious people are trying to protect their families and them selves from what they believe is a sin and by accepting that sin in the society they believe they will be punished and judged by the God, when people have such a strong faith it is very an pleasant and harmful to expose them to those adult materials which technically means to make them commit a sin against their own weal.
By displaying the adult pornographic magazines in the news shops or by advertising sexual images religious people have no choice whether they want to look at it or not, they will see it because even the cover of the magazine contains pornographic nude images (which are commercially logical in order to attract the viewer to buy the magazine).
Porn And Religion:
Religion even more interesting as it turns out that the reference to pornography varies from religion to religion, and these do not share the same approach to the subject. The difference begins in relation to different religions in their attitude towards sex and then goes on to pornography. While in Christianity, Islam and Judaism women are perceived as devoted to man and
family and must obey to the rules of modesty and commitment level or another, there is a strong opposition to pornography in those religions.
In contrast, Eastern religions, which consider sex and sexuality part of life, pornography is not perceived as so threatening, and win legitimacy reflected in the writings of general existence of Kama Sutra and sex markets in East Asia.
Christianity is the only religion that tried in fact to fight human sexuality, according to the Christianity pornography is guilty of rape, sexual exploitation of children, Pedophilia, sado - masochism and murder against based on sex crimes.
To them these crimes are the result of images and words appearing in pornographic magazines and other porn materials such as videos. The only way to get rid of these crimes is prevention of pornography, in their opinion.
But unlike the monotheistic approach to sex, there is another approach. Sexuality toke an important place in the Chinese culture, the Yin and Yan representing among others the man and woman, are combined together and express their connection to Tao, the world order. Japan which was controlled by the Confucius ideology, sexual material intended for other things. Sexual texts and drawings were a symbol of fertility and most were designed to serve as guides and create feelings of sensual sex.#p#分页标题#e#
Criticism And Suggestions
Criticism Of The Law
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that under no circumstances must freedom of expression be denied. By banning or restricting freedom of expression, the other fundamental rights will be violated or in worst case prohibited. There are curtain cases where the government decide to temporary restrict or limit freedom of expression or speech when that right is putting in danger the whole population of that curtain country or state. Even in complicated situation like that the government is been criticized.
By allowing the cases of special circumstances we will leave the doors of Pandora open, one can always use that case to justify their actions. It is impossible to Criticize the law that allows the existence of pornography (based on the basic fact that freedom of speech and freedom of expression was not made in order to protect pornography, the role of freedom of expression is to allow one to express emotions belief and art without fear from others). The criticism is towards the people that use “freedom of expression” and freedom of speech as protective umbrella. Whenever the issue with pornography is raised the creators and the producers of pornographic materials pull out they protective umbrella and hide underneath. As much as pornography has a major influence on the youth and especially on the children and their social behavior and attitude it is impossible to prohibit pornography in a democratic society. The best way of dealing with such a controversial matter is to restrict child pornography and extreme porn, while controlling and limiting the access that children have to pornography. One might suggest that the law is not doing enough to protect our children by allowing the existence of pornography but if to think about the issue of pornography deeper it is a sacrifice that the law has to take in order to protect the children in the future. If the law will ban all the pornography materials, other ways of freedom of expression can be banned and restricted and that will lead to the situation where in the future those children and their future generation will live in a society where one cannot express their selves. That situation will defy the democracy totally.
What Can Be Done: Future Proposals
The existence of pornographic materials is not the main problem; the bigger problem is the distribution of those materials and the places where they are displayed. In order to prevent the children to have an easy access to those adult materials and furthermore to prevent expulsion of those materials to people who are highly sensitive to its content such as religious and traditional people, Law should consider to ban the adult magazines to be soled in news shops (even that by the law those adult magazines should be placed in a place where children cannot have easy access to it, but the owners of the shops think in a business mind by putting those magazines in a hidden place they will not catch the eyes of the viewer and will not be sold) instead all the adult materials which include video, audio, magazine, books, toys an e.g. Should be soled only in the adult shops (more known as sex shops). It will prevent the accesses of the children to those materials (people aged under 18 are not allowed to enter those shops) and even more it will prevent the exposion of the religious or other sensitive people the pornographic materials.
By the law all the websites that have any materials of child pornography are illegal and will be blocked. But there are curtain websites that have material specially made for pedophiles so called “Lolita” websites. Those websites are pornographic websites where the models are looking very young (around the age of 12-14) in reality the models are all 18 and older but they all look very young for their age furthermore the creators of those websites use special computer program that makes those models look even younger. The law cannot prohibit those websites because legally all the models are over 18. But those that are viewing the website do not know about it (the fact about the models been all over 18 is written in very small letter in the terms and conditions page…which most of the viewers never read).
The government can use the argument that the pedophiles that view those materials might be influenced and commit a similar crime (Lolita websites usually include a discretion or a story of each model and what can one do with her) due to the fact that the viewers are not aware that those girls are over 18 and consider them as young girls it might lead to actions that they take towards other little girls. Yes it is not a direct threat but when it comes to the protection of the children even indirect threats need to be illuminated.
The main source of pornography the internet needs to take responsibility as well, the system that Google has called “safe net” is not enough. The “safe net” does exist and it totally bans any website that contains sexual and pornography materials, but the problem with the “safe net” is that it is extremely easy to remove. Most of 6-year-old children will be able to remove the filter and later on put it back that only indicates that the safe net filter is not a strong protection.
There are other ways such as changing the filter system on those major companies such as passwords, where parents can sat a password in the filter and every time when their child will
Try to search a web site that contains a sexual adult materials in order to open the page the
Viewer will need to provide the special password. It is not a new idea it already exist for
Example with satellite channels parents can block the adult channels by setting a password.
The problem is money; it will cost a lot of money to companies such as Google to change
Their filter system. In order to avoid that Google is insisting that it is a parent's responsibility
To control the actions of their children. Well it shouldn't take the responsibility of the internet companies but they have a point, parents must take a part in the protection as well. Parents need to monitor what their children are viewing it is not about “snooping” in their children life but its about making sure their children are not in danger and are not exposed to sensitive materials for their age.#p#分页标题#e#
Pornography Cases And Famous Scandals
Girls (Scream) Aloud Case:
Mister Darrin Walker, a blogger who was charged with obscenity after writing an erotic fantasy story about the girl band “Girls aloud” with the description of the kidnap, rape and murder of the girls, the 7,300-word story tells of the kidnap of the famous girl band from their tour bus furthermore Mr. Walker explains in graphic and sexually-explicit terms how he wishes to kill the band's members and sell their limbs and other body parts on the internet auction on eBay was. Mr. Walker was cleared at court yesterday after prosecutors offered no evidence against him. In that case it was the first time that the 1959 Obscene Publications Act had been used for the written material on the internet. Darrin Walker's case was regarded as a test that will decide the future of the bloggers and publishers of online fiction. On June 30th, on the first day of Mr. Walker's trial, the case was abandoned after the introduction of evidence from an information technology expert. The Crown Prosecution Service explained that originally they charged Mr. Walker based on the fact that the story "Girls (Scream) Aloud” could be easily accessed by young fans of the group and can be affected. But the IT expert explained that the article could only be found by those who were specifically searching for such material. After the speech of the IT expert the CPS surrendered the case. A year ago when the whole story started it was seen as one of the most significant censorship cases since the publisher Penguin was prosecuted for sanctioning DH Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1960.
The Derbyshire doctor case:
According to the BBC NEWS a Derbyshire GP Robert Manley downloaded over 90,000 images of a child sex abuse and pornography on his laptop at his clinic and toke 26 indecent images of children, Manley was arrested after the CEOP's (Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre) contacted UK police about their suspicions about Manley. After admitting 47 year old GP was jailed for three years, Manley was disqualified from working with children. This case just shows how dangerous Child pornography is, DR Manley had an access to children as a GP (although that he haven't found guilty of child abuse yet) and parents had no idea about Manley's addictions
Violent Pornography Case:
According to the BBC Alan Moore from Carrickfergus is the first person in Northern Ireland that was charged under the new extreme pornography law. The law was introduced after a campaign made by Liz Longhurst, a mother of Jane Longhurst whom was murdered to change the law on the possession of violent pornography. In 2003 Graham Coutts, from Sussex, was jailed for strangling Jane Longhurst for his sexual gratification. Anyone with sexually violent images could be jailed for up to three years. Mr. Moore was also charged with engaging in sexual touching with a person under 16, indecent assault and gross indecency.
Child Pornography:
According to the London (Reuters) - 27 years old unemployed Philip Thompson A pedophile who acted as a "librarian" for a global Internet child abuse ring was jailed after one of the biggest undercover police investigations into online abuse in Britain, Thompson had nearly a quarter of a million indecent pictures of children, including thousands in the two most serious categories on this computer .He was jailed for a minimum of 45 months after pleading guilty to 27 child abuse charges at Teesside Crown Court in Middleborough in the northeast of England. According to the police “"He was a senior administrator for a pedophile website and was effectively a librarian for the storing and distribution of indecent images of children". The arrest was made after almost one year of monitoring and learning the information about the web site by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
Lady Chatterley's Lover Case:
Lady Chatterley's lover was published in 1960 by the publishers, Books, and was accused of including sexual literature; the case went on trial under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. It considered being a major public event and a test of the new obscenity law. The 1959 act which was introduced by Roy Jenkins had made it possible for publishers to explain their work and to show that their work was of literary merit. On major problem of the publication was the frequent use of the "f" word and its derivatives. The verdict was delivered on the November the 2nd, 1960, and the verdict was "not guilty". The result of that victory was a major start and development of freedom for publishing explicit material in the United Kingdom.
The Penguin second edition, published in 1961, contains a publisher's dedication, which reads: "For having published this book, Penguin Books were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, 1959 at the Old Bailey in London from 20 October to 2 November, 1960.
Conclusion
Pornography is cruel, violent, strident, obnoxious, and intrusive that breaches the peace. But it can be also a stimulating, beautiful and mesmerizing thing. The argument regards pornography is very difficult, long and complicated to discuss it so openly and courageously. Even the definitions of pornography are not clear and complicated so no surprise that the whole theme of pornography is complicated as well.
Pornography is carrying many profound discussions about the different rights and different values of our various commitments as citizens. Pornography is also part of a dark world where exploitation, rape and other social lesions that we must fight. Furthermore pornography is a value that we as a democratic society must talk about it, recognize the advantages and disadvantages rather than ignore it and prohibit it totally.#p#分页标题#e#
Pornography industry is responsible for perpetuation of exploitation and rape there is no doubt about it. The warehouses and the terrible hygiene conditions in which the AV stars are working. The stories behind the movies where the AV stars are raped. Furthermore the large number of sexual activities that an actress needs to perform every day to make a film in several days, those conditions leads to self-destructive physical erosion.
In addition the most serious problem with pornography is the crimes against children, such as the pedophilia and the exploitation of minors to satisfy sick minds and other different sex maniacs. As much as it sounds cruel all these do not justify the cancellation of pornography. One action leads to another, by prohibiting and banning the pornography we will marsh towards the total prohibitions of freedom of expression and later on freedom of speech. The pornography is the sacrifice that the one must take in order to keep the fundamental right of self expression and speech.
Our generation must explain and educate the youth and the children that the footages that are described by the pornography is a fiction, and to explain what is pornography, who is intended primarily for and those who is not intended, that might save many future problems of sexual misunderstanding. Parents and teachers have to explain very clearly that relations between the sexes existing in the pornography are not real and are simply a figment of the director's fantasy. People need to understand that pornography is not an issue of one person , one women or one child it a problem and a danger that can affect the whole society that's why people need to be less selfish and think about the others as well. Internet search bars such as Google and Yahoo must take better action regardless the fact that they will lose some money on those protections but it will forth it in the future.
Table Of Authorities:
1. European Convention on Human Rights Article 10 - Freedom of expression.
2. R. v. Hicklin case
3. Lady Chatterley's lover case
4. Obscene publication act 1857
5. Obscene Publication act 1959
6. Obscene Publication act 1965
7. The Children's Act 1989
8. Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, Part 5 section 63 “extreme pornography”
9. The Indecent Displays Control Act 1981.
10.Protection of Children Act 1978
11.Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 - The right to freedom of speech.
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