Pornography

Your chance to have your say about hard-core pornography. Do we know what it is? Could we even ban it if we wanted to? Is there any evidence that pornography can be addictive?

The issues:

What is it?

Pornography means different things to different people. As one famous US judge said: 'I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it.' (Justice Stewart in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 US 184 (1964)). Our views of what is sexually explicit and what is 'hard-core' can vary from culture to culture and over time. Displays of women's uncovered ankles count as sexually explicit and offensive in some cultures, but not in most Western cultures nowadays (although they once did: the display of a female ankle in Victorian times was regarded as most risqué). There may be borderline cases too: do displays of bared breasts still count as sexually explicit in various contemporary Western cultures? Can a line be drawn on what is acceptable, given the increasingly international nature of pornography?

The Internet

Distribution of violent and abusive pornography is illegal in the UK but foreign websites fall out of this legislation, so new laws could ban possession of it in Britain.

Meanwhile, research by Computing Which? suggests that some parental software controls are not always effective at protecting children who use the Internet, with many blacklisted sites still slipping through. Should we take responsibility for what our children see and not rely on these seemingly inconsistent firewalls? Or should children be exposed to these types of images so they get an understanding of what is out there and can make informed choices? An estimated four in 10 British male adults have accessed porn on the Internet – does this make them worse people? With the increasing role of the Internet in accessing pornography, can any one country act unilaterally to ban it? Should alliances be formed between different countries to effectively combat hard-core pornography?

Violence

Supporters of pornography argue that the sort of person who goes out and strangles someone because they saw it in porn is the same sort of person who would go out and punch somebody because they had been watching a boxing match. Should we concentrate instead on promoting strength of character, and a good moral code? How will people learn to make up their minds themselves if every important choice is made for them? If hard-core pornography was banned and effectively taken away, would people no longer have thoughts about violent sex? In Germany, where explicit pornography and prostitution are both legal, the rate of sexual assault is one quarter of that in the United States, where both are illegal.

Money

Pornography is one of the world's most profitable industries, generating thousands of jobs and contributing hugely to the wider economy, including millions of pounds in taxes which are used to provide much-needed public services, from schooling, to health care, to policing. According to the Adult Industry Trade Association, in the UK alone pornography (taken to include adult videos, magazines, Cable/Pay per view, Internet and CD-Rom) is estimated to be worth £1 billion. In 2003, the US pornography industry is estimated to have grossed in excess of $8 billion, greater than the combined revenue of ABC, CBS, and NBC ($6.2. billion). If hard-core pornography were to be banned, would the industry not simply be pushed underground, where it would continue unregulated without paying tax?

Ban it?

Far from being an activity attracting only a minority of the UK's population, according to the Durex Global Sex Survey 2004, 50 per cent of the UK adult population watches porn with their partner. It even has its own trade show which, according to its organisers, attracts more visitors than the Ideal Home Exhibition.

If two consenting adults watch consensual pornography in the privacy of their own home, the porn industry argues, why should anyone have the right to tell them to stop? Should the UK government, follow what the Polish government did in 2000, and ban all forms of pornography, or would that merely push it under the carpet and create more problems than it solves? Is this a violation of our basic freedoms, or do we indeed need a 'nanny state' to protect us?

Degrading?

Critics of pornography say it is degrading to women, without necessarily being overtly violent. This material depicts people (most often women) in positions of servility and subordination, or engaged in sexual acts that many people would regard as humiliating. To what extent does this material reflect society and the way we live? Or does it serve as an important escape valve for those who cannot vent their emotions normally? If a woman puts herself forward as a pornographic actress, knowing exatly what she's letting herself in for, should anyone deny her that? Is it not more empowering to give women the right to use their bodies in any way they see fit? In fact, is hard-core pornography more about power than fantasy and sex? Who's using who?

Harmful?

Critics also argue that pornography is harmful to its (mostly male) consumers: for example, by corrupting their morals or by making them less likely to be able to have long-term, loving sexual relationships. According to the Adult Industry Trade Association over 90 per cent of British males have used pornography at one point in their lives. Could it actually contribute to a relationship, or does pornography always have a negative effect on social relationships? Is pornography a symptom or a cause of the way we interract with each other in society? And what about when we lose control and our habit becomes a real problem? Some 10 per cent of men are supposed to have been addicted to pornography at some point in their lives, a statistic that must surely be fuelled by the increasing ease with which anyone can access hard-core material from the safety of their own home. Or is addiction to pornography a myth and used as a smokescreen to hide other underlying problems?

What do you think?

You've read some of the issues, so here's your chance to let us know what you think about hard-core pornography.