Pornography and the First Amendment

 

Pornography is a term used to describe sexually explicit writings, photographs, films, and other media that are designed to elicit sexual arousal. It has long been condemned and legally proscribed in the belief that it corrupts minors and adults and that it leads to sex crimes. A number of artistic and religious works have been banned on these grounds, although in recent years some important artistic and even religious works that would have been considered pornographic only a few decades ago are being viewed more favorably by legal authorities.

The concept of pornography is controversial because of the complex relationship between sexuality and power. For example, the Marquis de Sade, who wrote a series of books including orgiastic scenes and lengthy philosophical debates on such issues as the evils of property and traditional social hierarchy, produced a pornographic literature that was both erotic and radical. In fact, it helped bring about the Revolution in France that overthrew the aristocracy.

More recently, feminists have begun to decry pornography as a tool for subordinating women to men. One prominent feminist critic, Catharine MacKinnon, argued that pornographic literature and movies objectify and demean women, and are therefore harmful to them. MacKinnon and her colleague Andrea Dworkin developed an intellectual framework that brushed aside traditional First Amendment considerations. They claimed that if pornography was harmful, it did not deserve protection as speech, and that state prohibitions were permissible.

Conservatives, on the other hand, have argued that pornography promotes promiscuous sexual behavior and erotic attitudes that undermine decent family and religious values in society. They believe that if the sexually explicit content of پورنوگرافی is harmful to those who consume it, and if the public's interest in such material is sufficiently strong, then states should have the right to prohibit its production and distribution.

For these reasons, the Supreme Court in 1992 upheld an ordinance prohibiting pornography in Massachusetts. The Court ruled that an ordinance that required pornography to be displayed behind glass in public libraries and museums did not violate First Amendment freedoms because it did not constitute direct censorship. However, the court did allow local governments to regulate the exhibition of pornography in private businesses and homes if it could be shown that such regulations were necessary to protect individuals' privacy interests.

Because of the complexity and sensitivity of the topic, it is difficult to arrive at a consensus definition of pornography. In interdisciplinary studies of the relationships between pornography and its consumers, researchers face a further challenge that they must define the term as it is understood by their own discipline. This is problematic because the use of a single definition prevents attention to important nuances in understanding the relationship between pornography and its consumers. This article presents the results of a Delphi survey of 38 leading pornography researchers from a variety of disciplines who were asked to provide definitions of pornography. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the survey responses suggest that two different and-at first glance-incompatible definitions are operating.

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