Pornography is any type of visual material that is sexually explicit, usually featuring a male or female engaging in sex. The term is most commonly used to describe pictures, but it can also refer to videos and written material. It has long been condemned and banned in the belief that it depraves children, corrupts adults, and leads to sex crimes. Several important artistic works have been banned on this basis, as have some religious texts.
There are various theories about what constitutes pornography, and a number of definitions have been proposed. Some of these are more narrow than others. For example, some feminists argue that a work is pornographic if it depicts women being bound or chained, and even eroticizes this treatment (Longino 1980; MacKinnon 1984). This kind of definition has the disadvantage of being value-laden; the fact that it privileges certain kinds of images over other types is implicit in its formulation.
Other scholars have suggested a less value-laden approach. They have defined pornography as any material that breaks taboos of sexual expression, and has a particular effect on its audience. The problem with this approach is that it tends to be quite subjective: what counts as taboo breaking may vary from culture to culture, and can change over time. A classic example would be the display of a woman’s uncovered ankle, which may have been considered very sexually explicit in Victorian times, but is no longer so in most Western cultures.
The debate over the definition of pornography has been especially lively in recent decades, as a new generation of feminists began to question traditional assumptions about it. These feminists argued that pornography was not just an innocent form of entertainment, but a deliberate tool for subordinating women and maintaining inequality in society. Some of them even argued that pornography was directly linked to violence against women, including sexual harassment and rape. Their arguments brushed aside First Amendment considerations, and were met with fierce opposition in the courts.
In the courts, a number of different legal doctrines have been used to define pornography. The Supreme Court established a basic legal standard in its ruling in Miller v. California, in which it held that a piece of art is pornographic if it contains sexually explicit images. This standard has been applied to movies, books, videos and music.
More recently, feminist scholars have argued that the current legal definition of پورنوگرافی is too broad and should be restricted. They have argued that any material that suggests a sexual meaning or that encourages lust is pornographic. They have suggested that this definition should include films, videos and novels that portray real or fictitious sexual events. It should exclude works that are merely suggestive, however, such as paintings or sculptures that show nude bodies.
This dispute has not yet been resolved, but it is likely to be important in future research on the effects of pornography. It is important to have a clear definition of pornography in order to understand the impact it has on people’s lives, and how best to regulate its production, distribution and sale.
