In his article entitled "Feminism, Pornography, and Censorship," Mark Wicclair argues that even if pornography, as defined by Helen Longino, exists, censoring pornographic material may cause more harm than good. In this paper I will examine Wicclair's arguments and explain why I agree with him.

Helen Longino defines pornography as "sexually explicit material that depicts and condones the acts of exploitation, dehumanization, subordination, abuse, or denigration of women"(382). Wicclair argues that Longino uses very vague and obscure terms to describe what specifically pornography is and states that "those who call for the censorship of pornography on the grounds that it is sexist and misogynistic fail to recognize the difficulty of formulating laws which would have an acceptable degree of clarity and specificity"(384). Wicclair states that different people have different criteria for deciding when something is degrading or humiliating and therefore it may be difficult to censor pornography without a clear-cut definition of what exactly it is that should be censored.

Wicclair concedes that even if pornograph

Mark R. Wicclair, "Feminism, Pornography, and Censorship." In Morality and Moral Controversies, 5th edition, edited by John Arthur (Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Prentice Hall, 1999),pp.381-386.

I think Wicclair clearly and adequately argues his points. He uses factual, as well as logical information to demonstrate his position, whereas Longino's argument is very vague and open to interpretation.

y in this definition does exist, censoring it would infringe upon our right to freedom of expression. The ability to express one's ideas without the threat of being penalized by the law or fear of government control is an essential principle in our free society (382). Wicclair suggests that censoring pornography hinders an environment that promotes the expression of differing views about politics, art, and religion, an environment that encourages progress and aids in the search for truth and justice (382).

Because there is no proof that pornography directly causes harm to women, the only arguments that can be used in favor of censoring this kind of material are ones based on moral beliefs. Because morals are sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or e

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Approximate Word count = 782
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)