Pornography Should Be Free from Government Control Essay

Whether one feels strongly about the viewing, making and distribution of pornography by consenting adults, one cannot argue that sex isn’t everywhere. Evident in videos, movies, pictures, and advertisements, it’s a fact that sex sells. Who is to say that because pornography can be viewed easily in many ways, that it’s not a bad thing? Yet in the discourse of pornography as a whole, where does morality and money come into play? To whatever extent pornography is considered immoral; everyone should be entitled their own intellectual freedom. The government has made some steps in order to limit the spread of pornography, yet it is apparent that little can be done to ultimately affect it. In 1968, the Supreme Court case of Ginsberg v. New York held that the government can legally prohibit children from accessing certain types of sexually explicit material, the same material that can’t be banned for adults. Even though the Supreme Court ruled that a minor does not have the constitutional right to the same content as an adult, the task of restricting content on the internet is shaky, due to the difficulty of distinguishing adults from children. In 1973, a following Supreme Court case, Miller v. California, established the phenomenon of â€Å"variable tolerance†. Leaving a variable tolerance existing for explicit material, the Supreme Court allowed communities to decide what was indecent or obscene. Different levels of tolerance of pornography from community to community could be a successful system if in fact, pornography distribution can be limited community by community. Because people are mobile and the internet is boundary-free, the government cannot effectively restrict its availability to everyone (and possibly to anyone). Another notable court case involved with pornography was the 1982 case, Ferber v. New York. This case basically addressed all material showing a ‘sexual performance’ by a child under the age of 16, as obscene. It defined a sexual performance as, â€Å"actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sado-masochistic abuse, or lewd exhibition of the genitals.† It’s a federal offense to knowingly receive child pornography. According to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, â€Å"intellectual freedom is the right of every individual both to hold and express opinions and to seek and receive information.† The freedom of an adult to view pornography involving other adults is not really recognized as a recreational activity, mainly because it is scorned upon in many religions. Even the majority of parental figures in the world seem to demonize pornography when raising their youth. Yet no one really steps back and asks, why exactly is pornography immoral? One of the major arguments towards pornography being immoral is that in many pornographic depictions, people (usually women) seem to be victimized for a viewer’s pleasure. The only difference between an African American woman playing a role as a slave in the civil war era, an African American woman posing in shackle-like bracelets in a skinny jean advertisement, and an African American woman in a pornographic film, is that each different role requires certain talents and understandings that come together in order to entertain an audience. Immoral or not, pornographic material is nothing more than another way to make money. It’s seen or referenced to in many advertisements, and it’s difficult to find an â€Å"R† rated movie with out at least one nudity scene. Once again, sex sells. Wherever there is demand, there will be supply, and the statistics behind internet pornography are somewhat staggering. According to Information Science professor and researcher, Paul F Burton, â€Å"47% of the 11,000 most popular searches on the Internet are targeted towards pornography.† The money aspect of pornography is almost incomprehensible. There are over 1.5 million internet users viewing pornography every minute. From that audience, $3,075.64 is spent on pornography each second, and every 40 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States alone. The market for pornography is huge.