History of Feminism
Showing Original Post only (View all)A question to those who support banning pornography because it objectifies women. [View all]
I'm not going to argue that pornography doesn't objectify women, some pornography clearly does. I would also consider myself a feminist who believes that women are equal to men on any measure that matters and that objectifying anyone is a terrible thing to do.
Having said all that I still don't support banning pornography. To explain why I'd like to present a question to everyone.
Lets say today the entire world banned pornography. Owning and or producing pornography is now illegal and the consequences for both these actions are substantial.
Alright, now what?
What hasn't changed is there is still a massive demand for pornography. It has been amply demonstrated throughout history that whenever there is that kind of demand for a product and that demand can't be satisfied legally, a black market springs up to do exactly that through illegal means. Can anyone imagine what the black market for pornography would look like? People are disgusted by the conditions of workers in porn industry now, what would those conditions be like if the pornographers no longer have any incentive to act within the confines of the law (what they are doing is already illegal after all)?
Now consider what that vast black market and the money behind it would do to the world. As popular as drugs are they are still a fairly niche market, yet the money behind that niche market is still able to fuel some of the greatest human tragedies in the world today. A quick look to our neighbors to the south can demonstrate that fact. My guess would be that illegal pornography would be several magnitudes more profitable than illegal drugs, what would these groups that already kill for drug money do if porn suddenly became illegal and they have an opportunity to make even more money? Narcoterrorism is horrible, what would pornterrorism look like?
Finally, I'd contend that such a ban would be completely unenforceable. We can't even keep illegal drugs out of our county and those are physical goods that have to be transported. Does anyone really believe a ban on pornography could be enforced? Even if you cracked down on this black market with the full force of the united states government, you'd never be able to stop something that can be transferred digitally. Short of 1984 like constant monitoring of all online communication, I don't think it would be much harder to find porn online in this world then it would be now. Would it be worth it to get rid of even the most basic concept of privacy to end porn? Would even as extreme of a measure of that actually work? Somehow I doubt it.
Even if you had the perfect theoretical argument for why porn should be banned, just because you ban something doesn't mean it stops to exist. Throughout history bans of this kind have tended to do more harm than good.
What do you think? Do you believe there are practical solutions to these problems?