Should pornography be illegal?

Feb 28th 2005 | Me

[LauraleeBraswell]

Prostitution: one adult pays another adult for sex- is illegal

Pornography: Where one adult pays two adults to have sex and brings a camera, This is legal.

Pornography has been around for over one hundred years, since the time of the camera,

but it has only been the last few decades where it became the money making industry that it is today. And today's pornography is much much worse.

This question came to me after reading this article

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1353029/posts

an excerpt "The Justice Department is appealing the dismissal of an obscenity case in Pittsburgh in which a federal judge said prosecutors went too far in trying to block the sale of pornographic movies over the Internet and through the mail. The case initially was prosecuted under Ashcroft""

Should pornography be illegal?

It's an opinion question, you answer, give your reasons. Is it free speech or not? Why. And where is the line drawn? Has pornography promoted homosexuality and unsafe sex? Or is it a privacy issue?

Should there be standards on pornography?

Concerned Women for America say No- what do you think?

[Cedar]

The whole point is that a righteous society is offended by laws which make wrong behavior appear normal by legalizing it.

If society has now sunk to the depths to where people think it is OK for pornography to be legal, then there's not much left to be said.

[supercat]

The whole point is that a righteous society is offended by laws which make wrong behavior appear normal by legalizing it.

Lots of wrongful behavior is legal. The idea that everything that's legal is okay is a very dangerous notion, but one to which you seem to subscribe.

I would instead try to deliver the message that many things are legal not because they're good, but because some people just have to learn the hard way why they're bad.

[XBob]

69 - "Playboy is porn. Already admitted I was wrong. "

Why should beautiful human bodies be 'pornographic'? They have been the subject/object of art for thousands of years.

You don't like sex?

You should be glad that your parents liked sex.

[Cedar]

Well, just spare me the government that wants to legislate bad behavior.

[goldstategop]

My view is each state and community should be allowed to enforce its own obscenity standards. As a practical matter, its impossible to enforce them if material's viewed inside the home. Its one thing to prohibit and prosecute the display of smut in public; its an entirely different matter if you have to violate people's privacy and that raises the question of whether you have the right to impose your tastes on others.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[goldstategop]

Maybe. Do sex instruction manuals and videos fall under your definition? One couple's looking up how to make love is another couple's porn.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[goldstategop]

Of course not. Every one reads Playboy and Penthouse strictly for the articles! ;-)

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[curiosity]

She's no more on the dole than a homeowner who gets a payout from his insurance company when his house burns down. She paid her unemployment insurance premiums while working, so it's only fair that she collect when she loses her job.

Furthermore, she's not responsible for Germany's idiotic labor laws that cause their double-digit unemployment rate.

And yes, since prostitution violates human dignity, she is too good for it, as is every other human person.

[curiosity]

Laws exist to protect people from being harmed by others, not to restrict people to only doing what is right.

Where is that written?

[curiosity]

One can be conservative and still enjoy sex and porn.

Sex, yes, porn no, not unless you radically redefine the definition of the word.

[FactsMatter]

I refuse to debate someone who get happy at other countries being run by dictators.

You appear to have the desire to turn the USA into a dictatorship so you and the people who agree with you can punish those that do not agree with you.

BTW - Conservatives, as a general rule, do not support dictators.

[curiosity]

It's a sad day when that "which is legal" is the wrong instead of the right. Talk about an upside down world......

Woow, easy there. I agree with you that the state should sometimes legislate morality, but you don't seriously believe the government should of outlaw every vice?

Outlawing a vice brings with this costs and benefits. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the costs, but not always.

I agree with you that prostitution and pornography are cases where the benefits of outlawing them outweight the costs. But I can think of many vices that it the opposite would be true. Do you want to outlaw smoking and drinking?

[curiosity]

BTW - Conservatives, as a general rule, do not support dictators.

I see, so Reagan, Nixon, Teddy Roosevelt, and Einsenhower were not conservatives.

[nopardons]

Tell me you're kidding.......please. We "take back" those institutions? HOW?

When the pendulum finally swings back,the people will demand the laws.That's how it's always been,except when some dictator/king/whatever decides it all.

[curiosity]

Why should beautiful human bodies be 'pornographic'? They have been the subject/object of art for thousands of years.

There's a difference between art depicting the beauty of form and pronography, which violates human dignity by debasing the sexual act.

You don't like sex?

When it embodies the ultimate expression of marital love, yes. When debased and stipped of all its spiritual content, no.

[curiosity]

Sorry, I meant to write "art depicting the beauty of the nude human form"

[FactsMatter]

They supported them because they HAD TO. You appear to support them because you like them. This is the difference.

[FactsMatter]

" When it embodies the ultimate expression of marital love, yes. When debased and stipped of all its spiritual content, no."

And what does that mean? In your future American dictatorship will certain sex acts be illegal?

[k2blader]

How about this question:

Should divorce be illegal?

It causes as much if not more harm to society.

[Richard Kimball]

Nopardons, I think Lauralee brings up some pretty interesting discussion topics, and apparently many other people do, to. Most of her threads end up being several hundred posts long. I suspect that she's not really an eighteen year old female high school student, though, since research proves that nearly 70% of teenage girls on the internet are actually 47 year old FBI agents. So, what's the story Lauralee?

Oh, also, nopardons, your information on ancient pornography is a little disjointed. Many cultures had artwork we would consider pornographic, even in ancient times. Japan is a pretty good example, and when I was at UT, I remember our library having a book about a pyramid, pre-Christian, that was composed completely of stone relief of hundreds of people engaged in various sex acts. Each person was "attached to another person, so that all of the several hundred people were joined in some way. I don't remember much else about it, except that it was from somewhere in what is now China, the date was in dispute, although there was little doubt it was at leat 2000 or so years old.

There's a huge variance among cultures, and you can't sum up all of ancient times in one fell swoop. Or one swell foop, for that matter.