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Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights by Nadine Strossen
gsolanis's review against another edition
1.0
While Strossen writes with an authentic and clear voice, she refuses to seriously engage with what she dubs the “McDworkin” school of thought, instead mocking the assertions made by her fellow academics.
While I agree with Strossen’s 1st Amendment arguments, the work falls flat when Strossen refuses to acknowledge what the science says, that exposure to pornography is associated with negative feelings toward women, violence against women, and other longer term side effects for the male viewers themselves.
Overall this is very much a liberal, “choice” based feminism approach to analysis, relying on the anecdotal evidence that “some women love it,” rather than branching toward class analysis.
While I agree with Strossen’s 1st Amendment arguments, the work falls flat when Strossen refuses to acknowledge what the science says, that exposure to pornography is associated with negative feelings toward women, violence against women, and other longer term side effects for the male viewers themselves.
Overall this is very much a liberal, “choice” based feminism approach to analysis, relying on the anecdotal evidence that “some women love it,” rather than branching toward class analysis.
snodingham's review against another edition
4.0
Starting this book I came in with no specific viewpoint on pornography and how that fit into the feminist agenda. With that said, my mind was quickly awakened to the rhetoric on both sides on how pornography relates to women's rights, violence, and views on women. I think Nadine Strossen does a great job laying out the framework to the current issues (re: 1995 I should say), finding a balance of research to support her views, and highlighting to the reader how pro-censorship can be a slippery slope in regards to free speech and free sexual expression. I myself think we as a society need to do a better job educating individuals about sex and at removing the feeling of shame people feel about being open sexual beings. I liked that Strossen touched on this and how if we begin to censor porn, and free sexual speech in art, literature, etc. we are only pushing things further in the dark which can be worse than having everything in the light.
I would love to see how Strossen would speak about this issue nowadays. With internet being so prevalent, and porn being so accessible, it's not really feasible to censor it. Overall I think it's a fascinating read because it touches on all the potential ramifications censorship could bring. I do think it gets repetitive and could potentially have been shorter and still got its point across. Further, she notes that but I still think it's important to echo, in that I don't think porn in itself causes men to assault individuals, but I also don't think it's necessarily showing people uneducated in how sex works how to treat women well.
I would love to see how Strossen would speak about this issue nowadays. With internet being so prevalent, and porn being so accessible, it's not really feasible to censor it. Overall I think it's a fascinating read because it touches on all the potential ramifications censorship could bring. I do think it gets repetitive and could potentially have been shorter and still got its point across. Further, she notes that but I still think it's important to echo, in that I don't think porn in itself causes men to assault individuals, but I also don't think it's necessarily showing people uneducated in how sex works how to treat women well.
snodingham's review
4.0
Starting this book I came in with no specific viewpoint on pornography and how that fit into the feminist agenda. With that said, my mind was quickly awakened to the rhetoric on both sides on how pornography relates to women's rights, violence, and views on women. I think Nadine Strossen does a great job laying out the framework to the current issues (re: 1995 I should say), finding a balance of research to support her views, and highlighting to the reader how pro-censorship can be a slippery slope in regards to free speech and free sexual expression. I myself think we as a society need to do a better job educating individuals about sex and at removing the feeling of shame people feel about being open sexual beings. I liked that Strossen touched on this and how if we begin to censor porn, and free sexual speech in art, literature, etc. we are only pushing things further in the dark which can be worse than having everything in the light.
I would love to see how Strossen would speak about this issue nowadays. With internet being so prevalent, and porn being so accessible, it's not really feasible to censor it. Overall I think it's a fascinating read because it touches on all the potential ramifications censorship could bring. I do think it gets repetitive and could potentially have been shorter and still got its point across. Further, she notes that but I still think it's important to echo, in that I don't think porn in itself causes men to assault individuals, but I also don't think it's necessarily showing people uneducated in how sex works how to treat women well.
I would love to see how Strossen would speak about this issue nowadays. With internet being so prevalent, and porn being so accessible, it's not really feasible to censor it. Overall I think it's a fascinating read because it touches on all the potential ramifications censorship could bring. I do think it gets repetitive and could potentially have been shorter and still got its point across. Further, she notes that but I still think it's important to echo, in that I don't think porn in itself causes men to assault individuals, but I also don't think it's necessarily showing people uneducated in how sex works how to treat women well.
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