A critical evaluation of articles written by MacKinnon, Tisdale, and Nussbaum on the subject of pornography.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Adam Kagan

110135577

Sexual Ethics

2 December, 2002

T.A. Maureen

PORNOGRAPHY

The articles written by MacKinnon and Tisdale offer opposing views on the subject of pornography, while Nussbaum's article attempts to mediate the two views. In this essay, I will reconstruct and give a critical evaluation of each of the three articles, after which I will give my own opinion on the subject: that Tisdale's view on pornography is correct and that MacKinnon's idea of pornography objectifying women is not effectively derived.

MacKinnon believes that pornography is the embodiment of our societies social structure, which is focused around male dominance. She defines pornography by saying that "in sexuality, life and art are each other, and therefore in this society of male dominance, pornography is reality; it is male dominance (409)", a definition which she adopts from Andrea Dworkin. Pornography is therefore not a moral issue, it is a political one; it is not about good and evil, it is about power and powerlessness. "In pornography", she says, "women are there to be violated and possessed, men are there to violate and possess them, either on screen or by pen, on behalf of