Violence

            Pornography as Violence against Women.
             "Pornography is central in creating and maintaining the civil inequality of the sexes. Pornography is a systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex which differentially harms women." Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon.
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             Pornography is an industry growing at a rapid rate. As its audience expands its consumers are getting younger and younger. I have always been against pornography for a variety of reasons. I now have one new reason. My nine-year-old cousin just got the internet on his computer. The first website he went to was Hooters.com. I had to listen to him talk about the "hot babes- in bikinis on the site and how he can't wait until he is old enough to go to Hooters. He wants to marry a Hooters girl because she is a hot babe. If this isn't testimony to the damage that pornography has on young minds I don't know what is. Several of these bikini-clad women were printed out on his new color printer. His father commented on the quality of the color. I was appalled. I waited for my aunt to take his computer privileges away or at least shut down the site. She didn't. How do I explain to this nine year old wrongs of his actions, and is it my place to do so? What's going to happen when .
             he discovers the other sites with scantily clad women? I fear for this.
             Some may ask, "Why is this so damaging?- He is young and curious, a "boys will be boys- kind of notion. Before I can answer that question I want to show the correlation between pornography and violence against women. I want to expose pornography as abusive to women. I think then that the question will answer itself. .
             I think it is appropriate to first define pornography before I continue. The American Heritage Desk Dictionary defines pornography as written or pictorial matter intended to arouse sexual feelings. This definition gives an erotic, innocent explanation to pornography.