In 1920 women fought for their right to be women, to have their sexuality recognized, and were granted the right to vote nationwide in the nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution. The old trademark saying of feminists, "a woman's body, a woman's right," has come a long way and staked much claim and recognition in this patriarchal society. Though now a new obstacle comes to the table for debate, pornography, which has radical feminists allying with their previous enemies, conservatives and the patriarchal state. Should the state censor pornography? Should they have that right? In the US Constitution it clearly states in the first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech." Pornography is a women's right, which exercises control of their own bodies and freedom of expression and speech. Furthermore, despite controversy, porn is not synonymous with sexual violence towards women, but instead provides society an open field to understand our sexuality and desires openly.
Pornography has numerous meanings in today's society, though it is defined by Webster Dictionary as "the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement." Pornography is most closely associated to the sex industry, which essentially supplies for the demands of the sex driven and sexually needy culture in our society. Here is where the attack of anti-pornography advocates begins and where women's right to their own body is being challenged. In Minneapolis in 1983, the anti-porn ordinance was passed, making repercussion to all women working in the porn industry and the producers and distributors of pornography (Dworkin and MacKinnon). The reasoning to such an ordinance is because the city felt that all women in the porn industry were coerced to such a task and not able to give rightfully gives consent to working in a porn.
