Free XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography by Wendy McElroy

mean anything you want it to. For example, arbitrarily redefining pornography from common usage-"sex books and sex movies"-to the sexually correct meaning of "an act of rape."
    Fortunately, some feminists, like Joanna Russ in Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts, are applying common sense rather than ideology to this distinction: "Until recently I assumed ... that àrt' is better than 'Pornography' just as èrotica' is one thing and `pornography' another; and just as èrotica' surpasses `pornography,' so àrt' surpasses èrotica.' I think we ought to be very suspicious of these distinctions insofar as they are put forward as moral distinctions. " [10]
    With such a Wonderland of definitions floating about, it is prudent to take a step backward and ask, What constitutes a proper definition of anything?
    DEFINING A DEFINITION
    At the risk of sounding like an instructor of Logic 101, let me run the word pornography through a definitional process.
    A good definition consists of two basic components:
    The definiendum. This is the word or concept being defined. In the tentative definition "pornography is sexually explicit literature," the term pornography is the definiendum; The definiens. This is the defining part of the definition. In "pornography is sexually explicit literature," the phrase "sexually explicit literature" is the definiens.
    The process of defining a word involves analyzing it in several ways: What is the genus? That is, what is the general class or category to which the word belongs? In "pornography is sexually explicit literature ," the term literature is the genus. It is the wider category to which pornography belongs. Once the broad context for pornography has been established, the process of definition becomes a matter of narrowing things down. The next question becomes:
    What is the differentia? That is, what distinguishes pornogra phy from all other forms of literature? What essential characteristics make pornography different from murder mysteries or historical novels?
    Establishing the differentia means following certain rules, the most basic of which are: 1. The essential characteristics-or the common denominator found in all instances of the definiendum-cannot be too broad. Consider the definition "human beings are animals that walk on two legs." Since gorillas also walk on two legs, this differentia is too broad.
    2. The essential characteristics should not be too narrow. Thus, "human beings are animals that negotiate contracts" is too narrow because it excludes those people who have never signed a contract.
    To state these two principles in one sentence: The definition should apply to all possible cases, and only to those cases.
    By these standards, definitions can be regarded as either true or false. Competing definitions can be evaluated as better or worse.
    33
    WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY?
    I propose a value-neutral definition: Pornography is the explicit artistic depiction of men and/or women as sexual beings. The modifier explicit excludes such gray areas as women's romance novels. The modifier artistic distinguishes pornography from psychological analyses of sex, such as those found in Freudian textbooks. The term depiction includes a wide range of expression, including paintings, literature, and videos. Thus, the genus of my definition of pornography is "the explicit artistic depiction.
    The differentia is "of men and/or women as sexual beings." This means that pornography is the genre of art or literature that focuses on the sexual nature of human beings. This does not mean pornography cannot present people as full well rounded human beings. But, in order for the piece of art to be part of the "genre" of pornography, it must explicitly emphasize their sexuality.
    Two things are missing from my definition of pornography, which are generally found elsewhere. It is common to refer to pornography as "material intended to sexually arouse"; I have excluded the intention of the author or