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

producer. I have also excluded the reaction of the reader or viewer.
    In other words, I claim that The Tropic of Cancer is inherently pornographic, quite apart from Henry Miller's intentions. To put this in another way: What if Miller protested that he was doing a political commentary on fascism, not a piece of pornography? Would his intention somehow convert the book into a work of political science? By my definition, no. The Tropic of Cancer would be a work of pornography whether or not Miller had hoped to achieve something else.
    Equally, what if a reader became tremendously aroused by Animal Farm and not at all by Miller's book? The reader's response would not alter the fact that Miller, not Orwell, is the one presenting pornography.
    "Pornography is the explicit artistic depiction of men and/or women as sexual beings." This is not merely a working definition. It is a definition I propose as a new and neutral starting point for a more fruitful discussion of pornography.
    IS PORNOGRAPHY GOOD OR BAD?
    With a working definition in place, it is possible to move on to the next question, Is pornography good or bad? This question is usually asked in one of two manners: 1. Is the explicit depiction of sex, in general, a good or bad thing?
    Opinions on this range widely. At one extreme are the Religious Right and the antiporn feminists, who condemn any graphic expression of sexuality, including straightforward nudity.
    At another extreme are those people who view any sexual censorship as being far worse than pornography could ever be. Most people fall in the middle. They tend to judge pornography on a case-by-case basis.
    2. Is a specific piece of pornography good or bad art?
    This is an aesthetic question. It revolves around identifying the major themes being expressed and evaluating how well the themes have been executed.
    Most pornography is bad art. Indeed, pornography probably contains less artistic value than any other genre of literature and art. The reason for this is simple. Whenever a genre is stigmatized (or criminalized), the best writers and minds tend to abandon it. Those authors-such as D. H.
    Lawrence or James Branch Cabell or Henry Miller-who persist in bringing their genius to bear are persecuted without mercy. No wonder the industry is dominated by those who rush to make a quick profit rather than a profound insight.
    Nevertheless, I believe the quality of pornography is often maligned. Pornography tends to be judged by the worst examples within the genre. Anti-pornographers do not hold up copies of D.
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    H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover or Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. They choose the most repulsive examples they can find and call them "representative." What other genre could withstand being judged by its poorest instances?
    CONCLUSION
    To repeat: The definition used in this book is: Pornography is the explicit artistic depiction of men and/or women as sexual beings. No area of human psychology needs exploration and understanding as much as sexuality does. At the turn of the century, Freud revolutionized the world's view of sex. Suddenly, it became a popular topic. It became almost a social duty to discuss and examine sex. Now antipornography feminists are trying to turn back the clock and shut women's sexuality away behind the locked doors of political correctness. Their first line of attack is to define the debate in their own terms.
    The first line of defense is to flatly reject such maneuvering.
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CHAPTER THREE
FEMINISM AND PORN; FELLOW TRAVELERS
    "Comstockery is the world's standing joke at the expense of the United States. Europe likes to hear of such things. It confirms the deep-seated conviction of the Old World that America is a provincial place, a second-rate country-town civilization after all."
    - George Bernard Shaw
    Sexually correct history considers the graphic depiction of sex to be the traditional and immutable enemy of women's freedom. Exactly the opposite is true.
    Historically,