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Pornography, Pragmatism, and Proscription

Lookup NU author(s): Clare McGlynn, Professor Ian Ward

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Abstract

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 criminalizes the possession of extreme pornography, namely, images of bestiality, necrophilia, and life-threatening or serious violence, and is the immediate context for this article which seeks to present a pragmatic liberal humanist critique of pornography regulation. Such a critique, derived in particular from the writings of Nussbaum and Rorty, presents an alternative case for regulation, eschewing the visceral competing fundamentalisms which characterized the 'porn wars' of the 1980s and 1990s. Whilst moral and epistemological philosophers squabble with radical feminists and radical libertarians, extreme pornography can nurture real injustice and ruin real lives. A pragmatic liberal humanism demands a pragmatic response to extreme pornography. The first part of this article will revisit the longer history of the 'porn wars'; the second describes the parameters of a pragmatic liberal humanist critique; the third examines the shorter history of pornography regulation written into the provisions now enacted in the 2008 Act.

Publication metadata

Author(s): McGlynn C, Ward I

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Law and Society

Year: 2009

Volume: 36

Issue: 3

Pages: 327-351

ISSN (print): 0263-323X

ISSN (electronic): 1467-6478

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00470.x

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00470.x

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