Word: causalism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last week the commission made its conclusions public: a "causal relationship" does indeed exist between sexually violent or degrading pornography and violence toward women. In a draft report, the panel stated that such materials help to foster the "rape myth," that women enjoy being overpowered. "General acceptance of the view that 'no' means 'yes' is a consequence of the most serious proportions," wrote the panel. "Sexually explicit materials featuring violence (are) on the whole harmful to society...
...prison sentence for repeat obscenity offenders. But it is doubtful that the report has enough scientific authority to support a Government-wide attack on pornography. Several of the experts who provided data to the commission have claimed that their research does not justify the report's finding of a causal link between pornography and violence. The report contradicts a more extensive 1970 study that disputed that link, and the American Civil Liberties Union has condemned the latest findings as pro- censorship. Dissenting Commissioner Judith Becker contends that "social science literature does not show that exposure to porn causes a person...
...familiar "freedom of the press" counter-argument has opposed these laws. It has been less frequently noted, however, that the causal connection between pornography and rape is tenuous, at best. When the the Supreme Court affirmed that the Indianapolis version of these anti-porn laws was unconstitutional, it did so solely on First Amendment grounds...
Those who disagree with this approach--notably MacKinnon, a lawyer and professor of political science, and co-author of the MacKinnon-Dworkin bill--use the same evidence to argue that a critical causal tie exists between the image and the reality. Pornography's presence perpetuates pornographic minds and violent behavior, MacKinnon argues, relying on psycho-sociological studies...
Porn is the theory; rape is the practice." This is the rallying cry of a new breed of activists convinced of a causal link between sexual violence in movies and the physical violence that men too often unleash on women. Aroused or desensitized by images of erotic domination, the argument goes, men may follow the examples set onscreen. Thus movies containing scenes of sexual violence are criminal violations-if not of the obscenity statutes, then of women's civil rights. And this applies to slasher movies like Friday the 13th and art-house hits like Lina Wertmuller...