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A unique and important book. I have never read any work which analyzes the subject in such a manner. This book is more thorough and has a more liberated point of view than others which attempt to tackle this `hot potato' of the 1980s. Men should read this book. Women should read this book.
Karen DeCrow, former President, NOW This study slices like a laser through all the fog of rhetoric, disinformation, bias, and fear that has long enveloped all discussions of the subject of pornography in the US. No argument in favor of the censorship of such material can be considered valid unless the basic arguments of this study are answered. . . . This is a valuable resource for all academic libraries and could well become a fundamental weapon in the war to preserve the First Amendment. This book should be purchased by all but the smallest libraries; it may well be the most honest discussion of the subject ever written.
ChoiceIn the continuing debate over pornography, two arguments stand out: that it is evil and should be censored, or that it is evil but censorship is a greater evil. F. M. Christensen presents the other side of this debate in what will surely be one of the most controversial books on the subject. Pornography:
The Other Side convincingly argues that anti-pornography campaigns are themselves morally evil. The author defends this startling claim with a scientific persuasiveness. He successfully opens the pornography debate to include the whole picture, allowing the reader to grasp another side to this ongoing debate with concise, practical arguments. Students and scholars of all the social sciences, as well as the informed general reader, will find Pornography: The Other Side a source of stimulating ideas.
Christensen concludes that pornography itself is not the fundamental issue for those who oppose it. Vehement opposition to pornography, according to this book, is a symptom of tragically mistaken beliefs about sex. What this book is really about, writes the author, is sex--and the evil effects on the lives of all of us which irrational attitudes toward that subject continue to have.
List of contents
Preface
Background: Sexual Desire and Fantasy
Background: Sex and Values
Common Charges Against Sexual Explicitness
Pornography and Women
Portrayals of Violence
Degrading Content
Alleged Ill Effects from Use
Sex and Psychological Health
Elicitation of Violence: The Theories
Elicitation of Violence: The Evidence
Portrayed Violence and Real Aggression
Sexual Repressiveness and Violence
Pornography and the Law
Bibliography
Index
About the author
F. M. CHRISTENSEN is Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science from Indiana University and has done extensive study of the behavioral sciences.
