Question I am a male of legal age and am healthy mentally/physically, should I be able to engage in the consumption of pornographic materials with no moral qualms?

Accepted:
September 15, 2009

Comments

Suppose you and an enthusiastic partner have fun getting very imaginative with your video camera. Then after the event -- your partner away for a while, and with their encouragement -- you amuse yourself watching the results, and thereby "consume" what are pornographic materials (here taking pornography to be "the representation in books, magazines, photographs, films, and other media of scenes of sexual behavior that are erotic or lewd and are designed to arouse sexual interest"). It is very difficult to see why you should have any moral qualms about this.

Suppose on the other hand you search the sleazier end of the internet to find illegal child pornography. It is very easy to see why you should have more than mere qualms about that.

So -- fairly uncontentiously, I hope! -- it all depends on the type of materials, and there can't be a straight yes/no answer to the question asked. The tough question is different: where are the moral lines to be drawn?

Question I am a male of legal age and am healthy mentally/physically, should I be able to engage in the consumption of pornographic materials with no moral qualms? Accepted:September 15, 2009

Question I am a male of legal age and am healthy mentally/physically, should I be able to engage in the consumption of pornographic materials with no moral qualms?

Accepted:
September 15, 2009