Lets Put Pornography Back in the Closet by Susan Brownmiller
Chad Cummins
English 122Y
Mr. Fiorenza
Analysis Paper
The first essay I chose is “Let’s put pornography back in the closet,” by Susan Brownmiller. I chose this one because I figured analyzing it would not be too difficult after writing about “First Amendment Junkie,” in a previous assignment.
Susan Brownmiller's essay voices her feminist view towards pornographic material. Her claim is that without restriction, the first amendment has allowed women to be publicly perceived as objects. The first amendment gives American citizens the right to free speech, and in Brownmiller's opinion the nation abuses that right. Obscenity laws have been in place since the early seventies, but according to Brownmiller, the Court has ruled sexually explicit content not obscene many times throughout history. By her bringing up the Hollywood ten makes readers think that the directors of pornography should also go to jail.
Her feminist view is that graphic pornographic content is obscene when it degrades women. Sexual material with educational or objective purpose is fine, as long as there is no dehumanizing or demeaning of women. Brownmiller's opinion is that porn turns women into objects, and is advertised in such a way that the public perception of women is that they are just material objects. She thinks material that humiliates women in this way should be restricted, shut away from the public eye. Instead it gets flaunted as it's been in the past. One example she chooses to fight her case is that if the public perception of women is that they are objects, a rapist might safely think he's done nothing wrong. She says it makes a rapist feel like he is merely giving into normal urges. Brownmiller implicitly anticipates many angles for argument in her essay. She goes after the argument one might make that pornography is a form of art. Her opinion is that the porn industry is an unethical professional business using high standards of visual technology.
English 122Y
Mr. Fiorenza
Analysis Paper
The first essay I chose is “Let’s put pornography back in the closet,” by Susan Brownmiller. I chose this one because I figured analyzing it would not be too difficult after writing about “First Amendment Junkie,” in a previous assignment.
Susan Brownmiller's essay voices her feminist view towards pornographic material. Her claim is that without restriction, the first amendment has allowed women to be publicly perceived as objects. The first amendment gives American citizens the right to free speech, and in Brownmiller's opinion the nation abuses that right. Obscenity laws have been in place since the early seventies, but according to Brownmiller, the Court has ruled sexually explicit content not obscene many times throughout history. By her bringing up the Hollywood ten makes readers think that the directors of pornography should also go to jail.
Her feminist view is that graphic pornographic content is obscene when it degrades women. Sexual material with educational or objective purpose is fine, as long as there is no dehumanizing or demeaning of women. Brownmiller's opinion is that porn turns women into objects, and is advertised in such a way that the public perception of women is that they are just material objects. She thinks material that humiliates women in this way should be restricted, shut away from the public eye. Instead it gets flaunted as it's been in the past. One example she chooses to fight her case is that if the public perception of women is that they are objects, a rapist might safely think he's done nothing wrong. She says it makes a rapist feel like he is merely giving into normal urges. Brownmiller implicitly anticipates many angles for argument in her essay. She goes after the argument one might make that pornography is a form of art. Her opinion is that the porn industry is an unethical professional business using high standards of visual technology.