All Pornography Should Be Regulated

Pornography is a very difficult term to define. How pornographic is viewed varies from person

to person, culture to culture and overtime. Pornography is the term used in various

discussions and debates and it can be broadly referred to as sexually explicit material to produce

sexual arousal in viewers, that subordinates women or is harmful to children. Pornography

can be categorized into two types: obscenity and erotica. Obscenity is foul, disgusting or lewd

pornography which can be dangerous to women as well as children and should be discontinued.

On the other hand, erotic porn can be used in sex therapy sessions to resolve any problems in

a couples sex life. It can have educational and beneficial purposes if used in justified manner.

In recent years, technology has become more sophisticated leading to increase in internet

access like wireless internet, cell phone cameras and webcams which has made people, mainly

children, more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Amongst the other modes of mass

communication, internet has been recognized as the most common means for distribution of

pornography. Internet access by children is increasing every day. Despite growing concerns, it

has become difficult to prevent and detect the distribution of pornography, mainly child

pornography. At national and international level, there is a constant lack of consensus on how

to deal with the issue of pornography. There are various arguments on whether a global internet

regulation system is necessary or whether to develop strategies to filtering technologies. Should

the government be responsible for regulating pornography, and if yes to what extent? Or should

the government shut down this industry? Or should just let it be?
Every nation has vastly different opinions and ideas on individual liberties and obscenity. So,

some of my recommendations for the regulation of most debated and censored issue

pornography are:

INTERNET SHOULD BE REGULATED: internet is the most widely used means

for accessing pornography. I think just like television even internet should be regulated.

This will restrict the children from having access to free porn. The parents can regulate

a childs online activity when they are home but with the amount of free Wi-Fi access

mostly everywhere they cannot regulate them when away from their home. Regulating

internet will result in prohibiting the transportation, distribution and receipt of obscene

materials.

MULTI-LAYERED GOVERNANCE SYSTEM: There should be a multi-layered

governance system including code of conducts by the national & international

legislation, software filters to be used by parents, school professors and special

organizations to report illegal content on the internet. For example: in Canada, there is

a national tipline Cybertip.ca which allows people to report illegal internet content

and online sexual exploitation.

SELF-REGULATION: several efforts should be made to promote effective industry

self-regulation at controlling access to content on the internet. There are many software

packages which can be installed to restrict children from accessing to pornographic

sites. For example: in the U.S.A. there is a program called CyberPatrol which will

restrict list of websites containing objectionable materials.

These ways can be used to keep oneself or children away from obscene content on internet.

Instead of banning all content that is obscene by standards of least tolerant communities, every

country can regulate the accessible material according to its tolerance level.
References:

Preventing children from accessing online pornography. University of Oxford. Retrieved from

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-02-16-preventing-children-accessing-online-

pornography

Dawn. A. Edick. (1998). Regulation of pornography on the internet in the United States and

the United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis. Boston College International a Comparative

Law Review. 21(2). Retrieved from

http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1243&context=iclr

Chapter 13: Governance of Pornography and Child Pornography on the Global Internet: A

Multi-Layered Approach. Governance of Pornography and Child Pornography. Retrieved

from http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/governan.htm

Lyne C. James R. Law and Government Division. (2007). The Evolution of Pornography Law

in Canada. Retrieved from https://lop.parl.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/843-e.htm