Issue #0

The problem of pornography

regulation and the right to free speech

Plot

Can a commitment to free speech be reconciled with the regulation of pornography? In The Problem of Pornography, Susan M. Easton argues that it can. Using John Stuart Mill's harm principle as a starting-point, Easton explores and evaluates the feminist and liberal arguments in the debate on pornography, moral independence, censorship and the right to free speech. Given the problems of proving harm in the case of pornography, she argues that the concept of autonomy may provide a more suitable foundation for regulation, and shows how the legislation against incitement to racial hatred might serve as a model for legal constraints on pornography. This book includes a review of the English and American laws on obscene materials and will prove invaluable reading for anyone interested in one of the thorniest issues in feminist, legal and social theory: is the censorship of pornography justifiable?