Pornography harms women
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Pornography encourages the sexual abuse of women
Pornography is a cause of rape and other forms of violence against women - "Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice." Anti-pornography feminists charge that pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and sexual harassment.
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The Argument
Pornography—especially pornography that depicts violent acts, domination, or rape scenes—encourages viewers to act violently toward women. It eroticizes brutality and can desensitize its viewers to the point that they may become inclined to act out their violent sexual fantasies on real women.
When women are portrayed in pornographic films as enjoying unconsented sex, it reinforces the idea that women actually want sex regardless of what they say.[1] This encourages men to ignore protests toward their advances and proceed without consent. Thus, pornography harms women because it encourages sexual abuse and even goes so far as to normalize it. While it may not be a direct cause, it lowers inhibitions toward rape, which can cause someone who is predisposed toward a desire to rape to do so.[2]
Counter arguments
Violent pornography is a small subset of pornography as a whole, so even if violent pornography does encourage violent sexual behaviors, it should be categorized separately from the rest of pornography.
It is unclear how strong the correlation between pornography and sexual assault is, and it is even less clear if there is any line of causation between pornography and sexual assault. Sexual assault, after all, existed long before pornography.