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  • Essay / The Importance of Art and Pornography - 2271

    Exclusivists view art and pornography as an ideological polarity that can be “convincingly” distinguished in several ways. The classic exclusivist claim lies in the fundamental immorality of pornography, which, as an “instrument of exploitation and imprisonment,” is antithetical to art. Depicting sexual acts in a way that degrades women, pornography is criticized for perpetuating the myth that rape is appropriate behavior. This is what has led anti-porn feminists to warn about the causal link between pornography and violence. With depictions of women enjoying such primitive acts, the regressive influence of pornography “erodes moral character.” Gracyk supports the ethical distinction between the two, which holds that the defining characteristic of pornography is the attitude that a representation itself expresses toward its object. What distinguishes pornography from art is the "pornographic attitude", an expression of contempt towards women, inherent in the representation and thus imposed on the viewer. This contrasts with art which, with its psychological and emotional depth, "exerts a great pull on the imagination" inviting the audience to contemplate the story beneath. The explicit nature of art plays a secondary role to its aesthetic beauty, as exemplified by Titan's "Venus of Urbino" in which, according to Scrutton, the main emphasis is not on the naked body but on the face as a “window to the soul”. .” Unlike the depravity that characterizes pornography, the two can be “convincingly” distinguished. Distinguishing between art and pornography on the basis of their ethical distinction is, I believe, futile and hypothetical. Not only...... middle of paper ...... evaluation of the representation by the viewer. “Dominant interpretive strategy,” the ability of a work to be classified as both art and pornography depending on its context, undermines the claim that the two are mutually exclusive. Combined with the many depictions that possess both artistic and pornographic elements, the refusal to recognize the fusion of the two as a work of pornographic art amounts to foregoing an accurate appreciation of the creation and, ultimately, to frustration the very essence of art. Art knows no boundaries and therefore “the definition must follow the work: the work must not adapt to the definition”. It's time to recognize that some works of art can be called pornographic and vice versa, rather than confining the two to incompatible things. spheres. On this basis, it is not possible to "make a convincing distinction between art and pornography »..’