The cycle would begin with the banning of pornography, then rated R movies, then violent movies, and it would reach a point where the media would be government regulated. At this point the first amendment would only protect our religious freedom.
Catherine MacKinnon's argument against pornography views the effects of pornography on the women who produce it as well as women who relate with the men that consume it. "Protecting pornography is protecting sexual abuse as speech." (MacKinnon 9) MacKinnon feels that pornography is responsible for crimes such as rape, sexual harassment and child abuse. She feels that consumers of pornography could be our doctors, judges, fathers, husbands; and pornography would impair their judgment from right and wrong - leading them to harm women in order to mimic the pornographic material. .
MacKinnon then questions the First Amendment, "To what extent does the first amendment protect unconscious mental intrusion and physical manipulation, even by pictures and words, particularly when the results are further acted out through aggression and other discrimination." (MacKinnon 16) The problem with MacKinnon's argument is that there is no concrete proof that pornography has negative mental effect on those who watch it. It is outrageous to conclude that a pornographic film is to blame for a rape, this would be the same as blaming violent films for the recent increase in violence in the United States. Rape, murder, child abuse, sexual harassment etc. are crimes where the perpetrator has some mental illness prior to committing the crime. It is highly doubtful that watching "girly" movies would cause such an illness. A mentally stable human being could watch pornographic material without the threat of wanting to rape someone. If MacKinnon's argument was enforced, then violent movie would be to blame for violent crimes, and sitcoms such a Married with Children would to blame for the break-up of the traditional values within the family unit, and the slippery slope mentioned previously would begin.
