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Quote by Wendy McElroy

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XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography

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Wendy McElroy
Wendy McElroy

Wendy McElroy is an active writer and activist in the fields of libertarianism and feminism. Born in 1951, she is known for her steadfast support of individual freedom and women's liberation. Her works cover a range of subjects, including political philosophy, economics, and gender studies. more

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“Moving away from studies, what of real world feedback? In West Germany, rape rates have slightly declined since 1973, when pornography became widely available; meanwhile, other violent crime has increased. In Japan, where pornography depicting violence is widely available, rape is much lower per capita than in the United States, where violence in porn is restricted.”

FeminismRapeViolence Against WomenSexual AssaultSex Positive FeminismPro PornPro Pornography
Book:XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography
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“But even generously granting the assumption that a correlation does exist between pornography and violence, what would such a correlation tell us? It would certainly not indicate a cause-and-effect relationship. It is a fallacy to assume that if A can be correlated with B, then A causes B. Such a correlation may indicate nothing more than that both are caused by another factor, C. For example, there is a high correlation between the number of doctors in a city and the number of alcoholics there. One doesn't cause the other; both statistics are proportional to the size of the city's population.”

FeminismSexualityPornographyViolence Against WomenLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive FeminismPro PornCorrelation And Causation
Book:XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography
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“Although anti-porn feminists cry out against viewing pornography, they must admit that there is at least one group of people who can survive such exposure without harm-namely, themselves. In their zeal, radical feminists view more pornography than the general population. Moreover, they dwell upon the small percentage of pornography that depicts violence. Either they are wonder women or they are human beings who have a normal response to brutal pornography: They are repelled by it.”

FeminismSexualityWomens RightsPornographyLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive FeminismPro Porn
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“The right to choose hinges on the right to make a "wrong" choice. Freedom of religion entails the right to be an atheist. Freedom of speech involves the right to be silent. Freedom of choice requires the right to make bad choices-that is, a decision society considers to be wrong. After all, society is not going to stop a woman from doing what it wants her to do. But radical feminists are going one step farther than simply denying that women have the right to make wrong choices; they deny that women have the ability to choose.”

FeminismSexualityWomens RightsPornographyLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive FeminismPro Porn
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“According to radical feminists, even if a woman in pornography signed a contract with full knowledge, she can sue on the grounds of coercion. What legal implications does this have for a woman's right to contract? What legal weight will future negotiators give to a woman's signature? Women's contracts will be legally unenforceable; their signature will become a legal triviality.”

FeminismCivil RightsWomens RightsPornographyLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive FeminismPro Porn
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“For centuries, women have struggled against tremendous odds to have their contracts taken seriously. At great personal expense, they stood up and demanded the right to own land, to control their own wages, to retain custody of their children-in other words, to become legally responsible for themselves and for their property. A woman's consent must never again become legally irrelevant.”

FeminismHuman RightsCivil RightsWomens RightsFreedom Of ChoiceLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive Feminism
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“Anti-porn feminists want us to accept their sexual preferences as gospel. Presumably, their theories are based on solid fact and deep insight. Although they have been born and raised in the same patriarchal culture that has warped other women, radical feminists have somehow escaped unscathed. Just as they have escaped being damaged by the pornography they view. Somehow these women have scaled the pinnacle, from which they now look down and make pronouncements on the lifestyle of those beneath them. Perhaps radical feminists are superwomen. Perhaps they are merely fanatics unwilling to respect any position other than their own. If women's choices are to be trashed, why should radical feminists fare better than other women? Are they the elite? If the choices of pornographic models are not to be taken seriously, radical feminists cannot claim respect for their choices either. If culture negates the free will of women, anti-porn feminists are in the same boat as the rest of us.”

FeminismWomens RightsRadical FeminismLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive FeminismInfightingAnti Radical Feminism
Book:XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography
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“Contracts are records of voluntary exchanges. Labor contracts are voluntary exchanges of work for wages. Most people enter labor contracts-that is, get a job-because they need money. But, to radical feminists, this is "economic coercion." Because they believe the free market forces people to take jobs, they view it as a form of violence.”

FeminismWomens RightsLibertarian FeminismIndividualist FeminismSex Positive Feminism
Book:XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography
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