Grace Dawson Artist or Pornographer
Grace Dawson: Artist or Pornographer? Mountmonk College has always held very high standards for students and staff. Mountmonk likes to consider themselves better than the "other" schools at maintainingprinciples of traditional values as the alumni has done in the past. As the school nearsits alumni weekend, we must take into consideration these values, as well as changesin the times as we decide about use of the auditorium for the weekend. Last semesterthere was an art contest held for the students. All ribbon winning art is scheduled to bedisplayed in the auditorium during the alumni weekend. One of our students, GraceDawson, is a photographer and is planning to show one of her photographs in theauditorium over the weekend. Her photograph is of a naked woman kneeling on theground with a man in a suit kicking her while a naked man watches. We haveobjections to the display of her art from both the Women's Center and the Director ofAlumni Relations . They feel her art is repugnant due to its explicit sexual content andfear that the alumni may withdraw contributions. Grace Dawson argues in her own defense that her photograph is artwork andshould be exhibited. She entered this and several othe
I feel we must also analyze why we should ban this photo. We must ask ourselves also if theoffensive materials are really offensive to the alumni. Bydelaying to exhibition of the art we may also have time to address the concerns of theWomen's Center. She insists that she has the right to free speech under the FirstAmendment and her artwork is a form of protected speech. Although we can immediately see that some of the alumni might be offended bythe nature of the photos, we must look beyond that to the bigger and more importantissues. If we decide here todaythat Grace Dawson's artwork cannot be displayed, then we have also condemned herart as completely valueless for everyone. Grace Dawsoncannot be denied her First Amendment right to freedom of expression. The answer is yes, some people find thatthese pictures are art and deserve to be shown the same as any other. The court then goes on to state that the same materials distributed toadults would not be obscene. She should not be, andcannot be, denied the right to freedom of expression even if her expressions aredistasteful to some viewers. This is the only fair alternative to everyone involved. Among these issues is of course her First Amendment right to freedom ofexpression. We can all agreethat this college operates on the generous contributions of alumni, but can we sacrificeour integrity to be sure not to offend anybody. In Ginzberg versusNew York, the court decided that materials distributed to children may be consideredobscene, but here at Mountmonk, we can clearly see that no children will be present forthe viewing. Secondly, we need to consider ifthe photographs are genuinely offensive enough to the alumni that they will not donatetheir money to the college.
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Acceptance Essays
