Imagine The New York Times headline reading "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Banned!!" If the pro-censorship/anti-porn sector of our society has its way, this headline may come true. Some of the pro-censorship supporters believe that women posing provacatively in bathing suits should be considered pornography and that this and all other forms of pornography should be made illegal. There is and has been a moral debate over whether or not pornography should be censored. Many individuals believe that pornography is harmfull to society and therefore morally wrong. However, on the other side there are also people who do not believe that pornography is harmful and some believe that it may even be beneficial to society. The type of pornography on which this memo will focus is that of in which the human subjects have agreed to participate in the production of the material, which is read or veiwed by choice by adults. While some people even find pornography involving consenting adults offensive, there is no morally compelling reason to censor this type of pornography.
             The first moral standard that must me considered when determining whether or not to censor pronography is the principle that all human beings have the right to free speech and expression as long as no one else is being harmed. Freedom of expresion is a moral principle which, it this country, is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Freedom of expression is a basic need which people have in order to be satisfied with their lives. Censorship of pornography violates an individual's basic human need as well as his/her right to self-expresion. Only when there is a clear and present danger of genuine harm caused by the form of expression is question should the expression be censored (Christensen 1990:158). Of course, there are certain types of expression that should not be allowed because they do present genuine harm to human beings. For example, ye...