Efforts are being made by radical feminists to broaden the definition of pornography to cover: material that is either sexually explicit and violent; sexually explicit and non-violent, but subordinating and dehumanizing; or sexually explicit and based on mutuality and equality. The latter group is often referred to as erotica, namely any image which is sexual in nature.
The current view of pornography gained currency in the 19th century. Prior to that it was not a separate and distinct genre created to arouse sexual feelings. Rather it was a vehicle through which to criticize political and religious authorities through the shock of sex. It was linked not only with freethinking and heresy but also with the animating ideas behind the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the Enlightenment. Political pornography proliferated in the period prior to the French Revolution as a medium through which to criticize the aristocracy as debauched.
2. Pornography does not just offend, it terrorizes women.
2. Erotica is a healthy way for women to explore sexuality. People do learn from sexual images so they might as well be good ones. Pornography is intimately related to fantasy. It is dangerous to confuse fantasy with fact. Banning pornography would make women in that industry more vulnerable and without legal recourse. Many women fear that they would suffer through censorship.
3. The concern with pornography obscures the fact that there are more mainstream media images, seen by the majority of the population, which are degrading to women.