Harmful and Harmless Objectification and Pornography

In this PhD thesis I argue that pornography is not necessarily, and not uniquely, harmful by virtue of involving or perpetuating objectification.

After arguing for particular conceptions of pornography and objectification, I propose that objectification is not harmful itself, but harm is done when objectification is a) non-consensual, b) ‘context-creeping’ or c) trades on stereotypes or reinforces oppression. We can explain the popular intuition that objectification is usually or always harmful by pointing to just how common these three factors are; objectification regularly happens in these ways. I then show that pornography is no worse than other objectifying media in terms of these three harmful factors, and suggest, finally, that not only is the feminist focus on pornography (over other media) unjustified, it is also dangerous, insofar as it contributes to the stigmatisation of sex workers and to misogyny more broadly.

I aim for this thesis to be accessible and responsive to feminists outside the academy. In this spirit I track popular intuitions as far as possible in my definitions, and cite experts outside the usual philosophical ‘canon’.