Pornography: Debating the Issues (Issues in Focus)

-- These over-100-page titles present the facts and analyze some of the most controversial topics in today's news.
-- Offers excellent and up-to-date information for reports or debates.
-- Helps teenagers to begin developing critical thinking skills.

Grade 9 Up. This attempt to describe the thorny subject and its inherent controversies gets tangled up in disorganization and poor writing. Gottfried tries to cover too many bases and ends up covering none of them adequately. The first third of the book traces the history of pornography and its different incarnations, as well as the arguments over its definition and potential dangers. Each chapter is broken down into small subsections, some only half-a-page in length. Readers are asked constantly to shift their attention from one topic to another. Many quotations, statistics, and examples are offered, but they do little to clarify or expand upon the issues raised. The afterword is a brief summary of how young people react to pornography. Students will be better served by Pornography (Greenhaven, 1997), which does not go into depth on the history of a subject, but is a well-organized presentation that offers sound, logical commentary.?Carol Fazioli, Cardinal Hayes Library, Manhattan College, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 9^-12. What constitutes pornography and who decides? Gottfried surveys the complicated legal and social challenge of pornography, offering historic background, opposing arguments, and legal concepts. Antipornography activists stress a connection between sexual violence and obscene materials, "materials that corrode human relationships [and] exploit individuals--especially women and young people." Anticensorship voices "question the alleged harmful effects of sexually explicit material on society and its children" and offer numerous other counters to arguments supporting more crackdowns. The pros and cons of pornography controls are presented in reasonable, balanced tones, and, as with other Issues in Focus titles, the main value here is the clear, accessible writing style and the presentation of a complex issue, especially the related legal concepts, in appropriate fashion for beginning research students. This is a good companion volume to the new Opposing Viewpoints title on pornography. Source notes; bibliography; glossary; chronology. Anne O'Malley