Wendy McElroy

Wendy McElroy is the former president of Feminists for Free Expression/Canada and author of the book, XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography. In the following viewpoint, McElroy argues that censoring pornography would harm women. Censoring pornography would allow the government to dictate what sexual practices are appropriate for women, she claims, and would reduce women to the status of children by questioning their ability to make decisions about their bodies. Moreover, McElroy asserts that censoring pornography would do nothing to stop rape because pornography has never been proven to be a cause of violence against women.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In McElroy’s opinion, how should women who are against pornography protest its use?
2. Why is it so difficult to determine pornography’s impact on behavior, according to the author...