Pornography, Free Speech, and Moral Harm

2 Credit Hours

The regulation of pornography may seem anachronistic in the age of the internet, but it continues to be an object of considerable controversy. (For many years, approximately 40% of Americans have thought that pornography should be banned even for adult readers.) Is there a good reason to restrict the availability of pornography, or of some particularly offensive pornography, such as that involving violence? Does such regulation infringe on freedom of speech, or is pornography simply outside the scope of free speech concerns? This course will explore these questions, examining the history of speech regulation and the arguments surrounding such regulation today. The format of the class will be discussion, so please come prepared to talk. All of the readings are available as pdf files on the course's Blackboard web site, https://courses.northwestern.edu, where they can be found under course documents. I strongly suggest that you complete the readings for each 2-day unit before the first day of class. The second day's readings in each unit are too much to cover in one evening. ***Please Note the class will meet on the following days: December 21, 2015 - 10am - 5pm December 22, 2015 - 10am - 5pm January 7, 2016 - 10am - 5pm January 8, 2016 - 10am - 5pm Please note: The last day to add/drop is December 16, 2015.