| dc.description.abstract | A growing new anti-pornography movement has arisen in reaction to the ready availability of pornography offline and on the Internet. It includes both traditional social conservatives, who still complain that pornography damages the moral tone of society, corrupts immature minds, and could lead to sexual assault and other violence against women, and feminists who still complain that some pornography furthers the subordination of women. These are serious claims that, while contested, deserve to be taken seriously. Just as some who drink or gamble come to have a serious problem and need help, the same may be true for some viewers of pornography offline and on the Internet. Just as with alcohol and gambling, we may need to educate potential users about pornography’s possible harms and provide help for those having difficulty with its use. But many, if not most, of those in the anti-pornography movement also urge stricter legal prohibitions on “obscene” materials, even when viewed in private homes, and greater enforcement of existing laws, or both. This thesis draws three lessons from history that demonstrate that these proposals are unsound and should not be adopted. First, pornography is difficult, if not impossible, to define satisfactorily under basic constitutional principles. At most, it can be imprecisely limited to the illdefined concept of “hard core” pornography, which might reach some of the online material criticized, but certainly not all of it. In particular, the definition in the APA 2014 that was declared unconstitutional does not come close to reaching the materials that allegedly corrupt the moral tone of society, the health of relationships and family life, and the status of women. Second, the history of Prohibition demonstrates the almost intractable difficulties of using legal coercion to deprive large segments of society of goods that they desire on moral grounds that they do not share. Censorship is another form of prohibition, which also has proved difficult to enforce even in authoritarian countries. Censorship of the Internet is especially difficult in free countries, although modern technologies are increasingly enabling authoritarian countries to control what their citizens view online. Third, any broader definition of pornography would be inconsistent with basic constitutional principles and could not be limited to sexually explicit materials in any principled way. It could easily pave the way for a radical curtailment of free expression across the board. What is more, enforcing such a sweeping suppression on what even adults may do in the privacy of their homes would be impossible if Uganda is to remain a free country. The thesis of this dissertation is simple. Even if pornography has all the ill effects that its critics assert, the appropriate remedy in this liberal democracy cannot be censorship. The remedy for this speech is more speech, not legal repression. In critically analysing the constitutionality of the APA 2014, the thesis explored the relevant international and national legal frameworks on regulation of pornography. The study further employed a comparative approach using regulatory frameworks from four countries with the objective of sharing lessons for policy and legal reforms. | en_US |
