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Argumentation and Advocacy Volume 38, 2001 - Issue 1
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FEATURED ARTICLES

Contesting Pornography: Terministic Catharsis and Definitional Argument

Catherine Helen Palczewski Catherine Helen Palczewski is an Associate Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Northern Iowa. An earlier version of this essay was presented at the 9th Biennial Conference on Argumentation held in Alta, Utah, August 3–6, 1995, and was published in the Proceedings of the 9th Biennial Conference on Argumentation (ed. Sally Jackson, Annandale, VA: SCA, 1995). Portions of the essay also were presented at the 1995 Speech Communication Association Conference, held in San Antonio, Texas, November 18–21, 1995. This essay grows out of the author's dissertation, which was directed by G. Thomas Goodnight at Northwestern University. The author would like to thank the past editor of A&A—Edward Schiappa, the present editor—Dale Herbeck, Craig Cutbirth, and the reviewers for the careful reading of this essay and their extremely usefol feedback.
Pages 1-17 | Published online: 02 Feb 2017
 
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Abstract

This essay focuses on the debates over the MacKinnon-Dworkin Anti-Pornography Ordinance to explore one instance of definitional argument: the attempt to effect a redefinition. Using Burke's critical matrix of the pentad as a framework, I argue that advocates for a definitional shift created the possibility for a “terministic catharsis” by simultaneously locating pornography in multiple locations on the pentad, highlighting its act/agent/agency fonctions.

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