Sir, - Michael Culhane (February 15th) professes himself at a loss for a logical and consistent moral explanation for the undesirability of pornography. He makes a case for appropriate parental and classroom guidance to facilitate the correct use of pornographic material by teenagers, so as to obviate the complexities of repressing "feelings which are normal and healthy in all of us".
On the assumption that Mr Culhane is actually as naive as his letter portrays him to be, I beg leave to introduce him to reality. Pornography, no matter how willing the participants, cannot be considered as "all just work for one type or another", because it distorts the understanding of what the human being is and reduces her or him to an object of use for another's pleasure. People who "tolerate" pornography are tacitly supporting the most base exploitation there is on this earth, and people who buy pornographic material are feeding on it.
Mr Culhane's arguments are neither consistent nor logical. But then, if he has seen some of what passes for fashion photographs in recent editions of The Irish Times, his confusion is entirely understandable. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Orla Halpenny, Queen's Park, Monkstown, Co Dublin.