Wally: If we allow pornography in adult book stores it won't stop there. Soon it will be in the regular book stores, because they're book stores too. Then it will be in the libraries, because they're just bookstores that lend books instead of selling them. Schools have libraries, so it will soon be in the schools too! Well did you know that churches have schools too, so if we allow pornography in adult book stores it won't be long before it's in our churches too! Obviously, pornography should be banned absolutely
Xena: The people who want to ban pornography are mostly the same people who want to ban all discussion of sex. If we cave in on pornography they'll have a precedent to point to, which will make it easier for them to ban things like The Joy of Sex. If they succeed there, they'll go on to other things, like sex education. If we want to preserve free discussion of sexual matters, we should hold the line on pornography.
(One thing to realize about these two arguments is that it's possible that they're both right. It could be true that the only choice we have is between pornography in the churches or banning discussion of sex entirely. For this reason, these are not quite opposing arguments.) The first thing to think about when evaluating any proposed causal chain is whether or not that chain comes along with a causal mechanism that could push us down the slippery slope.
In order for Wally's argument to work, it would have to be true that merely allowing pornography in adult book stores will cause pornography to show up in regular book stores. And it would have to be true that the presence of pornography in bookstores would cause pornography to show up in libraries. And it would also have to be true that the presence of pornography in some libraries would cause it to show up in school libraries as well. And the same thing for church schools. Wally ignores the fact that while plenty of people want pornography to be available in adult book stores, nobody has any desire for pornography to turn up in churches. The mechanism that pushes for pornography to be legal in adult book stores also pushes for pornography to stay there. Wally commits the slippery slope fallacy.
Although
her argument isn't particularly strong, Xena does not commit a fallacy. Her argument comes with a plausible causal mechanism. There are people who would like to ban all discussion of sex. The logical place for such people to start is with pornography since pornography has less public support than other forms of sexual discussion. It is reasonable to think that success with pornography would make such people stronger.
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