Citizens gave testimony about their encounters with porn and those who consume porn to the Minneapolis Government Operations Committee on December 12, 1983. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.124-129).
Testimony of Shannon McCarthy Bicha
I am a resident of St. Paul, and I have been throughout the majority of my life…
My husband and me moved close to Dale Street and University, which is located close to quite a lot of pornography places, the Faust Theater, the Flick and the other is called the Belmont Club…
I went to St. Agnes High School, which is located only four blocks from those three pornography shops. And at that time the Faust Theater and the Flick were not in operation, so the Belmont was still a pretty silent place…
What happened is that my husband and I moved into the residence in 1981, and at that time I was exposed to sexual harassment that I never knew existed. What I would like to discuss are three of the types of sexual harassments that I had to face within two years. For myself it was disgusting, it was very frightening, and I really don’t think that I have any way to work around it, and that’s the strongest fear that I have at this point.
I would like to speak on behalf of the other people who live in my residence because we all, to a large degree, feel that we are invisible, silent people. Our neighborhood is very working class, a lot of the people don’t have 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. They are working in the afternoon or afternoon shifts. We are the type of people who like to have our voices heard. We don’t have political power. We don’t have money. We are barely making it day to day. When it comes to having people hear us speak, we don’t feel we are heard…
The police have gone to the Flick and tried to bust it time and time again. Finally the police in our residence have said, forget it, we are giving up, nothing has been done. We are not going in there and taking the chance of having our heads blown off. Us, the people that live in the neighborhood, we have to fear that day in and day out, especially the women.
Just last week, I had an exceptionally horrifying situation when my husband was not home and a man tried to get into my house by both the front and the back door. He wouldn’t leave. He continued to knock. He was trying to get the door open. And it was so serious in the sense that the police even tried to get him, but at the same time too, they didn’t make the attempt. What this boils down to is that the police have come to the end of the rope with my neighborhood. They feel that they can only do so much and consequently, they are not giving the same protection and same security which they did for other neighborhoods. I empathize with them, there are a number of good people that don’t live in our residence but happen to be at the porno shops, and they subject the police to constant harassment. They subject them to the fear of physical abuse and, consequently, the police are in a position where they are stepping back. But the people who are paying the price are myself and my neighbors.
What I said before was that within two years I had been subjected to sexual harassment. It all started in 1981 when I moved–my husband and I moved in. At that time, I was pregnant, and I was walking just to the Country Club Store across the street, but I was in the vicinity of the Belmont Club, the Faust, and the Flick. And a middle-aged man, white, he had on a business suit, was crossing the street, same as myself. Right off he asked me if I was a prostitute. We were crossing University Avenue. I was shocked. I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could, but at the same time I was seven months pregnant and I couldn’t run. The best I could do is walk and ignore the man. I came home and I was shaking like a leaf with my husband. He was so disgusted because there was not a damn thing he could do. He has to hope to hell that his wife is going to be able to live a somewhat normal life.
Then it happened again where I was going to Wendy’s Hamburger Shop. Instead of asking me if I was a prostitute, he asked me how much I cost. You are just in a position when you think, when is this going to stop? Is it because I live close to these pornography shops that this continues to happen?
The third time that it did happen to me, I am very firmly convinced that it has a very strong significant high correlation with the pornography. The third time it was another…businessman, but at this time the man was around the age of 50. Rather than ask me if I was a prostitute or how much I cost, he walked right up to me and said, “You are the dancer from the Belmont, aren’t you? I saw you a couple nights ago. You really did a good job.” You don’t know what to say. I am in that position where I am so thoroughly frightened, I am shaking in my shoes. At the same time, I am so disgusted, I would like to be able to tell him how I feel. I can’t do that, especially living so close. My fear is that this man is going to be very disgusted with my comment and he can follow me right home.
I have a daughter who is two years old, and there are many mothers, many parents who live in my neighborhood… And we all have to face that constant fear. What is it going to be like when my daughter is old enough that she can walk and go to the stores? How often can I tell her, don’t go there, that is a bad place for you to go? All the parents feel that way but at the same time we feel powerless. We don’t feel that we have the voice, and we don’t feel that people will listen to us because we are working class. It is a very sad situation…
In the evening I can’t even walk out of my house, with this happening during the day…
It is a sad case when the police have approached my neighbors and myself and they said, “The best recourse you have and your husband have and your children is to get up and move.” Why should I have to move from my neighborhood when this is all I can afford?…
I have invited many people who have supported pornography to come to my neighborhood and live there for a week, and I will walk you all past the Belmont Club, Faust, and Flick. I will give you a tour. You can see what it is like. You can bring your children and bring your wife and anybody else who supports pornography. You move into my neighborhood and I will move into yours. It chokes me up, because you have the power, I don’t…
[Minneapolis City Councilman Walter Dziedzic:] I was disappointed to hear that the police told someone in the neighborhood to move. That is really a poor indication on whether or not the police can control a situation in a neighborhood. I am sorry to hear that goes on in St. Paul. I think we could put a stop to that kind of rhetoric in Minneapolis.
[Dziedzic continues:] Whenever you hear that, the way to answer is to tell the police officers that their hands aren’t tied, and they have every right to enforce the laws to make that a safer neighborhood. If they don’t, their boss should come and see the Council and there should be steps taken. I am not talking about just this issue. When a police officer tells you that, he is saying he can’t do his job, is what he is saying.