Lessons from the Stigma of Segregation Apply to the Stigma of Porn

Some of our opponents claim that the stigma that surrounds porn is just a result of society’s hang-ups about sex, rather than reflecting people’s aversion to the sexism, racism, exploitation, abuse, disease, crime and blight that are associated with porn and adult enterprises… I don’t support the sort of zoning ordinance you advocate. I think […]

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Testimony in Indianapolis: Porn Wants You to Believe Women Secretly Love Bondage and Torture, that “No” Means “Yes”

Indianapolis city officials heard testimony about peoples’ encounters with porn at a hearing of the Indianapolis City-County Council Adminstration Committee on April 14, 1984. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.283-285). Testimony of Deborah Daniels, Indianapolis Prosecutors’ Office I’d like to read you some of the titles of the […]

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Testimony in Indianapolis: Porn Teaches, Arouses Violent Behavior in Abuse Cases

Indianapolis city officials heard testimony about peoples’ encounters with porn at a hearing of the Indianapolis City-County Council Adminstration Committee on April 14, 1984. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.281-282). Testimony of T. V. , a counselor in Indianapolis In ten years of counseling with men and women, […]

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Chyng Sun: Rejecting Porn’s Hatred of Women Does Not Mean Embracing Government Repression of “Obscenity”

Dr. Chyng Feng Sun teaches media studies at New York University. Dr. Sun received her Ph.D. in communication at U Mass-Amherst, specializing in media literacy. In this article for CounterPunch, she argues that the misogyny of porn deserves much criticism, but that government repression of “obscenity” is not the answer… It is typical that liberal-minded […]

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Incest Victims: Social Action Can Be As Or More Healing Than Individual Therapy

We are again indebted to Dr. Diana Russell for permission to reprint this selection from her essay, “Politicizing Sexual Violence: A Voice in the Wildnerness”. A version of this essay appears in Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health (1995). Dr. Russell argues that mental health practitioners who treat incest victims and survivors […]

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Pornoland’s unwritten law: “if we tell the truth about what’s really going on here, the fan will get turned off”

ABC News presented a remarkably blunt segment on the porn industry in “Porn Profits: Corporate America’s Secret” (2003): “Even the people who enjoy looking at pornography really despise the people they’re watching, and they have no sense of protection for them,” [former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop] said… The production companies market [porn movies] over […]

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Ex-Porn Star Shelley Lubben Talks about Days on the Set: Tedious, Intoxicated, Painful, Risky

Shelley Lubben, born in 1968, was known as Roxy during her time in porn, 1993-1994. She made about 20 films. She now speaks out against porn addiction, sex industry exploitation and sexual abuse. Her website and other public testimony shed light on the life of a porn actress. Excerpt from Shelley Lubben’s upcoming book The […]

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Indiana: Judge Upholds Adult Zoning, Orders Adult Plaza Bookstore to Close

Reporting from Dale, Indiana, AP says that Circuit Judge Wayne Roell has upheld Spencer County’s adult-use zoning. Adult businesses may not operate within 1,000 feet of churches, schools and residences. Cincinnati attorney H. Louis Sirkin, considered one of the most experienced obscenity trial attorneys in the country, argued the county’s ordinance was unconstitutional. Judge Roell […]

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The Republican: “Web serves as great resource for activists”

The March 15 Republican reports on the growth of blogs and websites for local activism. Daryl LaFleur posts public documents at Paradise City Forum so people can review them and “come to their own conclusions,” without having to troop down to City Hall. Granby resident Mark Bail hosts Granby01033, a blog to bring more attention […]

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