Many comments from our opponents have a despair- or paralysis-inducing cast to them. We have been derided for not making a big dent in a $56 billion industry within a few months, told that sexual abuse has been pervasive in society long before the advent of today’s porn, told that to improve the lot of […]
Continue reading Dorothea Dix: Giving Voice to Suffering, Getting Results
This post does not have to do with porn per se, but the Mocha Club‘s Village of Hope is such a great example of love in action we wanted to call attention to it. The village is a safe community of huts, a workshop, a medical clinic, a community center and a school that [club […]
Continue reading Mocha Club: Helping Former Sex Slaves Transition into Normal Life
There is so much that’s wrong with today’s porn that it’s easy for anti-porn activists to be in a bad mood most of the time. As Andrea Dworkin freely admitted, “I represent the morbid side of the women’s movement.” The public sees the anger and frustration, and many turn instead to the porn industry, which […]
Back in March we discussed the bile and vitriol on offer at MoPornNorthampton, and the consequences for the quality of public debate. Peter Brooks of TalkBackNorthampton considered the matter, then issued a defense of “trash talk”. George Will discusses this phenomenon in “Anger Is All The Rage”, published March 25 by The Washington Post: …today’s […]
Some of our opponents have been critical of our “shaming” businesspeople like Barry and Annette Goldberg, the owners of 135 King Street, the site of Capital Video’s new porn shop. Last fall, after receiving no response to private correspondence, we sent letters to voters in Longmeadow and Northampton describing the material that Capital Video sells […]
Members of the Los Angeles County Commission for Women heard testimony about peoples’ encounters with porn at a hearing on April 22, 1985. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.342-343). Testimony of Dr. Pauline Bart I’m Dr. Pauline Bart. I’m a visiting professor of sociology in women’s studies at […]
We have noticed that many of our opponents tend to confine their discussions to clean, safe realms of law and abstractions. Others like to talk about homeless shelters, churches or Wal-Marts, rather than concentrating on actual porn shops and other adult enterprises. Many also like to claim that if you are against porn, you are […]
Continue reading Robert Jensen: Liberate Sex from Porn (explicit language)
Porn is a product that addicts many, often with consequences that can be dire (loss of family, loss of job), affect innocent parties (abuse, molestation, secondary effects), and take a long time to manifest. During this time, the addict generates handsome profits for the companies that perpetuate his addiction. The industry, not surprisingly, aggressively protests […]
Continue reading Commerce, Addictive Products, and Harm: Lessons from The Cigarette Century
Members of the Los Angeles County Commission for Women heard testimony about peoples’ encounters with porn at a hearing on April 22, 1985. This account appears in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.336-338). Testimony of Jeffrey Masson My name is Jeffrey Masson, and I’m a psychoanalyst [who taught] at the University of […]
Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976) is not a new decision, but it is worth revisiting for its discussion of the First Amendment. In this case, the US Supreme Court affirmed Detroit’s right to zone adult theaters. The Court recognizes the value of the First Amendment, but understands that it is not absolute, particularly […]
Continue reading How the Supreme Court Reconciles Adult-Use Zoning with the First Amendment