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 […]
Feminist Perspective
Testimony in Los Angeles: “it was harder to tell their assailants that they enjoyed the rape than enduring the actual assault”
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 […]
Robert Jensen: Liberate Sex from Porn (explicit language)
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 […]
Testimony in Los Angeles: Freud Hears of Pervasive Sexual Abuse, Ultimately Decides to Portray It As Mere Fantasy
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 […]
Jenna Jameson’s Cautions to Would-Be Porn Stars
In 2004, Salon reviewed Jenna Jameson’s How to Make Love Like a Porn Star. Jameson’s advice to newbies caught our attention: “In a worst-case scenario, a gonzo director will take a girl to a hotel room and have their friends shoot a cheap scene in which she is humiliated in every orifice possible. She walks […]
Now on Sale at Capital Video: Watch Women Eat Their Own Poop (explicit)
We agree that healthy erotica exists and that “feminist pornography” that empowers women might be possible to create. However, the reality remains that the substantial majority of porn sold in America is misogynistic and degrading to women. In addition, just because porn is produced by a woman is no guarantee that it will respect women. […]
Pornography and Pop Culture: Boston Conference Starts Today
Pornography and Pop Culture: Reframing Theory, Re-thinking Activism, a three-day conference, opens today at Wheelock College in Boston. This conference will: feature recent feminist theory and research on pornography, prostitution and pop culture, and provide space for collaborative discussion on how we can prepare the ground for building a broad-based, energized and vibrant feminist movement […]
Prosperous Minneapolis Commercial Area Blighted by Proliferation of Adult Enterprises
From the “Brief of the Neighborhood Pornography Task Force, Amicus Curiae, in Support of Appellant Hudnut v. American Booksellers Association, Inc.”, published in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.321-324): The neighborhoods bordering on East Lake Street in South Minneapolis have been fighting the encroachment of pornography into their community since Ferris Alexander […]
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 […]
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 […]