NPN’s Jendi Reiter reviews Pamela Paul, Pornified: How Pornography Is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families (New York: Owl Books/Henry Holt & Co., 2005). Freelance journalist Pamela Paul, a contributor to Time Magazine, The Economist, Psychology Today and numerous other mainstream magazines, undertook this study of the pervasiveness of pornography in modern American […]
Feminist Perspective
March 2007 Conference Announcement: “Pornography and Pop Culture: Reframing Theory, Re-thinking Activism”
March 23-25 Wheelock College Boston, MA The so-called “porn wars” that were fought over the feminist critique of contemporary mass-marketed pornography derailed important academic and activist work. It is time to move on by reframing our thinking on pornography, especially in light of the important changes that have occurred in both technology and pop culture […]
Smith Sophian: “Definition of ‘no’ should not be debated in cases of rape”
Aileen Coe objects to the confusion of no and yes in this week’s Sophian, the Smith College student newspaper. A Maryland court recently overturned a rape conviction because the victim initially consented. Her subsequent withdrawal of consent was not considered sufficient to sustain the conviction. Coe quotes the court as saying, “It was the act […]
Punishment Porn: “Whether-She-Wants-It-Or-Not” (explicit)
Strictly Speaking Spanking, a magazine on sale at Bookends of Enfield, calls itself “entertainment for consenting adults”. On reading the magazine, however, one could be forgiven for becoming confused about the role of consent in the entertainment. SSS publishes a letter from Allison in California: “David, don’t you dare spank me!” I shrieked, feeling only […]
Steinem on Flynt: “This pornography is as different from sex as rape is from sex”
Pornographers like Larry Flynt style themselves heroes of the First Amendment, and say that to oppose their products is to oppose sex and support censorship. Gloria Steinem disagrees, reports The Boston Globe: In an op-ed piece in Tuesday’s New York Times, Gloria Steinem equated [Larry] Flynt with a publisher of Ku Klux Klan books or […]
Hustler Cartoons: Racism, Misogyny, Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Incest, Ridicule of Disabled People… (explicit)
If you wonder where people get callous attitudes towards other groups and those who disagree with them, a good place to start is with cartoons like those found in Hustler. We are indebted to Nikki Craft and the Hustling the Left website for bringing these to our attention. These images are explicit and should only be […]
Everywoman Center Coordinator: Porn Damages Women; Porn Addiction
From “Incident triggers debate on pornography”, Sunday Republican, 2/12/89… Stacey Roth, coordinator of an educational outreach program at Everywoman Center, a women’s advocacy group at the University of Massachusetts, said that, based on accounts of area women speaking about their experiences with domestic abuse, she agrees with recent arguments that pornography damages women.“Typically, a woman […]
Northampton Shelter Coordinators: Porn a Factor in Many Cases of Domestic Abuse
The Union-News studied porn and the porn industry in 1994. One article discussed the impact of porn on women: Tina’s boyfriend would watch the same x-rated movie repeatedly and then force her to reenact the kinky things he saw. Or he’d go to strip bars.“He used to come back from these shows and I was terrified,” […]
1990: Smith Students Mobilize Against Playboy
Our research turned up this episode in Smith history that many of today’s students may not be aware of… Angry Smith College students demand to be accepted for their brainpower rather than their beauty. More than 200 women gathered on the campus last night to protest Playboy magazine’s invitation to students to pose for a special issue […]
Pornography Trains and Indoctrinates Prostitutes
80% of prostitution survivors at the WHISPER Oral History Project reported that their customers showed them pornography to illustrate the kinds of sexual activities in which they wanted to engage. 52% of the women stated that pornography played a significant role in teaching them what was expected of them as prostitutes. 30% reported that their […]