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 […]
Impact of Porn
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 […]
Capital Video Springfield: Secondary Effects Extend to Prostitution; Actions the City Can Take
On March 7, we relayed a report from Urban Compass that Capital Video’s Springfield porn shop was inhibiting revitalization in its neighborhood, most notably by discouraging countless grocery store prospects.Urban Compass followed up yesterday with more details of the secondary effects of this porn shop…Developer Leon Charkoudian, real estate broker Fred Rowe, and property manager […]
Certified Sex Therapist Marty Klein Wants You to Believe Porn Is Harmless
Many adult industry lawyers like Marc Randazza are not content to defend their clients on narrow constitutional grounds. They could say, for example, that yes this material is reprehensible but we must protect it so that more worthy speech will not be threatened. Instead, they apparently want you to believe that porn and the lifestyles […]
A Review of Catharine MacKinnon’s Only Words
Only Words, a slim volume by University of Michigan law professor Catharine MacKinnon, published in 1993, might be considered the Bible of the radical feminist anti-pornography movement, providing a theoretical and legal framework to complement the more personal evidence presented in Andrea Dworkin‘s impassioned memoirs. MacKinnon’s intelligence and thirst for justice are undeniable, but some […]
Nature: Psychological attacks rank high on torture list (explicit language)
The journal Nature reports that the long-term mental suffering caused by psychological abuse is similar to that of physical abuse. To us, this further undercuts the notion that porn is just harmless fantasy. Many porn scenarios involve psychological abuse, as we will show below. But first, Nature: The long-term mental anguish caused by psychological torture […]
People on the Left and the Right Share Blame for the Sexual Miseducation of Americans
A correspondent brought to our attention this insightful interview published on the Media Education Foundation website. Jackson Katz, Ed.M. is one of America’s leading anti-sexist male activists. He is the co-founder of the Mentors In Violence Prevention (MVP) program, the leading gender violence prevention initiative in college athletics. He is the director of the first […]
Time to Explore the Links Between Porn, Testosterone, Sexual Behavior and Violence
Not satisfied with the high degree of correlation between porn consumption and sexual callousness, our opponents keep pressing us to elaborate the mechanism that links porn and behavior. It looks like a clue lies in the role of testosterone. This hormone has many good qualities, but it is also linked with aggression and promiscuity. The […]
American Psychological Association: Media and marketers drive girls to be sexy early; sexualization linked to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression
The American Psychological Association finds that media and marketing have a big impact on girls, reports the Washington Post (2/20/07): American girls, say experts, are increasingly being fed a cultural catnip of products and images that promote looking and acting sexy. “Throughout U.S. culture, and particularly in mainstream media, women and girls are depicted in […]
Testimony in Indianapolis: Large amounts of porn in homes and cars of child molesters, used to train victims
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.276-280). Testimony of Mary My name is Mary and I came here today because I was a victim of […]