NPN’s Jendi Reiter critiques Clay Calvert and Robert D. Richards, “Porn in Their Words: Female Leaders in the Adult Entertainment Industry Address Free Speech, Censorship, Feminism, Culture and the Mainstreaming of Adult Content” (PDF), published last year in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law [9 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 255 (2006)].This article […]
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 […]
Anti-Porn Legend Gloria Steinem to Give 2007 Commencement Address at Smith College
We are excited to hear that Gloria Steinem, 1956 Smith graduate and feminist legend, will return to campus on May 20 to give the commencement address. Steinem’s early freelance work includes an undercover article for Show magazine on the working conditions of Playboy bunnies. Her stance against porn is clear: If you have two groups […]
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 […]
Gazette: “Couple appeals porn shop’s building permit”
As reported in today’s Gazette, Adam Cohen and Jendi Reiter from NoPornNorthampton recently wrote to Northampton Building Commissioner Anthony Patillo, asking him to revoke the building permit issued to Capital Video for their proposed porn shop at 135 King Street. We wrote: Section 1.3 of the [Northampton zoning] ordinance includes these criteria for site plan […]
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 […]
US Fifth Circuit Appeals Court Affirms that Evidence of Secondary Effects of “Off-Site Consumption” Adult Enterprises Is Sufficient To Justify Zoning
Some porn merchants claim that adult bookstores (as opposed to adult theaters) only have off-site consumption of porn, that they generate no signficant secondary effects, and that they should be exempt from adult-use zoning. The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagrees (PDF), and just found that the City of Kennedale, TX has sufficiently demonstrated […]