Congratulations to Laura Michaud for launching NO V.I.P. in Berlin, CT. She is doing a great job organizing opposition to a giant new Very Intimate Pleasures store attempting to set up in Berlin. The proposed store is less than 250 feet from homes, in clear violation of Berlin ordinance and common sense. V.I.P. general manager […]
Gazette: “Links between porn, pedophilia explained”
Following up on recent arrest of Edgar Selavka, a preschool teacher, and the indictment of Ronald Garney, an Amherst high school science teacher, for possession of child pornography, today’s Gazette consults experts on the relationship between porn and pedophilia. Fabian M. Saleh directs research for the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of […]
Free Book Download: Diana Russell’s Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (explicit)
Diana Russell, a longtime activist against pornography, has kindly permitted us to make Against Pornography available for downloading at no charge. Please use the links below.Dr. Russell is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Mills College, Oakland, California. She has been active in the women’s liberation movement since 1969, and is author or editor of 17 […]
Andrea Dworkin: Time for Progressives to Stand with the Victims, Not the Users (explicit language)
There are other values besides free speech and a free market, says Andrea Dworkin in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.34-35). Those on the Left usually acknowledge this, except when it comes to sexual exploitation… He has a constitutional right to express himself, and if his art requires that she be the […]
Catharine MacKinnon: Mass Media Reflexively, Subtly Protect Pornographers
Mass media often confuse their interests with those of pornographers, says Catharine MacKinnon in In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (p.3-24). This is unnecessary and unfortunate, and has the effect of impoverishing the debate about porn and discrediting those opposed to porn. Until the publication of [In Harm’s Way], the public discussion of […]
Letter to Gazette: “Children need education to help deal with predators”
Today’s Gazette publishes a letter from Enid Gorman of Amherst. She writes: I am a retired social worker who worked as a child sexual abuse prevention educator in public and private schools in New York City for several years, as well as providing therapy to sexually abused children. In regard to your article of Jan. […]
Hugo Schwyzer: ‘Suicide Girls’, Empowering to Women?
On his blog today, gender studies professor Hugo Schwyzer critiques the feminist credentials of the alt-porn website Suicide Girls and wonders whether porn can ever empower women. Hugo writes: The Suicide Girls site (I won’t link to it, but you can figure it out yourself–it is not “work safe”) is the pioneer “alt-porn” center on the […]
Ask Monster to Reject Capital Video’s Job Ads
Capital Video places job ads on Monster.com, a large employment site. We recently asked Monster to reject these ads, and we invite the public to contact Monster and support our request. We wrote: I would like you to consider removing all job ads for Met-Cap Management/Capital Video from your site. Capital Video runs a large […]
Ask Calvert to Divest from Porn Distributors
Calvert claims that it “is one of the nation’s largest socially responsible mutual fund firms with approximately $14 billion in assets under management.” Among other things, it refuses to invest in companies that produce porn, saying: Calvert believes that consumers have a right to products and services that are safe, of high quality, and not […]
Types of Porn and Their Occupational Safety Risks (explicit)
The AIM Health Care Foundation is a “non-profit corporation created to care for the physical and emotional needs of sex workers and the people who work in the Adult Entertainment Industry.” This AIM handout (PDF, explicit) tells porn workers, “THE FOLLOWING SEX ACTS CAN PUT YOU AT RISK FOR THE FOLLOWING STDS. THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE […]