Pornography debate rages: Is censorship the answer?

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Pornography is once again causing debate in the women's movement. Much of the current debate is centered around the Minneapolis Ordinance written by Catherine mi Mckinnon and Andrea Dworkin, a law which defines pornography as sex discrimination and therefore a violation of every woman's civil rights.

Pornography is as old as woman-hating, and woman-hating is very old. At least as old as ancient Greece, where pornography was painted on men's drinking cups.

For the purposes of this article pornography shall be defined specifically as the sexually graphic depiction of violence against women.

This definition is most accurate because the word "pornography" has its roots in the Greek words porn, meaning the lowest whore, the slave prostitute, and graph, meaning the depiction of.

McKinnon and Dworkin claim pornography "subordinates women through sex, and "promotes environmental terrorism and private abuse of women and girls and, to a lesser extent, men and boys and transsexuals....Pornography promotes rape, pain, humiliation and inferiority as experiences that are sexually pleasing to all women because we are women." Their description is accurate.

Pornography is not harmless. It is a tool through which the media defines our sexuality, a sexuality that is dirty, violent, degrading, and painful. A sexuality in which male dominance and female subordination are inherent. A sexuality in which women are denied the status of human beings; we are pieces of meat, commodities, instruments for men's pleasure-whores.

Considering "Deep Throat" is the largest grossing film ever, we can dismiss the the myth that pornography is only enjoyed by a few "perverts."

In a society where one out of three women will be raped within her lifetime, and where one out of four girls will be sexually abused by a family member by the age of 16, pornography, which TATANTE Srage advocates abuse, must seriously.

McKinnon and Dworkin claim their law will "empower people and call into question the legal immunity of the exploiters for the first time." But is giving the courts the right to decide these cases "empowering" women?

The judicial system, not women, will be empowered by the law; judges, not feminists, will decide for us.

Male protection is never a substitute for the power to protect ourselves and control our own lives. If we continue to allow men to "protect" us we are at their mercy. Male "protectors" don't make feminist decisions.

The patriarchal state has always been an opponent of women's freedom. How can we be so quick to forget the people who've asked us time and again if we enjoyed being raped? Who right now want to take away our right to control our own bodies? Who have failed time after time to convict our batterers and rapists because they were our husbands and lovers? Who convict the prostitute but never the john?

Presenting the state with even greater power over our sexuality would be an act of insanity for the women's movement. "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." (Audre Lorde)

It's easy to imagine how this ordinance may be manipulated and abused Part of the ordinance stipulates that material must meet one of nine conditions, e.g. women being presented as "whores by nature." Many religious right-wingers believe any woman who enjoys sex is a whore.

What would these reactionaries think of lesbian erotica?

Right-wing groups have jumped to support anti-pornography ordinances. They can and will use them against us as feminists, gays, and lesbians. A Suffolk County, N.Y., anti-pornography ordinance was worded to include sodomyan attack on gays.

In Canada, the Ontario Censorship Board banned "Not A Love Story,' the feminist film about pornography, in the name of protecting women!

In Indianapolis, Beulah Coughenour, a STOP ERA activist, coordinated McKinnon's effort's with those of Moral Majority minister Greg Dixon.

Hiding the pictures

Another troubling aspect of anti-pornography legislation is that while it purports to empower women, it does nothing to aid women working in pornography or as prostitutes.

Legislation pushing pornography even further underground will most likely result in increased danger to pornographic "actresses,, exotic dancers, and prostitutes.

These women are already subject to abuse from clients, pimps, and the police with very little recourse. In These Times, Aug. 20, reported that female teenage prostitutes are raped an average of once a month. Adding to their invisibility and powerlessness is no solution.

Many times pornographic images of DISQ/N Odette LL women being raped, battered, and/or killed are records of actual events. The crimes are never reported. The pimp criminals are never brought to justice as they should be, because in our society it isn't rape if the woman is a "whore."

Will hiding the pictures-and the women with them-end the violence?

It is ridiculous to think that removing the pornographic eyesores which remind us of our own vulnerablity to sexual violence will end that vulnerability or help women working in the pornography industry.

It is hypocritical. It is not feminist.

Pornography advocates rape, but is not to be equated with rape, a difference many anti-pornography activists tend to blur. That distinction is an essential problem with the Minneapolis FINE IIRY FOODS Ordinance. We cannot fool ourselves into believing that ending the threats will end the violence.

Pornography is primary to the ideology of woman-hatred. It is not the root cause of our oppression. And to end violence against women we must sever the root.

Capitalism and ideology

Teaching woman-hate is just another divide and conquer tactic of the ruling class.

Some people suggest that a great deal of privilege comes with male dominance and it is in men's interest to oppress women. But for most working people how much privilege comes with buying into the system?

Because capitalism is based on an uneven distribution of wealth, where workers do not own or control what they produce, the system must be maintained by coercive authority. This is experienced in our daily lives in our relationships of boss to worker, cop to citizen, landlord to renter, teacher to student, and parent to child.

As workers most people experience domination from their boss, supervisor etc., and the subsequent feeling of powerlessness. Yet, men are fed the exact opposite expectation by the media and cultural ideology.

It is no coincidence that instead of changing the power structure of the workplace men are taught to expect their share of dominance in the private the hands of their parents and learn that violence is the easiest way to end conflict and assert power. At the same time children also learn passive acceptance of authority.

By assuming that male violence against women is distinct from other forms of violence we ignore the fact that through racial and/or class privilege women often act to maintain the system themselves.

Violence with many forms An example of how sexual violence is connected to other forms of violence is the myth of the Black rapist (of white women) used as the rationale to terrorize Black communities and, its flipside, the sexual exploitation of Black women by their white employers and other GANNETT OUTDOOR Con Clas BLACK V Whisky In white men justified through the sickening myth of the Black "she devil" or "temptress."

How about "queer bashing"' the violent retribution gays must fear for their nonconformity to compulsory heterosexuality?

Almost as common on television as sexual violence is racial violence. The most common T.V. image of Black men is as criminals being shot by white cops, for Black women it is being beaten by pimps.

The classic media image of the Native American is being slaughtered by the white cavalry.

The only way to end violence against women is to end the necessity for violence in society. This will never occur in a racist, patriarchal capitalist system.

"Feminist" separatism, while it pretends to be the most radical philosophy is actually reactionary. By assuming that men are inherently violent and abusive and women inherently their passive victims, separatists reinforce these cultural stereotypes.

It is non-revolutionary because it encourages a belief in a static "human nature" that is determined by sexual identity, with no capability of change.

Right now our right to abortion is under violent attack by the same forces Dworkin and McKinnon would unite with to pass their legislation. And they say they want to end violence against women!

Women must once again organize

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"Pornography is as old as woman-hating."