Pornography as a Civil Rights Violation

1
Pornography as a Civil Rights Violation
2
The Protagonists
Soon after they were married, he began to abuse
her severely punching and kicking her, burning
her with cigarettes, beating her on her legs with
a wooden beam, and banging her head against the
floor until he knocked her unconscious

• Andrea Dworkin
• (1946-2005)
• 1960s anti-war activist.
• Married an anarchist in Amsterdam.
• When she escaped, she worked for a while as a
  prostitute to survive.

3
The Protagonists

• Catharine MacKinnon
• Currently a law professor at U. Mich.
• One of the pioneers of sexual harassment law.

4
The Argument

• Pornography is not free speech protected by the
  First Amendment.
• Pornography is an act against women.

I was thirteen when I was forced into
prostitution and pornography, the woman says. I
was drugged, raped, gang-raped, imprisoned,
beaten, sold from one pimp to another,
photographed by pimps, photographed by tricks I
was used in pornography and they used pornography
on me "they knew a child's face when they
looked into it. It was clear that I was not
acting of my own free will. I was always covered
with welts and bruises. . . .
She was thirteen at a Girl Scout camp ... She
went for a long walk in the woods alone during
the day She saw three hunters reading magazines
They chased her, caught her, dragged her back
to where they were camped. The magazines were
pornography of women she physically resembled
blond, childlike. They called her names from the
pornography Little Godiva, Golden Girl, also
bitch and slut. They threatened to kill her. They
made her undress. It was November and cold. One
held a rifle to her head another beat her
breasts with his rifle. All three raped
her--penile penetration into the vagina
She was raped by two men. They were acting out
the pornographic video game "Custer's Revenge."
She was American Indian they were white. "They
held me down and said, 'Do you want to play
Custer's Last Stand? It's great. You lose but you
don't care, do you? You like a little pain, don't
you, squaw.' They both laughed and then he said,
'There is a lot of cock in Custer's Last Stand.
5
The Model Ordinance

• The ordinance was passed in Minneapolis,
  Indianapolis, and Bellingham, but struck down by
  the federal courts as a violation of the First
  Amendment.

• "Pornography" means the graphic sexually explicit
  subordination of women through pictures and/or
  words that also includes one or more of the
  following
• a. women are presented dehumanized as sexual
  objects, things or commodities or
• b. women are presented as sexual objects who
  enjoy humiliation or pain or
• c. women are presented as sexual objects
  experiencing sexual pleasure in rape, incest, or
  other sexual assault or
• d. women are presented as sexual objects tied up
  or cut up or mutilated or bruised or physically
  hurt or

e. women are presented in postures or positions
of sexual submission, servility, or display
or f. women's body parts-including but not
limited to vaginas, breasts, or buttocks-are
exhibited such that women are reduced to those
parts or g. women are presented being penetrated
by objects or animals or h. women are presented
in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, injury,
torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding,
bruised or hurt in a context that makes these
conditions sexual.
6
Causes of Action

• It is sex discrimination to
• (1) Coerce, intimidate, or fraudulently induce
  any person into performing for pornography The
  maker(s), seller(s), exhibitor(s), and/or
  distributor(s) of said pornography may be sued
  for damages and for an injunction, including to
  eliminate the product(s) of the performance(s)
  from the public view.
• (3) Assault, physically attack, or injure any
  person in a way that is directly caused by
  specific pornography. Complaints may be brought
  against the perpetrator, and/or the maker(s),
  seller(s), distributor(s), and/or exhibitor(s) of
  the specific pornography.
• (5) Traffic in pornography--to produce, sell,
  exhibit, or distribute pornography, including
  through private clubs.
• 5c Any woman may bring a complaint as a woman
  acting against the subordination of women. Any
  man, child, or transsexual who alleges injury by
  pornography in the way women are injured by it
  may also complain.