Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties

by Itzin, Catherine Itzin (Editor)

Overview

Does freedom of speech always play a more important role in society than the civil rights of certain members of that society? Is pornography an excuse to publish acts of violence? Many respected writers, both men and women, have contributed to this definitive collection of essays concerning pornography. Each has an individual view, but they all hold two beliefs in common: a passionate opposition to censorship and a vehement conviction that until pornography is eradicated, women's status can never be equal to men's. Thoroughly researched and passionately argued, these essays examine the possible causal links between pornography and rape, child abuse, and sexual inequality. Material from soft-porn to snuff movies is analyzed. This work includes interviews with alleged victims of pornography and professionals who have treated the alleged perpetrators of pornography-related violence. Contributors include Andrea Dworkin, Michael Moorcock, Catherine MacKinnon, James Check, Susanne Kappeler, Diana Russell, John Stoltenberg, Corinne Sweet, Tim Tate, and Ray Wyre. The Case Against Pornography is an important contribution to the anti-pornography debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198257554
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	09/28/1993
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	656
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.51(d)

About the Author

Catherine Itzin is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Violence, Abuse and Gender Relations Research Unit, Department of Applied Social Studies at the University of Bradford. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council for Civil Liberties.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Fact, Fiction and Faction	1
Part 1	The Pornography Industry And Its Product	25
1.	'Entertainment for Men': What It Is and What It Means	27
Part 2	Pornography And Power	55
2.	Pornography and the Social Construction of Sexual Inequality	57
3.	Pornography and Capitalism: The UK Pornography Industry: I Spy Productions	76
4.	Pornography: The Representation of Power	88
5.	Pornography and Racism: Sexualizing Oppression and Inciting Hatred	102
6.	Pornography and Child Sexual Abuse	113
7.	Maintaining Male Power: Why Heterosexual Men Use Pornography	124
8.	Pornography, Homophobia and Male Supremacy	145
9.	Pornography and the Politics of Lesbianism	166
10.	Pornography and Addiction: A Political Issue	179
Part 3	Pornography And Evidence Of Harm	201
11.	The Child Pornography Industry: International Trade in Child Sexual Abuse	203
12.	Images of Children in the Media: 'Soft Kiddie Porn'	217
13.	Women's Experience of Pornography: UK Magazine Survey Evidence	222
14.	Pornography and Sexual Violence: Working with Sex Offenders	236
15.	The Experimental Research Evidence: Effects of Pornography on the 'Average Individual'	248
16.	The Social Science and Psychological Research Evidence: Perceptual and Behavioural Consequences of Exposure to Pornography	284
17.	Pornography and Rape: A Causal Model	310
18.	The Effects of Violent Pornography, Nonviolent Dehumanizing Pornography, and Erotica: Some Legal Implications from a Canadian Perspective	350
19.	On the Question of Pornography and Sexual Violence: Moving Beyond Cause and Effect	359
20.	Pornography and Pollution: An Environmental Analogy	384
Part 4	Pornography And The Law	399
21.	Legislating Against Pornography without Censorship	401
22.	A Legal Definition of Pornography	435
23.	Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech	456
Part 5	Pornography, Censorship And Civil Liberties	513
24.	Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography and Equality	515
25.	Working in the Ministry of Truth: Pornography and Censorship in Contemporary Britain	536
26.	Pornography and Civil Liberties: Freedom, Harm and Human Rights	553
	Appendices	587
1.	Chronology of Anti-Pornography Initiatives in the UK	589
2.	Extracts from Letter to the Council for Periodical Distributors Associations from Gray and Co., 5 June 1986	598
3.	District Court of Ontario: R. v. Ross Wise, before the Hon. Judge H. R. Locke, Reasons for Judgment, June 1990	603
	Select Bibliography	614
	Organizations Concerned About or Active Against Pornography	634
	Copyright Credits	636
	About the Contributors	640

Editorial Reviews

"Reading Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties is an unsettling experience for a libertarian....The evidence that pornography can produce harm is pretty compelling."—The Times (London)

"The most sophisticated anti-porn arguments can be found in Pornography: Women, Violence, and Civil Liberties, a vast and impressive volume edited by Catherine Itzin....It is a comprehensive survey of all the old arguments and an invaluable introduction to new feminist thinking."—Tribune

"The book does represent a new stage in the anti-pornography campaign, inching the argument out of the feminist world—where, arguably it has been resoundingly defeated—into the wider legislative area."—New Statesman

"An important and long promised collection of essays."—Everywoman

"Presents in a comprehensive fashion one side of the debate over the regulation of pornography....Those who are most strongly in favor of non-regulation owe it to themselves and their followers to engage seriously with the essays in this volume."—The Law and Politics Book Review

From the Publisher