CENSORSHIP FOR EQUALITY - Notes
1. Tamar Lewin, "Canada Court Says Pornography Harms Women," New York
Times, 28 February 1992, sec. B, p. 7.
2. Clarence Page, "Dubious Notions About Sex Crimes and Pornography,"
Chicago Tribune, 22 April 1992, sec. 1, p. 15.
3. Webster's Dictionary defines erotic as "1. of, pertaining to, or
treating of sexual love; amatory. 2. arousing or satisfying sexual
desire. 3. subject to or marked by strong sexual desires." Webster's
Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, 1989 ed., s.v. "erotic."
4. Andrea Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women (New York: G.P.
Putnam's Sons, 1981), 9.
5. Webster's defines obscene as "1. offensive to modesty or decency;
indecent; lewd. 2. causing, or intended to cause, sexual excitement or
lust. 3. abominable; disgusting." Webster's, s.v. "obscene."
6. Dworkin, Pornography, 9.
7. Catharine A. MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), 203.
8. Dworkin, Pornography, 22.
9. Donald Alexander Downs, The New Politics of Pornography (Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press, 1989), 102.
10. Dworkin, Pornography, 19.
11. Ibid., 9.
12. Ibid., 199-200.
13. In contrast, the dictionary definition of pornography is "obscene
literature, art, or photography, especially that having little or no
artistic merit," which is close to the legal definition of "obscenity"
and nearer to the contemporary popular usage of the term "pornography."
Webster's, s.v. "pornography."
14. Marian Leslie Klausner, "Redefining Pornography as Sex
Discrimination: An Innovative Civil Rights Approach," New England Law
Review 20 (1984-85): 764.
15. Dworkin, Pornography, 203.
16. It is important to note that any attempt at financial analysis of
the industry must rely heavily upon estimation because of irregular
bookkeeping procedures and the influence of organized crime in some
aspects of the market. Except for general sales and circulation
figures, this paper will not address the financial (nor criminal)
aspects of pornography.
17. Gordon Hawkins and Franklin E. Zimring, Pornography in a Free
Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 51.
18. U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's Commission on
Pornography Final Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1986), 1390.
19. Ibid., 1385.
20. Hawkins, Free Society, 38.
21. Al Stewart, "Smut Out of Rut, Defying Its Foes," Variety, 17
January 1990, p. 36.
22. Department of Justice, Commission on Pornography, 1394.
23. Ibid., 1388.
24. Stewart, "Smut," p. 1.
25. Department of Justice, Commission on Pornography, 1413.
26. Ibid., 1499 ff. Film and book titles are also listed. The
"50,000-60,000" figure came from an interview with a police sergeant
(p. 1413).
27. The Audit Bureau of Circulation is a private firm that publishes
annual and semiannual statistics on the circulation of those United
States and Canadian magazines that subscribe to its service.
28. Department of Justice, Commission on Pornography, 1409-1411;
Audit Bureau of Circulation, ABC Magazine Trend Report, 1984-1988
(Audit Bureau of Circulation, 1989), 28; Audit Bureau of Circulation,
FAS-FAX (Audit Bureau of Circulation, 1989, 1990), 22-23. Playboy and
Penthouse are the only publications which subscribed to the service on
an annual basis during the period covered.
29. U.S. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Report
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970), 97-98.
30. Ibid., 113.
31. Charles Winick, "A Content Analysis of Sexually Explicit Magazines
Sold in An Adult Bookstore," The Journal of Sex Research 21 (1985),
206-208.
32. Dworkin, Pornography, 176.
33. Joseph E. Scott and Steven J. Cuvelier, "Sexual Violence in Playboy
Magazine: A Longitudinal Content Analysis," The Journal of Sex Research
23 (1987), 534.
34. Neil Malamuth and Barry Spinner, "A Longitudinal Content Analysis
of Sexual Violence in the Best-Selling Erotic Magazines," The Journal
of Sex Research 3 (1980), 226.
35. Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). This case
concerned the conviction of a distributor of sexually explicit
advertisements under California state obscenity law. The Supreme Court
vacated and remanded Miller's conviction; i.e., returned it to the
California courts for reconsideration in light of the new obscenity
standards created in Miller. Thomas L. Tedford, Freedom of Speech in
the United States (New York: Random House, Inc., 1985), 183.
36. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 183.
37. Rosen v. U.S., 161 U.S. 29 (1896), which upheld the Comstock
Act, forbidding the mailing of obscene materials. The Rosen decision
adopted the rationale of the 1868 English case Regina v. Hicklin. The
"most susceptible" standard was rejected by the Court in the 1957 Roth
v. U.S. decision [354 U.S. 476 (1957)], but the Comstock Act, with
minor modifications, remains a part of federal law. Tedford, Freedom
of Speech, 55 and 167-168.
38. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 183.
39. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942). This
decision affirmed the conviction of a Jehovah's Witness who created a
disturbance while distributing religious literature, calling the city
marshal a "God damned racketeer" and "a damned Fascist." Chaplinsky
was convicted under a New Hampshire law that prohibited citizens from
speaking "any offensive, derisive, or annoying word to any other person
who is lawfully in any street or other public place." Tedford, Freedom
of Speech, 209.
40. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 211.
41. Ibid., 430.
42. MacKinnon, Feminist Theory, 203.
43. New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982). This decision
upheld the conviction of the proprietor of an adult bookstore for
selling sexually explicit films that featured young boys, which
violated a New York statue prohibiting the production or dissemination
of child pornography.
44. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 195-196.
45. Klausner, "Redefining Pornography," 759.
46. Ibid., 759-760.
47. Ibid., 760.
48. Ibid., 761.
49. Ibid., 760.
50. Ibid., 760.
51. Ibid., 760.
52. Unconscionability is described by a D.C. Circuit Judge in Williams
v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. (350 F.2d 445) as "an absence of
meaningful choice on the part of one of the parties together with
contract terms which are unreasonably favorable to the other party."
Stephen B. Presser and Jamil S. Zainaldin, Law and Jurisprudence in
American History: Cases and Materials (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing
Co., 1989), 846.
53. Klausner, "Redefining Pornography," 762.
54. Ibid., 766.
55. Downs, Politics of Pornography, 61-62.
56. Ibid., 64.
57. Ibid., 65.
58. Klausner, "Redefining Pornography," 769.
59. Downs, Politics of Pornography, 131.
60. Ibid., 132.
61. American Booksellers Association Inc. v. Hudnut, 598 F. Supp. 1316 (1984).
62. American Booksellers Association Inc. v. Hudnut, 771 F.2d 323 (1985).
63. American Booksellers Association Inc. v. Hudnut, rehearing
denied, 106 S. Ct. 1664 (1986).
64. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 285-286.
65. Ibid., 290.
66. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942).
67. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 210-211.
68. Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 252 (1952). This decision
upheld the conviction of a person distributing antiblack leaflets
urging city officials to keep blacks from moving into white
neighborhoods. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 114.
69. Tedford, Freedom of Speech, 114.
70. New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).
71. William E. Brigman, "Pornography as Group Libel: The Indianapolis
Sex Discrimination Ordinance," Indiana Law Review 18 (1985).
72. Klausner, "Redefining Pornography," 760.
73. Hudnut, 598 F. Supp. at 1333.
74. Hudnut, 598 F. Supp. at 1338, quoting Grayned v. City of
Rockford, 408 U.S. 104 (1972).
75. Hudnut, 598 F. Supp. at 1339.
76. Brigman, "Group Libel," 504, quoting Freedman v. Maryland,
380 U.S. 51 (1965).
77. Hudnut, 598 F. Supp. at 1341.
78. Brigman, "Group Libel," 504-505.
79. MacKinnon, Feminist Theory, 90.
80. Ibid., 99.
81. Ibid., 102.
82. Ibid., 98.
83. Ibid., 103.
84. Ibid., 100-101.
85. Ibid., 95.
86. Ibid., 102.
87. Kate Ellis et. al., Caught Looking: Feminism, Pornography, and
Censorship (Caught Looking, Inc., 1986), 13.
88. Ibid., 22.
89. Minneapolis City Council Government Operations Committee,
Pornography and Sexual Violence: Evidence of the Links (London:
Everywoman, Ltd., 1988), 24-29.
90. Bonnie Sherr, dir., Dorothy Todd Henaut, prod., Not a Love Story: A
Film About Pornography (National Film Board of Canada, a Studio D.
Production, 1981).
91. Robert J. Stoller, Porn: Myths for the Twentieth Century (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1991), 147.
92. For more testimony from porn performers, see Linda Lovelace, Ordeal
(1980); Linda Lovelace with Mike McGrady, Out of Bondage (Seacaucus,
NJ: L. Stuart, 1986); The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography
Final Report; Robert Stoller, Porn: Myths for the Twentieth Century;
Bonnie Sherr and Dorothy Todd Henaut, Not a Love Story: A Film About
Pornography.
93. Neil M. Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein, eds., Pornography and
Sexual Aggression (Orlando, FL: Academic Press, Inc., 1984), 33-34.
94. Ibid., 133-134.
95. Ibid., 40, my italics.
96. Ibid., 62.
97. Ibid., 79.
98. Ibid., 130.
99. Ibid., 129.
100. Ibid., 23.
101. Ibid., 30.
102. J.E. Scott and L.A. Schwalm, "Rape Rates and the Circulation Rates
of Adult Magazines," The Journal of Sex Research 24 (1988), 241-250;
Malamuth and Donnerstein, Sexual Aggression, 185-208.
103. Malamuth and Donnerstein, Sexual Aggression, 198.
104. Ibid., 198.
105. Ibid., 201.
106. Ibid., 206.
107. Larry Baron, "Pornography and Gender Equality: An Empirical
Analysis," The Journal of Sex Research 27 (August 1990), 363.