Vol. 8 No. 6 (June 1998) pp. 264-267.

IN HARM'S WAY: THE PORNOGRAPHY CIVIL RIGHTS HEARINGS
by Catharine A. MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin (Editors). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997. 496 pp. $45.00 (cloth), $24.95 (paper).
ISBN 0-674-44578-3 (cloth), 0-674-44579-1 (paper).

Reviewed by Gloria C. Cox, Department of Political Science, University of North Texas. Email: gcox@unt.edu.
 

Many readers are no doubt aware that in recent years there has been a small but concerted effort to ban the production and distribution of pornography on the premise that such materials are directly linked to the abuse of women and others in society. Those who wish to see an end to the availability of pornography generally advocate the adoption of laws that define pornography and actions related to it as violations of civil rights. Beginning in 1982 with Minneapolis, various cities as well as the State of Massachusetts held hearings to determine the feasibility and wisdom of enacting such legislation. IN HARM'S WAY, edited by Catharine A. MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, is a compilation of transcripts of those hearings, together with introductory material, commentary, and related information.

MacKinnon and Dworkin are well known as developers and advocates of efforts to make pornography a civil rights issue. In their view, pornography can be directly linked to sexual violence of all kinds, from the sexual abuse of children to the coercion of women into prostitution. MacKinnon argues that pornography is to women what segregation was to people of color, so the very existence of pornography presents a violation of the civil rights of women. Since the existence of pornography and actions that may result from its availability and use are violations of the civil rights of women as a class, both the creators of such material and distributors and sellers of it should be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties.

IN HARM'S WAY: THE PORNOGRAPHY CIVIL RIGHTS HEARINGS, as the title suggests, brings to the reader the actual transcripts of hearings conducted relative to proposed ordinances in Minneapolis (1983), Indianapolis (1984), Los Angeles (1985), and Massachusetts (1992). MacKinnon wrote chapter one and Dworkin wrote chapter two to introduce the subject of pornography, its victims, and the history of public policy developments on the issue. Since MacKinnon is a professor of law, the reader expects to find a somewhat legalistic treatment of the subject and MacKinnon does not disappoint. In addition to the first chapter of the book, MacKinnon has other opportunities at various points in the text to provide elucidation and answer arguments presented by opponents of the legislation. In chapter two, Dworkin presents a rather eloquent personal story of her life in a society that she believes routinely and systematically denies rights to women. In relating her story of living with a man who abused and terrorized her, she shares the misery of having unsuccessfully sought refuge and assistance from others.

Some common themes are clearly discernible in these introductory chapters. I shall mention them now and return to them later in this review for more discussion. First, the authors and many of those who testified view pornography as an evil empire whose effects are clearly visible in many acts of sexual violence toward women. Much of IN HARM'S WAY is devoted to demonstrating those harmful effects as borne out by the experiences of victims, the testimony of professionals who have worked with victims of pornography, and the research findings of scholars who have studied the subject. A second theme is that many people, especially women, have been and continue to be victims of pornography and pornographers. The idea of victimization is iterated, with emphasis on the need to give voice to those intimidated into silence and protect them against further exploitation. The final theme is that opposing the proposed legislation makes one an apologist for the pornography industry. Indeed, the authors accuse several interests and institutions in our society of making excuses for pornography and pornographers. Among those cited are the entertainment industry, bookstores and booksellers, the news and entertainment media, and the American Civil Liberties Union, characterized by the authors as the home of "the pro-pimp lobby."

Not that the reader to this point would be laboring under any such apprehension, but allow me to state the obvious fact that the authors have strong views on this issue and their book is not intended in any way to be an unbiased treatment of the subject. The authors are clear in their opposition to pornography and their support for laws like those that were being considered in various places around the country when these hearings were underway. In fact, MacKinnon and Dworkin were present and involved in the hearings as authors of the proposed legislation and advocates for its enactment.

The Minneapolis hearings began on December 12, 1983, before the city's Government Operations Committee. The first speaker was MacKinnon who, along with Dworkin, had been hired by the City Council "to develop an ordinance relating the violation of women's rights in regard to pornography to civil rights." (p. 40). In her briefing to the City Council, MacKinnon defined pornography as "a violation of the civil rights of women." It was helpful to find a copy of the proposed ordinance in the appendix; the reader can see just how the city's civil rights ordinance would be amended to accommodate the anti-pornography provisions. A reading of the proposed ordinance illustrates the extraordinary effort its authors made to define pornography in sufficient detail so it would withstand judicial scrutiny. The difficulty of that task is illustrated by the hearings themselves, which included witnesses who condemned perfume and clothing ads in mainstream magazines that are clearly very distant from the images the authors of the ordinance seemed to have had in mind.

Such careful efforts to define pornography certainly do not guarantee that the definition will withstand and survive legal scrutiny---as the results of this movement illustrate. For instance, one part of the definition makes it unlawful to depict "women as whores by nature." That phrase, however interesting, seems to be sorely lacking in legal clarity. One male witness, a librarian, commented at the hearings that if women had a right not to be depicted as whores, men had a right not to be depicted as rapists. Another part of the definition of pornography that seems to defy exactness is "women are presented in postures of sexual submission." Many readers can no doubt imagine that phrase being expansive enough to encompass some highly regarded novels and sculpture, which it would be incredibly inappropriate to ban.

The ordinance also provides that the offense can take several forms including: discrimination by trafficking in pornography; the production, sale, exhibition, or distribution of pornographic materials as defined in the act; coercion into pornographic performances; forcing pornography on a person; or assault or physical attack due to pornography. As MacKinnon explains (p. 255), "the public availability of the pornography . . . is in and of itself a violation of women's rights to equal personhood and citizenship." Finally, the ordinance provides that it is no defense for an offender not to have known or intended for the materials to be pornography or that he did not know or intend his actions to be sex discrimination. These and other aspects of the ordinance are clarified somewhat by MacKinnon's explanation of the ordinance on pp. 253-259.

During the hearings in Minneapolis and elsewhere, council members heard from a variety of witnesses including experts such as therapists and counselors, interested citizens such as leaders of neighborhood groups, and those who see themselves as victims of pornography. The fact that the book provides verbatim transcripts of the hearings is a mixed blessing; while the reader appreciates the accuracy, he or she is also exposed to a great deal of graphic and even vulgar terminology used by some witnesses, along with their errors of statement and grammar. To be candid, it was clear to me after reading the first several accounts that I no longer wished to read each person's entire story. I found it sufficient to note the position of the person as professional or victim and to decide how much of the testimony required my attention. This abbreviated reading was necessary not only to avoid the details of dreadful experiences, but also because there was a great deal of repetition among the accounts provided.

The authors are to be applauded for their evenhandedness in including not only the stories of the victims with whom they sympathize but also the comments of those who made serious arguments against the validity, legality, usefulness, and consequences of such proposals. A member of the Civil Rights Commission of Minneapolis spoke dramatically about the importance of the First Amendment and the impact of such an ordinance on it. Many social workers and other professionals include a disclaimer of some sort about the lack of concrete evidence linking pornography with deviant sexual behavior. One bit of information I wish the book had provided was the selection process for witnesses.

To return to the three themes that seem to play out IN HARM'S WAY, it is certainly clear that the authors view pornography as directly linked to many forms of abuse of women (and others). While it is true that some scholarly studies are mentioned and discussed, it seems that the authors rest their case substantially on the anecdotal data provided by witnesses, including both victims of such abuse and professionals who help them deal with their situations. I would have found it helpful for the authors to have included more extensive information on such scholarly studies as may have been available when the hearings were conducted. More precisely, I would like to have seen whatever evidence may exist to demonstrate direct linkages between pornography and acts against women, since witness claims that causal link after witness. A recurring thought was that causes are generally much more complex and difficult to understand than the frequent claims in this book that viewing pornography, however degrading and humiliating it may be, causes otherwise normal persons to engage in aggressive, violent, and hateful behavior toward women.

It is also clear that women are viewed as the main victims of pornography. In fact, woman as victim is an overarching theme of IN HARM'S WAY. Some female witnesses described living in neighborhoods where there were strip clubs or pornography shops, while others told of sexual assaults. Each witness was asked to link his or her experience to pornography. Prostitutes described treatment by men who had viewed pornography just before visiting them. One woman told of going to see a stripper friend whose boyfriend was a pimp, only to be drugged and abused during the visit. One woman began her testimony at the Minneapolis hearings with the statement, "I have not yet been raped" (p. 198). Another said, "There is no place in our society where it is safe to be a woman...." (p. 200). Dworkin herself commented, " It is not true that women can protect ourselves from being victimized by pornography." In fact, even those who were users of pornography were deemed to be victims of an engrossing, addictive, and destructive habit. Only one witness seemed to refute directly the notion that women need protection from pornography and its effects. She argued that when women have been protected in the past, they have been excluded from important aspects of citizenship such as voting.

Finally, the pornography industry is depicted as giant, influential, and immune from change because of the protection it receives from other parts of society. The authors make their goal clear at the outset of the book and freely criticize those who oppose their movement. They maintain no facade of even-handedness and are openly critical of those who oppose the efforts of the movement. Apparently smarting from criticism that the hearings were biased in favor of advocates of the legal redefinition, MacKinnon writes (p. 10) that "Opponent after opponent of the civil rights of women, mostly women, parade through these pages, testifying ad nauseam." That statement cuts a wide swath, labeling those who oppose the particular type of law in question as opponents of the civil rights of women. Even the First Amendment, defended as it is by many, is the target of criticism as an instrument for pornographers to continue their oppression of women. It is a resounding tone throughout IN HARM'S WAY.

The anti-pornography ordinance was passed by the Minneapolis City Council twice, but was vetoed both times by the mayor. Suit was filed against the Indianapolis ordinance just two hours after the mayor signed it into law, and the law was struck down as unconstitutional. The issue reached the Supreme Court in AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION, INC. v. HUDNUT, 475 U.S. 1001 (1986), with the high court affirming the lower court's ruling.


Copyright 1998