Pornography

"The Case Against Pornography" is not written as a diatribe against eroticism or a moral crusade to stamp out sex. It is intended as an attack, rather, on a multi-billion pound international industry that, it argues, systematically abuses and degrades women, an industry whose product is at the root of cases of routine discrimination and horrific violence. Many writers, both women and men, have contributed to this collection. Each has their own view, but they all hold two beliefs in common: opposition to censorship and the conviction that until pornography is eradicated, women's status in society can never be equal to men's. They argue that the regulation of pornography under the Obscene Publications Act is intentionally ineffective, permitting the mass-marketing of women's genitals and anuses, and the sale of rape and sexual assault as "entertainment" for men, but censoring art, literature and homosexuality.
Many of the contributors argue instead for sex discrimination legislation to enable civil actions against the pornography industry where pornography could be proved to have caused harm, or for legislation like the Race Relations Act where pornography could be shown to have incited sexual hatred and violence. The essays examine the causal links between pornography and rape, child abuse and sexual inequality. Material from soft-core to snuff movies is analyzed alongside interviews with people who have been victims of pornography and the professionals who have treated the perpetrators of pornography-related sexual violence.