Feminists Fighting Pornography

Feminists Fighting Pornography (FFP,Searles, Janis, Sexually Explicit Speech and Feminism, Revista Juridica Universidad de Puerto Rico, vol. 63, p. 471, at p. 488 n. 92 (1994). pronounced /fip/The Backlash Times (Feminists Fighting Pornography), Winter 1984, p. .) was a political activist organization against pornography. It advocated for United States Federal legislation to allow lawsuits against the porn industry by women whose attackers were inspired by pornography. FFP was based in New York, N.Y., was founded in 1983Searing, Susan E., & Linda Shult, eds., Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources, vol. 9, no. 1 (Madison, Wisc.: UW [Univ. of Wisc.] System, Fall, 1987 ), p. 23, as accessed Nov. 7, 2010. or 1984, and dissolved in 1997. (approx. accord, p. 83 (Table 6.1 ("1996-97"))) (report's method of determining disbanding year unclear).

Issue positions FFP opposed pornography. It is defined as the sexualized degrading, dominating, humiliating, objectifying, subjugating, violating, annihilating, exploiting, or violence and is distinguished from erotica, which is based on mutuality of power and pleasure.Questions We Are Asked Often, in The Backlash Times (FFP), Spring 1985, p. . According to FFP founder Page Mellish, pornography provides the training for incest, assault, and rape, results in the objectification of women, affects women's ability to get equal rights and equal pay and encourages men associate sex with violence. Mellish ultimately claimed that all feminist issues were rooted in pornography.Puente, Maria, Bill Holds Porn Producers Liable For Sex Crimes, in USA Today, Apr. 15, 1992, p. 09A. In a 1986 letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, an FFP member asserted that the members are "not against love and not against sex."Porno Violence (letter to the editor), in The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 24, 1986 (Eastern ed.) ().

Mellish held all men and women who did not fight against pornography as accountable for violence against women, and claimed that women who enjoyed pornography or rough sex had "internalized the male definition of power".Pally, Marcia, Women in Flames, in The Village Voice, vol. XXIX, no. 19, May 8, 1984, p. 23.

Positions on pornography have been debated outside of FFP, including with respect to porn's effect on crime and feminist definitions of porn.

Leadership FFP's founder and organizer was Page Mellish,Gurley, George, A Sexual Standoff in the Naked City, in The New York Observer, Aug. 30, 1998, 8:00p, as accessed Sep. 5, 2010 ("Page Mellish, who for years worked as a feminist antipornography crusader on the streets of Manhattan ....[,] has given up her old crusade"). formerly of the staff of Women Against Pornography,Fox, Wendy, 300 Join March in Outrage Over Rape, in The Boston Globe, Mar. 15, 1983, p. 1.Skurnik, Jennifer, Women Organize After New Bedford Gang Rape, in off our backs: a women's newsjournal, Apr. 30, 1983, vol. 13, issue 4, p. 1 (). and also formerly of Women Against Pornography and Violence in the Media and National Organization for Women, both of San Francisco, California.

Legislative agenda Feminists Fighting Pornography supported the Pornography Victims Compensation Act of 1991.Reske, Henry J., Feminists Back Anti-Porn Bill, in ABA Journal, Jun., 1992, vol. 78, p. 32 ().Dezell, Maureen, Bundy's Revenge: How to Sue Playboy, in The New Republic, vol. 206, no. 10, pp. 15–16, Mar. 9, 1992 (PDF, as accessed Oct. 29, 2010.The Pornography Victims Protection Act, in The Backlash Times (FFP), 1989, p. .F F P Sponsors Witnesses, in The Backlash Times (FFP), 1989, p. . Though the bill had some support including from "many feminists",, citing Stinson, Jeffrey, Judiciary's Next Showdown to Involve Sex-Crime Lawsuits, in Gannett News Service, Apr. 5, 1992, p. 1 (FFP's position discussed). it was not supported by Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon,Modern Times Interview of Andrea Dworkin With Larry Josephson, on "Modern Times" (American Public Radio, 1992) (radio program) (transcript of tape (end of tape missing)), as accessed Sep. 5, 2010 ("[Andrea Dworkin:] This is not our bill." and adjacent paragraphs). and some other feminists.Strossen, Nadine, A Feminist Critique of "the" Feminist Critique of Pornography, in Virginia Law Review, vol. 79, no. 5 (Aug., 1993), pp. 1099–1190, esp. p. 1188 ff. (appx.) (DOI, as accessed Sep. 7, 2010)., citing FACT Brief, in U. Mich. J. L. Ref., vol. 21, p. 76 (1988). Supporting the bill, Mellish appeared on a Larry King show, where she credited executed serial killer of women Ted Bundy, who claimed pornography as an influence, with bringing attention to the issue. Under the bill, a person who was attacked after the attacker was substantially spurred by pornography could sue the pornography's producers, publishers, distributors, exhibitors, and sellers without needing a prior criminal charge for the pornography itself. To be pragmatic toward passage, the bill was limited to child pornography and obscene material. The bill has been criticized. FFP also supported an earlier bill, the Pornography Victims Protection Act of 1987, for which FFP listed as endorsers "many [other] women's and children's organizations" and had "signatures of thousands" of bill supporters.This is according to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who introduced the bill. Congressional Record, vol. 133, no. 32, Mar. 10, 1987, pp. S 2931–S 2933, esp. p. S 2932, col. 2, & p. S 2933, col. 3 ("daily Congressional Record", per id., p. D 236) (in final ed., pages with possibly similar content are or include pp. 5147 (re S. 703) & 5160 (re FFP)).

In other legislative matters: FFP also supported the anti-pornography civil rights ordinance supported by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon.The Backlash Times (FFP), Fall 1985, p. . It did not support anti-obscenity laws, because, in FFP's view, they did not address the harm of porn.The Backlash Times (FFP), Fall 1985, p. . Legislation alone was not a complete solution, according to Page Mellish; it was also necessary to remove "the need for porn".

Congressional testimony Page Mellish, testifying to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 as "a professional activist .... employed ... [by] Feminists Fighting Pornography",Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary: United States Senate: One Hundred Second Congress: First Session: On the Pornography Victims' Compensation Act of 1991 and the Pornography Victims' Protection Act of 1991, July 23, 1991, S. Hrg. 102-471 (Serial No. J-102-33) (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office 1992), Statement of a Panel Consisting of ... Page Melish, President, Feminists Fighting Pornography, New York, NY ..., in id., p. 194 ff., Statement of Page Mellish, id., p. 221 ff. (endnotes with citations appear in her prepared statement, id., at p. 227 (her prepared statement is very similar to her live testimony as published)), in LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection (re bills S. 983 (102d Cong) and S. 1521 (102d Cong)) (Durable URL ), as accessed May 28, 2010, or U.S. Gov't Printing Ofc. record of publication. stating that the porn industry is largeLegislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 222The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report-1986, p. 336, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 226 n. 9, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff. and that "a majority of ... [the] product" of the porn "industry ... either degrades or violates women", spoke on "the real harm of pornography—its proximate cause to violence against women. This causal link was a primary finding of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography upon examination of research[Final Report 1986, pp. 324 & 325, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 224 n. 1, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff.] which included a Michigan State Police study finding pornography was used or imitated just prior to or during 41 percent of the State's sexual assaults,[Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report, as cited in Ladies' Home Journal, Oct., 1985, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 224 n. 2, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff.] a North Carolina State Police study that found 75 percent of the State's defendants in violent sexual assault cases had hardcore pornography in their homes or vehicles,[N.Y. Times, Jan. 26, 1986, & Oct. 13, 1985, The Virginian Pilot, Oct. 20, 1985, & The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report 1986, all as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 224 n. 3, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff.] and the FBI's finding that serial killers' most commonly shared trait was extreme pornography use."FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, Quantico, Va., N.Y. Daily News, Jun. 26, 1985, This World, Jul. 14, 1985, & Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report-1986, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 224 n. 4, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff. "The bill's proximate cause on incitement and influence is responsive to a Queen's University study in which 30 percent of sex offenders listed pornography as inciteful, preparatory, and instigative to the crime, and found rapists used pornography more than nonrapists."Dr. William Marshall, Dept. of Psychology, Queens University, Ontario, & The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report-1986, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 224 n. 5, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff. "[O]ne in four women respondents to Women's Day magazine ... reported being sexually abused as a direct result of pornographic materials[Woman's Day, Aug. 13, 1985 (questionnaire), & Jan. 21, 1986 (responses), as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 225 n. 6, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff.] .... [A] Yale University study ... found States with the highest pornography consumption had the highest rape rates, and lowest consumption, lowest rape rates."Dr. Baron & Dr. Strauss, Sociology Dept., Yale University, & The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report-1986, as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 225 n. 7, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff. "Seventy-three percent [of "Americans in the Gallup poll in 1985"] affirmed sexual—note that there was no stipulation on violence—affirmed sexual magazines, movies, and books lead some people to commit sexual violence. In a Gallup poll of 1986, 76 percent mandated a ban of magazines containing sexual violence."Newsweek, Mar. 18, 1985 (Gallup 1,020-adult phone poll on Mar., 1985), & N.Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1986 (Gallup 1,539-adult personal-interview poll on Jul. 11–14, 1986), as cited in Page Melish's prepared statement, p. 225 n. 8, in Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, p. 221 ff. In the balance of her testimony, she addressed the bill as noncensoring because it imposed "no prior restraint or State empowerment" and criticized the opposition.Legislative Proposals For Compensation of Victims of Sexual Crimes, pp. 221–222

Congress is required to have a rational basis for legislation that, without it, might violate a right of a person under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment but is not required to validate scientific conclusions to the same degree that may be required in academic science; rather, the legislative reasoning must not be arbitrary. This testimony stated the position in 1991 of Feminists Fighting Pornography and was noted by the American Bar Association's ABA Journal.