The below list is for people who are against pornography…
(See this blog’s definitions of pornography and erotica here. Also please see July 20 post regarding Anti-Pornography Civil Rights Legislation, Obscenity Law, and CP 80 Internet port legislation here. Please note that this blog and I are both 100% in favor of Anti-Pornography Civil Rights Legislation that addresses the harms of pornography to women and others. Thank you! :^))
1. Don’t buy or use pornography or have any form of it in your house.
2. Don’t support companies that sell pornography. (I.e. Video stores that sell it, or hotels that rent or sell it. Pornography-free hotels are listed at CleanHotels.com.)
3. Don’t allow your partner, children, or anyone in your house to use pornography. If your partner won’t stop using pornography and it is clear they have no intention of doing so, end the relationship.
4. If your partner is willing to consider ceasing to use pornography but is having difficulty doing so, and you want to salvage the relationship, insist that they get professional help. They need to understand how it harms them, you, your relationship, and women. Make it clear why it’s not acceptable to you to be in a relationship with them if they use pornography, and let them know that they must stop or you will end the relationship.
5. To help ensure that a partner does not use pornography, or that they are held accountable if they do, you can use Internet filters such as the ones listed at TopTenReviews.com, and/or accountability software such as X3. (Note: Some filters can be gotten around by tech savvy individuals.) If the professional help, an Internet filter, and/or accountability software doesn’t result in your partner ceasing to use pornography in a reasonable amount of time, then end the relationship.
6. If you are dating, bring up the issue of pornography early on and make it clear that you won’t tolerate a partner using it and why.
7. If you have children, consult websites such as ProtectKids.com, and books such as “Kids Online: Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace”, by Donna Rice Hughes, in order to know how to best deal with your children accessing or being exposed to pornography on the Internet. Consider using filtering software to block pornography, but don’t assume your children can’t get around it. (See reviews and ranking of Internet filters here.) Address the issue of pornography with your children in an age appropriate manner, and educate them as to how to best deal with peers who may share pornography with them. Raise the issue of pornography with your local Parent Teacher Association, (PTA), and work with them to appropriately address the issue.
8. Don’t allow others around you to joke about pornography. Call them on it and make it clear that the harms of pornography are not in any way funny, and that it’s not OK with you for them to make light of them.
9. Take the NoPornPledge, let others know about it, and encourage them to take the pledge themselves.
10. Encourage strict enforcement of rules concerning access or use of pornography in your work environment, or propose and get guidelines implemented if none exist. Solutions for filtering and monitoring pornography in business environments are available from ContentWatch.com.
11. Educate yourself about pornography so you can better educate others about its harms, and more effectively take action against those harms. (See educational resources and links throughout this list, at the bottom of it and in the sidebar of this blog.)
12. Report any pornographic spam that you may receive. See instructions here or here, and more information about dealing with spam here at SpamCop.net. Also report any pornography you may receive via regular mail here .
13. Take a legal remedy of your choice against pornography. (Currently the only one I am aware of is to report pornography that you encounter or are aware of that qualifies per the legal definition of Obscenity at the form for online pornography, and the forms for offline pornography. Information of what qualifies as Obscenity is on this page here under the heading “Summary of Obscenity and Related Laws”. Also, please see note at bottom of this post regarding Obscenity Law.)
14. Make known your objections about pornography on cable and satellite TV. Instructions here.
15. Take action to get pornography out of regular video and DVD rental stores per these guidelines here. Or create and carry out your own campaign.
16. Support any current, positive, proposed solutions to dealing with pornography, such as the one addressing Internet pornography proposed by CP80.org. (CP 80 stands for Channel Port 80, and is an effort to deal with pornography on the Internet so that it would be on certain “channels”, and people who want it would choose to have access to it, and those who did not want it could choose not to have access.) Information on how you can help is here.
17. Buy the DVD “Traffic Control: The People’s War on Internet Porn” that educates people about the CP80 Internet solution and some harms of pornography. Then share it with others and encourage their participation in getting the CP80 Internet solution enacted.
18. Talk to your friends, family members, acquaintances and coworkers about the harms of pornography. Encourage them to do what is appropriate for their circumstances. (I.e. To stop using pornography, to not ever start to use pornography, to support your anti-pornography efforts or local ones, etc.) Share articles and information with them by email, etc.
19. Buy and read books about the harms of pornography, such as “Pornified: How Pornography is Damaging Our Families, Lives and Relationships”, “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture”, “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity”, “Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography”, “Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality”, and “Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking”.
20. Educate others about the harms of pornography and encourage their participation in taking action against pornography by giving them gifts of books and DVDs about pornography.
21. At online booksellers such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, rate books about the harms of pornography, (such as the ones listed above), and write helpful and informative reviews.
22. Encourage age appropriate education about pornography in your local schools, so that children learn about the harms of pornography and what to do about them. (This should begin by the time the children are 10 or 11 years old, as children are often first exposed to pornography by that age.) Encourage education about healthy, egalitarian, respectful sexuality as an alternative to the domination/submission model found in pornography.
23. Write to your government representatives and elected officials, (mayor, members of Congress, Governor, President, etc.), and ask them what they are doing to combat the harms of pornography in their respective spheres of responsibility. Inquire about what you as a citizen can do to help. See government contact info here. Also see information from the Department of Justice on what you can do about pornography here.
24. Send these same government officials copies of useful books, articles and audio visual materials about the harms of pornography in order to educate them on the issues and encourage their participation in fighting against those harms.
25. Don’t allow pornography stores to open or expand their businesses in your community. See actions taken by NoPornNorthampton.org as an excellent example of what two people can do to combat a pornography establishment in their community. (See more information about what to do about local pornography shops here.)
26. Speak out against and take action against strip clubs and similar establishments in your community, as they often use pornography to promote their businesses and encourage the use of it through their degradation and exploitation of women. See some guidelines see here.
27. Purchase the entertaining and informative 2007 documentary “Adult Entertainment: Disrobing An American Idol”. (Available as a DVD or computer download.) Watch it, learn from it, and share it with others. (Preview clips available on sidebar.)
28. When it is available, purchase the soon-to-be released documentary “The Truth about Sex”, which addresses the history of women throughout the ages, and all the various forms of sexism, abuse and sexual exploitation they have been subjected to, including prostitution and pornography. (A full list of topics covered by the film is here. Also a very thought provoking and important list is here, describing what would life be like for women now if there had never been the women’s movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. I.e. No right to vote, likely no college education, very little career opportunities and very little pay for the limited careers available, no rape crisis centers, no domestic violence shelters, etc. The list is very long and an excellent reminder of the many improvements for women that have been brought about by the many hard working activists of the past .)
29. Purchase the video CD slide show that covers the harms of pornography called “Who Wants To Be A Porn Star” with a written script from the National Feminist Antipornography Movement. (Also known as NFAM or sometimes Feminists Against Pornography.) Write them at feministantipornographymovement (at) yahoo.com for more info. (Note: Just remove the spaces and replace “(at)” with “@”, so it is a proper email address. It is presented here that way in order to avoid spam being sent to them.) The price as of March 2007 was $5.00.
30. Present the slide show with the script to others in your community. An account of this being done successfully by two students at Castleton State College in Vermont, USA, is here. Encourage others who attend the presentations to get involved with anti-pornography activism by referring them to this blog or anti-pornography websites or groups of your choice. Also give them information on how they can get the slide show and present it themselves to groups in your community
31. If you would like some help with learning how to present the “Who Wants To Be A Porn Star” slide show, including how to answer questions from the audience better, find out when NFAM’s next anti-pornography slide-show training is by emailing feministantipornographymovement (at) yahoo.com. (Note: Just remove the spaces and replace “(at)” with “@”, so it is a proper email address.) Then attend the training, ideally bringing along with you others who know of who are also interested in doing anti-pornography activism. (Email every possibly interested person you know about the training well ahead of time, so that they have time to sign up themselves.) Information on the last “Stop Pornography” training is here.
32. Let NFAM know that you are interested in the version of the “Who Wants to be a Porn Star” slide-show with audio included on it. (This is something they have said is already said is in the works, but the more people that ask for it the quicker it will get done.) Write NFAM at feministantipornographymovement (at) yahoo.com. (Note: Just remove the spaces and replace “(at)” with “@”, so it is a proper email address.) When it is available purchase multiple copies and then distribute them far and wide – especially to people in positions of authority, such as educators, government, legal, and church officials, celebrities, community and opinion leaders, etc. (Along with information on what the recipients can do to help, and where they can go to get more information about the issues.)
33. Create your own lecture or presentation about pornography issues, and present it to groups in your community and elsewhere. An example of someone who is doing this is musician Meredith LeVande, with her lecture “Women, Pop Music and Pornography”.
34. Attend lectures, presentations, debates, and other events on pornography issues to connect with others who are also against the harms of pornography. Participate in the audience discussions or Q&A sessions. Ask pertinent questions of the speakers so that the audience can learn from their replies. Ask audience members to contact you after the event if they are interested in activism, and form your own local group.
35. Organize a meeting, conference, seminar, or similar event about the harms of pornography. Three examples of an event like this are: 1) The Demand Dynamics conference “Pornography: Driving the Demand In International Sex Trafficking”, which was held by Captive Daughters, an organization started by one person who wanted to do something about sex trafficking, (See book of conference here.), 2) The NOW 2005 Annual Conference workshop “Sexploitation: Trafficking, Prostitution & Pornography” , and 3) “Rape Slavery: Sex-Trafficking in San Francisco” (It also addresses pornography.)
36. Start a blog about the harms of pornography in general, one specific aspect of it that especially interests or bothers you, or another activist one. An example of a blog like this is: CharlieGrrl’s “Blog of Feminist Activism against Porn” . Two quick and easy places to start free blogs are WordPress.com and Blogger.com. (I especially recommend Blogger as I find it very simple to use.) An inexpensive blog service which offers a little more and many professionals use is Typepad.com. ($4.95/month.) Reviews of the top ten blog services are here.
37. Create a website that documents the harms of pornography. There are a number of very simple and inexpensive website building services available on the Internet that any beginner can easily use to create and maintain their own professional looking website. Examples are ReadyWebsites.com, (for a smaller site, starts at $8.88 a month), StirSite.com, (for a larger one, $24.95 a month with a set up fee), or any size at Homestead.com. Free trials are available at all of these services so you can see how very easy they are to use. In my experience they all have excellent instructions and very helpful customer service people. (General information about website builders is here with information on free ones here.)
38. Participate at the already existing anti-pornography message boards, forums, groups, and blogs on the Internet, such as the Genderberg.com forum, the LiveJournal.com anti-porn community, The Margins message board, (or Women’s Space blog community, also by Heart), the CP80.org forum, or the TrafficControl blog. (Note: The Margin’s board and Women’s Space are not solely about pornography, but they sometimes include discussions of it. Specific posts about pornography at Women’s Space are here.)
39. If none of the above message boards/groups, etc. are right for you, examine the website links at the bottom of this document to find one that is, or start your own message board or forum that addresses the harms of pornography. More information about the best message board/forum services and how to start one is here. (One of them is free, and the best two are $4.99 and $10 a month.)
40. Start a local group of people who want to do something about pornography and organize and carry out activism together. Group action that is carried out in person often has more impact and is more effective. The community connection service offered at Meet Up.com can be very helpful with this. See an example of an anti-pornography Meet Up group in Grosse Pointe, Michigan here, Radical Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography. Find out how to start your own “Meet Up” group here.
41. Start an online group of people who are concerned about the issue of pornography and want to do something about it. Free simple online services to help you with this are Yahoo Groups, MSN Groups, and Google Groups. A similar service for an email list group or list serve is Freelists.org.
42. Sign up for newsletters and mailings from anti-pornography organizations and groups such as CP80.org (here), MoralityInMedia.org, the National Feminist AntiPornography Movement, (NFAM. Email feministantipornographymovement (at) yahoo.com. Just remove the spaces and replace “(at)” with “@”, so it is a proper email address.), MediaWatch.com, (here), or the Anti-Porn Activist Network. (For the last one post at the Genderberg Forum that you are interested in receiving the APAN newsletter/activist alerts, or if you are interested in more directly participating in the Anti-Porn Activist Network activism.)
43. Participate in the activism encouraged in the newsletters, or use the information in the newsletters for inspiration to prompt your own choice of activist activities.
44. Donate money to or volunteer your time to any individual, group, organization, etc. that you feel is doing effective work to combat the harms of pornography, in order to facilitate their doing more such work.
45. Protest through letters, emails and phone calls, etc., anyone who publicly minimizes the harms of pornography or jokes about it. For instance you can write a letter to NBC’s “The Tonight Show”, or to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, and let them know there is nothing funny about the harms of pornography and that you do not find it acceptable that their hosts Jay Leno and Jon Stewart regularly make light of pornography. Contact NBC here and Comedy Central here.
46. If pornography has personally harmed you or someone you know, share that story with as many people as possible. (Friends, family members, acquaintances, coworkers, the media, on message boards, blogs, and websites, etc.) It must become broadly known exactly how harmful pornography is. Currently too many people are remaining silent, which gives the public a false picture that pornography isn’t as much of a problem as it is. If you want to share your story with VictimsOfPornography.org, follow the instructions at the bottom of their home page here. If you want your story to appear on the oneangrygirl.net website, click on the “Tell my story” link on this page here. Or if you are an activist and want your activist story to appear under the “Why I am an Anti-Porn star” section of that website (scroll down at the link to see it), email oneangrygirl at: info (at) one angry girl . net. (Remove the spaces and replace “(at)” with “@” to make it a proper email address.) Note: You can have your story posted anonymously if you like by requesting that another name be used.
47. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, magazine, or any website or publication whenever they print content that concerns pornography or is related to it. (I.e. When violence against women or sexism is addressed.) Point out the harms of pornography, and direct them and readers to relevant educational and activist resources so they can learn how to get involved. (For instance, you can direct them to this blog.) Note: be sure to read the online information for each publication regarding what the guidelines are for writing a letter to the editor, and follow them, so that you will have a better chance of getting your letter published. Each publication has its own guidelines. “Letter to the Editor” links for the following newspapers are as follows: 1) “USA Today” information is here. 2) “The Washington Post” contact information for letters to the editor is on this page here on the right hand side. Guidelines are likely available via the “Opinion” page, once you sign up for free in order to access that section of the website. 3) “The New York Times” info is here . 4) The “Los Angeles Times” info is here, and an online form to submit a letter if you prefer that method to email is here . 5) “The Wall Street Journal” information is here, with more specific information available possibly only to online subscribers – likely via their opinion page which is here. A list of the top 100 newspapers in the United States, sorted by total circulation, with links to each newspaper, is here. Remember that if your letter is written professionally and respectfully it will be better received by the editors. (You can share strong emotions and opinions and still be courteous.)
48. Submit an Op-Ed piece or article on pornography to any newspaper, magazine, or publication – online or off. Personal stories about the harms of pornography are particularly helpful as readers can often relate to them and publishers and editors usually welcome them. “USA Today” Op-Ed info is here. “The New York Times” Op-Ed info is here. To submit an Op-Ed to “The Los Angeles Times” write oped@latimes.com. “The Wall Street Journal” info is here. “The Washington Post” info is here. You can also share your opinion with readers in online publication forums/message boards such as the one for the “New York Times”, which is here. (Full information about the forums here. ) The forum for “USA Today” is visible after you sign up to become a member first, which is free. Full info here. “The Wall Street Journal” forum is here. “The Washington Post” message boards/forums are here.
49. Call in to local radio shows when the topic concerns anything that might be related to pornography or any form of sexual exploitation or abuse, etc. Share your opinion, story, or information about pornography with the audience, and encourage all listeners to get involved in doing something about the harms of pornography, beginning with ceasing to use or buy it and not allowing their partners to use it. Direct listeners to useful Internet resources and other ones. Give out your contact information if you are interested in connecting with listeners in doing activism against the harms of pornography.
50. Call up any local radio host or station that you feel might be open to hearing from you, and propose a show on pornography issues and/or that you appear as a guest on one of their shows to talk about pornography. (You don’t have to be a professional or expert to do this. Just someone who has an opinion that pornography is harmful and is willing to share information about the issue.)
51. Request that your local merchants either do not sell pornography at all, or that they restrict access and visibility of it. (I.e. Putting it behind the counter where someone would have to request it. An account of people successfully doing this is here.)
52. Support woman-focused magazines that consistently publish anti-pornography articles by subscribing to them or donating to them. Examples are Rain and Thunder and Off Our Backs .
53. Post any good anti-pornography video clips that you have, have access to, or know of that are under ten minutes, on YouTube.com. A good example of one is this video of the opening remarks of NFAM’s 2007 anti-pornography conference, by Wheelock College Sociology and Women’s Studies professor Gail Dines.
54. Make your own anti-pornography video message and post it at YouTube.com. Five examples are these: Female snowboarder Anti-Porn Erin Comstock, by Clean Media United, Save Love, by Save-Love.com, “my anti-porn message”, by WookieFragger, and Make Love Not Porn, by feministsister. There are many more on the sidebar of this blog. Keep scrolling down and enjoy all of them! ; ^)
55. Find or make similar anti-pornography video content that is longer than ten minutes and post it at Google Videos.
56. Do what WookieFragger did at YouTube.com, which was to flag pornographic content there which resulted in it getting removed. (He did it by setting a video trap, as described in his video “my anti-porn message”.)
57. Watch the five videos of the March 2007 National Feminist Antipornography Movement conference at Wheelock college in Boston at Google Video, which can be found on this page here. (Also see right side of this blog for videos, links to videos, or see individual links to videos at the bottom of this document.) Rate the videos and leave positive comments. (Rating the videos brings them higher up on the results list when someone searches for anti-pornography videos at Google.) Share them with others.
58. Make up anti-pornography slogans and get them printed up locally on products such as t-shirts and buttons, etc., either for your own use or to give or sell to others. Or use online services such as Zazzle.com and CafePress.com for this. They allow you to submit designs and then get products printed up. (Or you can search their sites to see if they already sell products like that.)
59. Buy and use existing anti-pornography and related products such as those available at one angry girl designs.
60. Stage a protest outside your local pornography shop in order to bring attention to the harms of pornography and get coverage of the issue in local press. A recent successful example of this being done by the Feminist Action Mobilization group is here.
61. Create a petition to get your local pornography shop better regulated and present it to your city council, as NoPornNorthampton supporters did here.
62. Write popular television talk shows such as Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Tyra. Thank them for the good shows they’ve already done on the harms of pornography, and politely request that they do more such shows. Contact info for Oprah is here, Dr. Phil here, and Tyra here. Suggest helpful guests for them to have on such shows, like Pamela Paul, author of “Pornified: How Pornography is Damaging Our Lives, Relationships and Our Families”.
63. Encourage television networks to create and rebroadcast shows that address the harms of pornography in order to continue to educate the public. Examples are the excellent “Porn Shutdown”, about the HIV outbreak in the American pornography industry, which airs on The Sundance Channel, (also on the Showtime Channel, see here), and the PBS show “American Porn”. The full PBS program can be viewed online here.
64. Call and/or email Britain’s Channel 4, (contact info at this link here), and request that they sell VHS and DVD copies of “Porn Shutdown” and all the other documentaries in “The Dark Side of Porn” Series. (Season 1: “Diary of a Porn Virgin”, “Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered”, and “Death of a Porn Star”, about French pornography performer Lolo Ferrari. Season 2: “Amateur Porn”, “Me and My Slaves”, “Hunting Emmanuelle”, “The Search for Animal Farm”, and “Does Snuff Exist”, which can be viewed online here. Warning: Graphic and disturbing content.) More info is at Wikipedia here about all the documentaries in the series . If there is enough demand then these (mostly) excellent documentaries will then be made available and can then be purchased and widely distributed to help educate the public and encourage activism. (“Porn Shutdown” is quite graphic, as are some of the others, but it is probably one of the best current documentaries on the reality of the pornography industry and its harms.) As far as I know only two of the documentaries are currently available to be purchased, and they are in a set together: “Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered” and “Diary of a Porn Virgin”. You can buy them at Amazon.com here. They were packaged and sold by The Sundance Channel.
65. Watch and record “Porn Shutdown” when it next airs on The Sundance Channel or the Showtime Channel, and then share it with others. (See upcoming airdates when they are available here for The Sundance Channel, and here for Showtime Channel.)
66. Purchase other documentaries that examine the harms of pornography and sexist media and share them with others, such as “The Pornography of Everyday Life” by Jane Caputi, “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” by Byron Hurt, (home use and educational use copies available), “Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video” by Sut Juhally, and the upcoming “The Price of Pleasure”, by Chyng Sun. Share them with others. If possible, hold public screenings in schools, churches, community centers, etc.
67. Contact any television stations that air advertisements for pornography, (I.e. “Girls Gone Wild” ones), such as Comedy Central, and let them know that you object to this and request that they cease airing them. You could also choose to boycott such stations or the shows that air them and let them know you are doing so. Comedy Central contact info here.
68. Write to pro-pornography or pornography-neutral “sex therapists” or “sex experts” who speak on television, radio shows or elsewhere, or who write in magazines and newspapers, etc. Let them know how harmful pornography is and refer them to anti-porngraphy resources for them to examine for themselves. Request that they don’t continue to publicly minimize or ignore the harms of pornography. For instance, Dr. Rachael of http://www.drrachael.com said in a video of her show : “The big picture of porn is that porn is visually exciting. You know, it’s got two people, three people, four people, sometimes even ten people, having sex in various positions with body fluids all over the place. So it’s not a mystery why people like to watch porn. And a healthy dose of porn every now and then is actually a healthy way of to get your sex drive going and rev things up a bit.” This was in response to a married woman caller who was upset about her husband neglecting her and frequently watching and masturbating to pornography of other women having sex.
69. Create art and literature that addresses the harms of pornography, such as poetry, novels, paintings, songs, etc. An example is the song “Amber Waves” that Tori Amos wrote about a pornography performer.
70. Rent out a billboard space for a month or more and put up an anti-pornography/pro-egalitarian sexuality message on it. Direct people to helpful anti-pornography resources with it.
71. Study current laws addressing pornography at ObscenityCrimes.org, especially regarding the United States Constitution First Amendment and how it doesn’t apply to pornography. See here. Support any enforcement of obscenity law that you feel will effectively combat the harms of pornography. (Please see note at bottom of this post regarding Obscenity Law.)
72. Contact your members of Congress and request that updating of Obscenity Law is done so that it addresses the current reality of today, such as pornography on the Internet and how it is shared for free via file sharing services such as KaZaA, Gnutella, and eDonkey. (Such file sharing services are also known as “peer-to-peer” or “P2P”, and are a method that children, teens and adults use to access and download unlimited of pornographic video content via any computer for free. They get the content from others who have it on their computers and share their files with them. See this article here for more info.) (Also please see note at bottom of this post regarding Obscenity Law.)
73. Contact your members of Congress and ask that they reintroduce the Bill H.R. 2885 that is intended to “prohibit the distribution of peer-to-peer file trading software in interstate commerce”. History and other information about the bill is here , here, and at KidsFirstCoalition.org under “P4 Bill” on the Members page at the top right-hand side of the page. (You have to sign in with an email address first in order to see that link.) Contact info for Congress and other government officials is here.
74. Propose local or national legislation that addresses the civil rights of women and others harmed by pornography, such as the ordinances proposed by Dworkin and MacKinnon that are documented here. (Please note that civil rights legislation is endorsed by this blog. Also please see note at bottom of this post regarding Obscenity law.)
75. Advocate for state and national legislation that would increase the health and safety of pornography performers, such as the mandatory use of condoms in the production of pornography, and the raising of the minimum age for participation in pornography to twenty-one years old. See full information on this issue here in this excellent article: “The Adult Film Industry: Time to Regulate?” . Note that the lack of condom use in pornography production not only affects the performers, but sets a bad example of unprotected sex to all the viewers of the pornography.
76. Educate yourself about pro-sex trade groups and organizations such The Desiree Alliance (desireealliance (dot) org), and the Sex Workers Outreach Project (swop-usa (dot) org). Such organizations often state that they are working on behalf of sex-workers to ensure they aren’t discriminated against, but in reality they often work to perpetuate the ongoing existence of the various sex trades – such as the pornography industry. (Whether intentionally or not.) Learn how they are fighting against the “stop demand” policies that anti-pornography and anti-sex trade activists are working to implement. Oppose the efforts of these groups in whatever way is appropriate in your circumstances to make sure they don’t succeed in their mainstreaming and further acceptance of the sex trade.
77. Learn about pro-porn groups that are disguised as pro-free speech organizations and do what you can to fight against and expose their lies about the harms of pornography, and their misrepresentations and distortions of pornography and it’s harms as “free speech”. Examples are Feminists for Free Expression, (FFE. At ffe-usa (dot) org), and the “adult entertainment industry” “trade association” “The Free Speech Coalition”. (FreeSpeechCoalition (dot) com.)
78. Propose to lawmakers that they adopt the Swedish legal model in order to most effectively combat pornography, which focuses on prosecuting those who use and create the demand for all forms of prostitution and most profit from them. (This applies to most forms of pornography too, as they are simply filmed acts of prostitution.) The people to focus on would be 1) those who use pornography – the johns, and 2) those who create it, sell it, distribute it, and market it, etc. See more information on the Swedish model and its success here.
79. Support enforcement of prostitution laws in your community, and all efforts to keep prostitution illegal. Point out that the best solution to combating prostitution is follow the Swedish model. (See above.) Since pornography is filmed prostitution, if prostitution becomes legal it will only hinder anti-pornography efforts more than they already are by the lax concerns about prostitution and the incorrect perspective that some have of it as being a “victimless crime”.
80. Suggest to your local police department that they start to keep statistics of how often pornography is implicated in local crimes or found at a crime scene, in order to help demonstrate or prove the connection of pornography to sex crimes.
81. If you belong to a church or spiritual group, suggest that a sermon or talk be done on the harms of pornography, or that other educational efforts about pornography are done. As examples, see creative work being done by the anti-pornography group XXXChurch.com, with their “Porn and Pancakes” and “National Porn Sunday” campaigns.
82. Find out if your local library allows access to pornography on their computers, and if so request that they stop doing so. If they don’t comply with your request, then publicly lobby to get them to do so. Get others – particularly parents – involved with petitions, etc. An excellent example of some people who have done this is a group from Monroe County, New York. They have a very useful web site called Stop Library Porn. The web site documents their work and has a variety of helpful resources.
83. Participate in the efforts of SafeLibraries.org, Plan2Succeed, (or a group of your choice that addresses the issue of pornography in libraries), to fight against the American Library Association, whose policy is to to allow access to unfiltered hardcore pornography in public libraries, even to children. See the American Library Association’s Internet Policy here.
84. Contact organizations for girls and women, such as the National Organization for Women, and the Feminist Majority Foundation, and ask them what they are doing about the harms of pornography and what you can do to help. (FMF contact link here, NOW contact link here. Local NOW chapters listed here.)
85. Start a local chapter of NOW, (National Organization for Women), and make addressing the harms of pornography a priority. Email them here for more info on starting a chapter.
86. Contact organizations such as your local rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. Ask them if they address how pornography contributes to violence against women, and if they educate the girls and women they deal with about the harms of pornography. If not, suggest that they do so. If you are able to, volunteer to help with this.
87. If you are a high school or college student, start a campus group or organization to educate other students about the harms of pornography. Or organize a “Take Back the Night” event, and have the speakers talk about how pornography contributes to rape and sexual assault. An article on how to organize a TBTN event is here.
88. If you are a student, write a paper about the harms of pornography and present it to your fellow students. Or find another way to study or address pornography, such as choosing a book on pornography for a book report, or writing about pornography as the subject of your thesis, or having a debate about pornography, etc.
89. If you are a feminist woman, meet and connect with other anti-pornography feminists by attending events such as the Feminist Summit, RadLesFes, (for all feminist women who agree with the principles listed on their web site), and Feminist Hullaballoo. Find others at such events that are interested in anti-pornography activism and form groups and coalitions with them, etc.
90. Start an organization to educate the public about the harms of pornography and to do something about such harms, or to help the victims of pornography, etc. An example of an organization doing something about Internet pornography is Enough is Enough, started by Donna Rice Hughes.
91. Contact anti-sex trafficking organizations and government bodies such as the ones listed here at CaptiveDaughters.org, and ask them what documentation they have of the connections between pornography and sex trafficking. If they don’t have any, request that this be worked on. Sex trafficking is universally illegal and condemned, and to the degree pornography is connected to it and seen as creating the demand for trafficked women and girls, it will be seen in the same light and acted upon similarly. Suggest they buy and read Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking, by Captive Daughters Media. (Buy it here at Amazon.com, or at Xlibris here. Table of contents here. Full text of Introduction by David Guinn here.) Or purchase a copy and send it to them as a donation.
92. Do research on the connections between pornography, prostitution and sex trafficking yourself, (or other aspects of pornography), and offer it to be used to fight against pornography by anti-sex trade organizations and government bodies.
93. Suggest to scientific, medical, educational and other institutions that they do research (or more research) on the harms of pornography. Support already ongoing research by offering assistance financially or as a volunteer.
94. Become a Big Brother, Big Sister, mentor, or volunteer at a Boys and Girls Club, etc, and educate the young people you are helping about the harms of pornography.
95. Visit pro-porn, pro-sex trade, and/or sexist websites, blogs, and message boards on the Internet that seem like they might have people there who are open to listening, and politely share information about the harms of pornography by posting comments, links to videos, articles, blogs and other antipornography resources. (Feministing.com is an example of such a site. There are some bloggers and visitors there who seem to be pro-sex trade to a certain degree at times, but who are also open to sometimes acknowledging and learning about the harms of pornography. Pro-sex trade links that were once at the site are no longer there and I don’t know why, but perhaps it was because of the helpful input of anti-pornography and anti-sex trade posters. ;^))
96. Educate yourself about the pornography industry and their strategies for further growth, (so you can best learn how to combat them), by reading their industry websites such as AVN (dot) com, AVNOnline (dot) com, and Xbiz (dot) com. (Note: Likely some minor pornographic content at links. Replace the “dot” with an actual period mark after pasting an address into your browser address bar in order to navigate to one of the mentioned sites.)
97. Attend adult industry events such as Erotica L.A., and the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, in order to educate yourself in person about how the adult industry works. (Note: minor pornographic content at links.)
98. Reach out to pornography performers and others in the industry at these events. Let them know that they deserve better than their current circumstances. Give them articles, books, and audio visual materials to educate them about the harms of pornography. Direct them to resources that can help them, such as Sex Industry Survivors. Additionally pornography performers almost always have their own websites, and/or blogs at websites such as MySpace.com. You can get their email/contact information at the websites or blogs, or leave helpful or supportive comments at their blogs, directing them to appropriate resources to help them on the path of first questioning their participation in pornography, and then leaving it. Blog examples are Jenna Jameson’s and Sasha Grey’s.
99. Join and/or support groups and organizations that are engaging in efforts to help girls and raise their self-esteem. Females with a high sense of self-worth will neither participate in pornography nor allow their partners to use it. A good example of such an organization is Dads and Daughters.
100. Encourage all boys and men you know to respect girls and women and treat them as human beings with dignity, not sexual objects to be used for their entertainment and then discarded. Participate in programs such as Mentors in Violence Prevention, which mentors young men and educates them to be part of the solution in regards to sexual harassment and abuse of girls and women. See information here.
101. Finally, model a positive, healthy version of human sexuality and dignity, and relationships based on equality and mutual respect between partners, as a contrast to the unhealthy distortions of pornography.
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For further ideas of what you can do to combat the harms of pornography, please examine the websites and resources listed above and below that interest you. Email whatever existing individuals, groups, and organizations, etc. that you feel are doing effective work, and ask them what you can do to help them or the cause in general. (If they don’t already offer this information on their website or have a newsletter.)
ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY WEBSITES and INTERNET RESOURCES:
NoPornPledge
Prostitution Research and Education
(It addresses pornography also as it is a form of prostitution.)
Against Pornography
National Feminist Antipornography Movement
NoPornNorthampton.org
one angry girl antiporn resource center
DianaRussell.com
Genderberg.com
MediaWatch.com section on pornography
Sex Industry Survivors
Erase the Dark
Anti-Pornography and Prostitution Research Group (Japan)
Enough is Enough
CP80.org
“Traffic Control: The War on Internet Porn” DVD and website
Also see sidebar section “Family and Children Oriented Anti-Pornography Internet Resources”.
KEY BOOKS, ARTICLES AND LINKS:
Books:
Pornified: How Pornography is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families, by Pamela Paul. (Buy it here at Amazon.com.)
(Note: The author has stated that she regrets the errors on pg. 259 in the sentence beginning with “Meanwhile, women on the Left…”. The sentence and the points made in it are inaccurate but corrections were not able to be made for the paperback edition.)
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, by Ariel Levy. (Buy it here at Amazon.com.)
Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking, by Captive Daughters Media. (Buy it here at Amazon.com, or at Xlibris here. Table of contents here. Full text of Introduction by David Guinn here.)
The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help, by Jackson Katz. (Buy it here at Amazon.com)
Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, by Robert Jensen. (Buy it here at Amazon.com.)
How to Make Love Like A Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale, by Jenna Jameson. (Buy it here at Amazon.com: ) It includes much valuable information about the pornography industry that makes it clear how harmful it is.
“Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm”, by Diana Russell (Buy it at Amazon.com here or at Diana Russell’s website here. Book info here.)
Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography, edited by Rebecca Whisnant and Christine Stark. (Buy it at Amazon.com here or at Spinifex press here.)
“Dangerous Relationships: Pornography, Misogyny and Rape”, by Diana Russell. (Buy it at Amazon.com here, or at Diana Russell’s website here. Book info here.)
“Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality”, by Gail Dines, Robert Jensen, and Ann Russo. (Buy it at Amazon.com here.)
“Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography”, edited by Diana Russell. (Buy it at Amazon.com here or at Diana Russell’s website here. Book info here.)
“Pornography in America: A Reference Handbook”, by Joseph W. Slade. (Buy it at Amazon.com here.)
Miscellaneous Articles and Internet Resources:
“Not Tonight, Honey. I’m Logging On.““Not Your Father’s Playboy, Not Your Mother’s Feminist Movement”, by Rebecca Whisnant.
Robert Jensen articles on pornography, sexuality, and gender.
“The Porn Debate: Wrapping Profit in the Flag”, by Stan Goff.
The Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement
“Exposure to Child Porngraphy as a Cause of Child Sexual Exploitaiton“, by Diana Russell and Natalie J. Purcell.
First Amendment:
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press
First Amendment and Pornography Legal Information
“It’s Not About the First Amendment”, by Mark Kastleman.
“The Free Speech Argument Against Pornography”, by Caroline West.Pornography, Violence, Rape and Crime:
“Pornography as a Cause of Rape”, by Diana Russell
Making Women’s Place Explicit: Pornography, Violence, and the Internet, compiled by Jennifer Nash, Harvard Law School
“The Link Between Pornography and Violent Sex Crimes”, by Robert Peters
“Porn Use and Sex Crimes”, by Rory Reid
Conferences:
Pornography: Driving the Demand for International Sex Trafficking, 2005 conference info with resources: (You may have to scroll over the right on the page to see it.)
Videos of National Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement 2007 Conference Talks.
or individually here:
Opening remarks by Gail Dines, Rebecca Whisnant, Gail Dines, Robert Jensen, Robert Woznitzer, Ana Bridges, and Michelle Chang
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Note: Please see “About this blog” and “Disclaimer” in the sidebar if you have any concerns regarding any of the resources in the list above and on this blog. The list and this blog are both works in progress and subject to revision as the content is further considered and examined as time permits. Thank you for your patience and understanding with this.
Please feel free to share your feedback and constructive criticism on this list and this blog by clicking on the “comments” link below. I would particularly appreciate the following: 1) Suggestions as to what else would be useful on the list, 2) Alerts that a link above is no longer good, or some information is out of date, no longer relevant, or needs to be revised. 3) Suggestions for what other resources might be useful for this blog, (I.e. links to other anti-pornography videos on YouTube or Google Video, new documentaries and books, upcoming events, etc.), 4) Links to productive activism that others are doing, and 5) Successes you’ve had in implementing any of the activism ideas on the list or any other activism.
Thank you for helping, and for being part of creating a better world for everyone! What you do does matter, and you can make a difference!
APA, :^)
Note regarding Obscenity Law: Inclusion of items on above list that reference Obscenity Law does not constitute endorsement or support of Obscenity Law. Please be aware of the fact that current Obscenity Law is outdated, was written long before the Internet, and does not address the civil rights of women and others harmed by pornography. However flawed, though, it is currently the only legal method I know of to hold pornographers in any way legally accountable for the harm they inflict on society. For a legal critique of Obscenity Law, which prosecutes pornographers based on “community standards” please see here. For a woman-focused critique you can do a google search for the phrase: “What do community standards mean in a society when violence against women is pandemic, when according to the FBI a woman is battered every eighteen seconds and it’s the most commonly committed violent crime in the country?” (Do not put quotes around the phrase when searching.) The search will lead you to an online article that addresses how some pornographers have sometimes used some aspects of Obscenity Law to get away with harming women but not be held accountable. (Full text in Chapter 4 of this book here.) If anyone is aware of any other legal method that is currently available to legally hold pornographers accountable for the harm they inflict, please feel free to comment. And once again please note that this blog is in favor of the enacting of anti-pornography civil rights legislation that addresses the harm pornography does to individuals, especially women. See more info about the history of attempts to get this law enacted in this article here. Further clarification in other posts and more coming soon.
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This blog was created so that people who wish to do something about the harms of pornography will have resources available to help them and will know that they are not alone. This blog is pro-woman, non -partisan, non-religious, (but supportive of constructive, non-discriminatory, and pro-woman efforts of people of faith), and is a project of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization AntiPornography.org. We support, encourage, and welcome constructive anti-pornography activism on the part of everyone, even if we are less than 100% in agreement with someone's views or approach.
You have the power to choose how to make a difference in your own unique way, and to do your part to make the world a better place for everyone. We hope that you have found some information and inspiration here that will help you do so.
Thank you for visiting. May you have much success in your activism, and congratulations on choosing to be part of the solution to a better world for everyone.
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