paid less than men for doing the same work. Lower pay keeps
us poorer, which debases the quality of our lives, and keeps us
dependent, which does the same. Pay discrimination did not
cause patriarchy. Pay discrimination is a symptom of women’s
lower status. It is a result of misogyny, not a cause. At the same
time, pay discrimination perpetuates women's lower status (by
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Pornography and Civil Rights
keeping us poor) and confirms men in their misogyny (the conviction that women are worth less than men). No one would suggest that feminists abandon the fight, including the legal
fight, for equal pay because it is “only a symptom, ” not a cause,
of patriarchy itself.
Now, in fact, feminists want equal pay for work of comparable worth. Because the job market is still highly sex-segregated and the jobs women do are economically devalued because women do them, feminists are proposing that men and women should be paid the same if their jobs, though different, have similar economic and social value. We have got en legislation passed in some places mandating equal pay for
comparable work. We have claimed economic equity as a right
and we want society to be reorganized so that we can realize
that right. The economic disparity between men and women
is a symptom of male supremacy, but, however symptomatic
it is, it injures women, so we want to stop it. In get ing rid of
this symptom of male supremacy, we also know that we would
make male supremacy a little less supreme.
Have you ever had a very high fever—104° or 105°—just the
symptom of a serious, underlying disease or infection? You had
bet er believe that the first order of business is to reduce the fever
because, even though it is a symptom, it may wel jeopardize your
life and on its own can irreparably damage your health. And you
wil feel very sick with the fever and less sick without it.
Some symptoms are pret y terrible, and it is important to
try to get rid of them.
With pornography, there is massive evidence that pornography is not only a symptom of misogyny but an active agent in generating woman-hating acts and second-class status for
women. Pornography sexualizes inequality and the hatred of
women so that men get sexual pleasure from hurting women
and put ing women down. It creates bigotry and aggression.
It desensitizes men to rape and other forms of sexual violence
against women so that they do not recognize the violence as
violence, or they believe the woman provoked and enjoyed it.
Pornography is used as a blueprint for sadism, rape, and torture. It is used to force women and children into prostitution.
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It is used to coerce children into sex. Sex offenders use it to
plan their crimes and to prime themselves to commit their
crimes. It is implicated in the biographies of serial murderers
and in the commissions of the murders themselves. It is more
than a very high fever. It does as much damage as low pay.
