Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality

article, the women without exception were harassed by obscene

phone cal s, fol owed, spied on, tormented by anonymous notes

and phone cal s, threatened over the phone and by notes and

letters. One woman had to move because her tormentor clearly

fol owed al her movements, including inside her own house.

Those who have the most to tel have good reason never to speak

in public.

Pol s tell us that most Americans believe that there is a causal

link between pornography and sexual violence. In a Newsweek

poll conducted in March 1985, 73 percent of those polled

believed that “sexually explicit” material (the euphemism of

choice in mainstream media for pornography) leads some

people to commit rape or sexual violence; 76 percent said that

this same material leads some people to lose respect for women.

Time magazine conducted a similar poll in July 1986. We

found the questions more confusing, with more vague or

double meanings, than those reported in the Newsweek poll;

but stil the results are startling: 56 percent of al those polled,

and 63 percent of the women polled, believed that “sexually

explicit movies, magazines, and books” lead people to commit

rape; 54 percent of al those polled, and 64 percent of the

women polled, believed that sexually explicit material leads

people to commit acts of sexual violence (apparently as dis88

Pornography and Civil Rights

tinct from rape). The Time poll found that pornography was

much more troubling to women than to men: 50 percent of

women were “very concerned”; only 27 percent of men

figured in this category of highest concern. A total of 61 percent of the people pol ed believed pornography encourages people to consider women as sex objects: 50 percent of men

thought this was true, 71 percent of women.

A survey conducted by the American Bar Association in

September 1984 (in response to the Indianapolis Ordinance)

and published in the ABA Journal in March 1985 queried 600

lawyers, half of whom were ABA members, half of whom were

not. 66 percent of the total, and 82 percent of the women,

thought that some pornography contributes to violent crimes

against women; 70 percent of the total, and 89 percent of the

women, thought that some pornography is discrimination

against women.

The most astonishing and important survey was done by a

mainstream women’s magazine geared largely to homemakers, Woman's Day, in January 1986. 90 percent of the 6, 100 respondents believed that pornography encourages

violence against women. 25 percent said that they had been

sexually abused by someone they knew as a direct result of his

access to pornography. This 25 percent did not represent

those who had been sexually abused in ways not involving pornography; nor did it represent those who had been abused, even if pornography were involved, by a stranger. This is a

staggering percentage of pornography-caused abuse to come

out of this or any other population of women.