There are basical y two ways to get the Ordinance passed into
law. One is through legislative bodies: city councils, state legislatures, or Congress. The second is by direct initiative of the voters, popularly called a “referendum. ” In many states and cities,
voters can initiate legislation. First, signatures are collected on
petitions to put the law on the ballot in the forthcoming election.
Once the law is on the ballot, there is a direct popular vote.
Working with legislative bodies, we have found that the
power of the pornographers is both massive and secret. In many
cities, they own big hunks of important real estate and exercise
economic power in municipal governments by manipulating
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real estate, both buildings and land. Newspapers take their side.
They have many legitimate friends with influence, especially
lawyers. They also threaten and bribe politicians.
Working with direct popular voting, we have found that the
pornographers pour money into defeating the legislation and
that newspapers take their side and that they have many legitimate friends with influence, especially lawyers. But they cannot threaten and bribe the whole population. They have less power the more democratic the process itself is.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1985, the Women’s Alliance Against Pornography (WAAP) conducted a campaign to pass the Ordinance by the referendum process of placing it
on the bal ot to be voted on in the next election. These activists collected 5, 252 certified signatures of registered voters—
over 1, 500 more than were needed under Cambridge’s laws.
Even though every legal requirement for having the Ordinance on the bal ot had been met, the Cambridge City Council voted twice to keep it off the ballot. (Two years before, the City Council had similarly refused to place a “Nuclear Free
Cambridge” proposal on the bal ot. ) In trying to fight this illegal act by lawmakers, WAAP contacted virtual y every politically active human-rights law firm in the Cambridge-Boston area. Not one would act to protect the rights of women for
access to the ballot. Finally, legal representation was found in
Springfield, Massachusetts, 90 miles away, by an all-women
law firm. A member of WAAP, as a registered voter, sued the
members of the Cambridge City Council for an injunction to
put the Ordinance on the ballot. She won, and the City was
ordered to comply with the law and to honor her rights as a
citizen. Unlike the legislative process, the referendum process
provides ordinary citizens with some legal protections.
You can pass the Ordinance either by get ing your elected
of icials to vote it into law or by put ing it on the bal ot so that
all the people in your city or state can vote on it.
Because the pornographers fight dirty, many people are
afraid to chal enge them by initiating this legislation. Politicians are certainly afraid, but so are regular citizens. Many women wil find themselves having to talk publicly about por
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nography-caused sexual abuse they have experienced. Organizers wil be threatened and harassed. Money is hard to come by for those who want to stop the pornographers while
the pornographers themselves have unlimited funds. Those
who defend pornography are verbally abusive in public dialogue. Once the law is passed, it wil be challenged
