April 15, 2008 at 4:18 am (feminism, male feminism, male violence, pornography, sexism, violence against women)
Tags: anti-porn, anti-rape, feminism, pornogaphy, stop rape, take back the night
“How can we stop rape and woman-battering by staffing rape-crisis centers and refuges when there are thousands of movie houses, millions of publications, a multibillion-dollar business that promote the idea that violence and the rape of women is sexually exciting to men, and that we like it too?”
- Diana E.H. Russell, giving the concluding speech at the Feminist Perspectives on Pornography conference in 1978, published in “Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography”
Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography is a compilation of essays and interviews edited by Laura Lederer and released in 1980. 28 years later, it’s as valuable and relevant a read as the day it was released. When I first read it in the late 80’s, I was amazed at how many strong pieces were in the book. The essays were as readable as they were revolutionary, thorough and researched without being boringly academic. Two pieces in particular, “Playboy isn’t Playing: An Interview with Judith Bat-Ada” and Helen E. Longino’s “Pornography, Oppression and Freedom”, have stuck with me to this day and are central to my understanding of pornography’s place within American rapist culture.
Anyone looking to understand why pornography is so bad for women (and everyone else too) should read this book a.s.a.p. It addresses all of the popular questions and criticisms leveled at the feminist anti-porn movement, so if you have any questions, suspicions or doubts, get them addressed here! These would include the caricature of feminists as “anti-sex” or “repressed” or “puritanical” in their condemnation of porn. As the various writers make clear, the complaint is not against sexuality but of the eroticizing of male power and female degradation, of the reduction of women to sexual objects, and of the sexualization of violence and children.
The book’s title? Many people have heard of Take Back the Night marches and vigils, and the book notes how that slogan was first used in the U.S. for a protest march down San Francisco’s pornography strip.
From Lederer’s introduction to the book:
“The title of this book, Take Back the Night, refects this growing realization of the links among crimes against women. The pollution of our media with sexist articles, programming and advertisements, and the increasing amounts of pornography readily available, are hardly questioned. Rapes, muggings and sexual harassment of women at all times, but especially at night, are the norm. That we have been unable to walk the streets after dark without a male to protect us from all the rest of the men has been assumed in this society for so long that people can hardly imagine a culture in which this would not be the case.” (Lederer, 19)
Next up: some quotes from the book to hold you over until the copy you’re about to order arrives!
Leave a Comment
February 11, 2008 at 5:39 am (Resources, feminism, male violence, violence against women)
My Strength is a project of the California Department of Health Services and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), a statewide coalition of rape crisis centers and prevention programs founded in 1980.
From the MyStrength.org mission statement:
“Our vision is a world free from sexual violence. To help make this vision a reality, we’re initiating ‘The MyStrength Campaign’ to enlist to young men to take action to stop rape. “
Find out more about the group at the MyStrength.org web site or their My Space page. They have downloads of rape education flyers and postcards and other stuff worth checking out.
Leave a Comment
February 5, 2008 at 6:57 am (feminism, male feminism, male violence, sexism, violence against women)
Tags: feminism, male feminism, mexico, sexism, violence against women
There’s been so much sad news coming out of Mexico in terms of violence against women over the past decade, it’s refreshing to hear anything positive! Check out the article by AP writer E. Eduardo Castillo here.
“MEXICO CITY – Mexico has created a new federal position to prosecute violence against women and human exploitation, as rights groups urge the government to do more to investigate the killings of women, especially along the U.S. border.”
Leave a Comment
February 3, 2008 at 9:39 pm (feminism, male violence, violence against women)
Tags: feminism, Gender quotes, myths, rape, sexism, violence against women
Here’s another list, this one from the organization “A Call to Men”. You can find out about this group here.
From their site: “Our mission is to galvanize a national movement of men committed to ending violence against women. We would welcome your assistance in helping to find resources and ways to visit your community.”
1. Acknowledge and understand how sexism, male dominance and male privilege lay the foundation for all forms of violence against women.
2. Examine and challenge our individual sexism and the role that we play in supporting men who are abusive.
3. Recognize and stop colluding with other men by getting out of our socially defined roles, and take a stance to end violence against women.
4. Remember that our silence is affirming. When we choose not to speak out against men’s violence, we are supporting it.
5. Educate and re-educate our sons and other young men about our responsibility in ending men’s violence against women.
6.“Break out of the man box”- Challenge traditional images of manhood that stop us from actively taking a stand to end violence against women.
7. Accept and own our responsibility that violence against women will not end until men become part of the solution to end it. We must take an active role in creating a cultural and social shift that no longer tolerates violence against women.
8. Stop supporting the notion that men’s violence against women is due to mental illness, lack of anger management skills, chemical dependency, stress, etc… Violence against women is rooted in the historic oppression of women and the outgrowth of the socialization of men.
9. Take responsibility for creating appropriate and effective ways to develop systems to educate and hold men accountable.
10. Create systems of accountability to women in your community. Violence against women will end only when we take direction from those who understand it most, women.
Copyright © 2004, ACT Men Inc. All rights reserved.
Leave a Comment
