"XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography"

-by Wendy McElroy
1995
Who remembers when the Playboys went off the 7-11 shelves?
1986, that's right. Now who remembers what government report led to that, and other anti-pornography measures?
Yes, Reagan's Meese Commission Report, which concluded that there was a connection between pornography and violence against women. This conclusion was reached, because this conclusion was sought. The first hearing heard the testimony of forty-two anti-porn advocates, but only three freedom of speech advocates; the rest were sent home. The conclusion was in direct contradiction to a similar study made under Nixon, a more balanced study which found no link between porn and violence. This is but one of many interesting tidbits to be found.
I loved this book. I have often called myself a feminist, but had limited knowledge of modern feminism, and specifically, of the schism that formed in the 80s between liberal feminists and radical (anti-porn) feminists. I shudder to think that recently i called myself a radical feminist on this very site, not realizing what it meant. This book chronicles that schism, and which side McElroy comes down on is obvious. Her research is meager, but compelling.
In truth, some of my own writings can be interpreted as having a radical feminist agenda, which stops just short of saying that any form of heterosexual intercourse is rape. The depth to which i have been saddened and enraged by the historical subjugation of females is profound...i even advocated mass castration in one of my poems. But i was employing literary license, as a wake-up device. As a handful of women can attest, my fondness for healing heterosexual communion is, well, deep.
McElroy makes the point that the bogus distinction between "porn" and "erotica" is the result of porn being trashed by the far right (and the anti-porn feminists, who somehow wound up in bed together?), but that pornography is healthy for all humans, and doubly so for women, as feminist advances have always come hand in hand with freedom of expression. Whoever controls language controls the debate, and i admit that i myself have used the word "erotica" (but this is because most porn, not giving the loving touch of societal approval, has always been pretty crappy). She details the history of the sexual freedom movement in this country, which started a century before most people think it did. She asserts that anti-porn feminism is a philosophy of victimization, but that porn is empowering to women, who need to reclaim their sexuality, not distance themselves from it. She says that porn is the only way a woman (or man) can "explore" sexuality in total safety, and find a kind of information not available in textbooks. The ultimate question at the heart of the debate, is this: can you defend a position which equates sexual explicitness with human degradation? Some people can, but they're looking ahead while running backwards. These people endorse self-loathing as a philosophy.
In my own experience, i remember being a bit stunned when i came to the big city and realized that there are women who are hardcore devotees of porn (or devotees of hardcore porn, if you will). At first, i was the tiniest bit put off by these women, but that may have just been the literary snob in me. Ultimately, these women are powerful, sexy, and inspiring.
And McElroy's book is fantastic.
P.S. A book which may provide more in-depth analysis is "Pornography: The Other Side", by F.M. Christensen.