Every year Stop Porn Culture! holds training sessions for people who want to become anti-porn activists. These two-day seminars introduce participants to the literature on the effects of porn and provide a general introduction into the history of feminist anti-porn activism. Central to the training is a day of mock question and answer sessions where we train people in how to answer the various questions that audience members typically have after seeing the slide show. This helps people develop the confidence necessary to give public lectures on porn.
The SPC Website has an array of resources for people seeking more information on the effects of porn, on how to deal with a partner who is a habitual user, as well as videos and articles on issues relating to the sex industry. Over the years SPC has become a visible movement in fighting the porn industry and we are now developing international links with other groups who are trying to raise consciousness as to the harms of porn.
Linda Thompson
(Scotland)
Challenging the Demand
Imagine standing up in a room full of strangers. Imagine standing up talking to them about pornography. Imagine going into that knowing that a good few will be hostile to everything you say and extend that personally to you. Imagine hearing young women talk of practising faked orgasm sounds and faces to meet partners’ expectations. Imagine talking with parents supporting their teenagers as they deal with their naked images being shared online.
And yet, I love my job challenging demand for commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography. I don’t love what I see, read and hear, but every day I am proud to be involved in challenging one of the most destructive forces in our culture. Saying “I am anti-porn” is definitively stating a position which some are surprised even exists. There is disbelief that anyone does such a job and that I would confess to being like that. Sometimes there is a nervous laugh, slight defensiveness or even an envious “Wow, I’d love to look at porn and get paid for it!” Clearly, I am part of a minority, holding an alternative position outside the dominant view of pornography as acceptable, liberal and progressive.
Years ago, this anti-porn position would have seemed incompatible with my work with young people in sexual health projects in Belfast. Now, my work as the Development Officer with the Women’s Support Project[204] includes reading porn industry journals,[205] viewing the latest uploads on Youporn or scanning the highest-rated pornography on British Bukakke Babes. The idea that this regular exposure to the pornography industry would radically change my views was something I never expected.
In the 1990s, I was a woman who knew about pornography, knew its language but thought if someone wanted to use it to get off – what was the problem? Back in that era of videos, DVDs and magazines, I reassured female friends that all guys look at this stuff and blew the whistle on the usual hiding places. I said, “Where is the harm?” This seemed to fit with my sexual health work and with the ostensible need to be sex-positive.
So, what changed? Simply, I took a step back, found out more and had to accept that pornography was not unproblematic.
I thought I had a good working knowledge of the sex industry but I was not prepared for what I discovered. Finding out about the US activists’ group Stop Porn Culture! and watching their slide show started the steep learning curve. After I decided to develop their ‘Who wants to be a porn star?’ slideshow[206] for the Scottish context, I read all the research, checked out the evidence and looked at examples down to local levels.
As all elements of the sex trade are inextricably linked, so is my work. I not only watched pornography but read opinion pieces, talked to women involved and became au fait with punters’/consumers’ review sites. I had to be informed which meant, in turn, being shocked, angry and upset. I heard the experiences of women in the sex trade, saw the language used to market them as commodities and consumers’ total disconnect with them as individuals. I had to then find a way to get all this across with a feminist underpinning. When I delivered this information to wide audiences, I also got feedback on their own real, lived experiences with pornography. This showed me how far we have gone with letting porn become mainstream.
I have yet to talk with any groups of women, men and young people without hearing real concerns about porn in people’s lives. Research undoubtedly guides and informs, but the whole process from funding to peer reviewed articles takes a long time. Meanwhile there is growing lived evidence around us. People’s experiences may not be currently captured in research results but activism provides the bridge.
This activism offers understanding outside of the myths and justifications of men’s need for porn as they are peddled in the mainstream. It uncovers people’s concerns, the emerging trends, and so, paying heed to what you hear ‘out there’ can form a comprehensive agenda about how pornography is affecting us. Sexual health clinicians, health advisors, relationship counsellors and help-lines are increasingly dealing with pornography’s adverse effects. Why do we ignore them for cutting across the idea that porn is a positive, liberating influence?
Attendees at our seminars frequently have preconceived, and sometimes outdated, ideas of what pornography is and does. What I offer is often the first unequivocal challenge to these assumptions. I am conscious of what I show people and maintain a sense of responsibility. Things seen cannot be unseen. It is necessary to have safeguards in place; people decide to attend after being informed about my approach including looking at images drawn from pornography, from its move into the mainstream, from advertisements, videos, DVDs and the Internet. I remind them at the start of my talk, and then, before they see any images, they are reminded again.
I have found that using references from the everyday media can have more impact than current mainstream pornography. Some of the hardest days at work are not spent immersed in porn land but in supposed ‘entertainment’. A memorable occasion was ZOO online lads’ mag[207] showing a series of images, purportedly uploaded by a young woman who was penetrated by bottles in her bedroom with framed family photos on the wall, soft toys on a bed… It takes only a few steps to access young people’s social networking sites on the Internet, and it becomes immediately clear how internalised the porn messages have become, with 13-year-olds posting semi-naked pouting images in the hope of being rated a ‘sexy hot babe’ by self-appointed panels of older male peers.
Some in our audiences perceive anti-porn activism as personal challenges and sometimes retaliate in vicious ways, launching personal attacks. Their ‘helpful’ advice ranges from the “Just watch more porn – then you will understand,” to the more threatening suggestion that a porn-style f*cking, notionally delivered by the commentator will ensure we ‘get’ the benefits of pornography. Anti-porn activism is under constant scrutiny and unless we are experts on media, philosophy, economics, ethics, the law, and human rights, to name just a few, then our work is undermined. People are all too eager to attack, vilify, dismiss and trample you underfoot in their rush to defend this global industry at any costs. But it is precisely at the point when it feels you are pushing against an ever-expanding frontier directed by the sex industry, that we must celebrate and share our successes. These connections motivate and keep the energy going.
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1 www.womenssupportproject.co.uk This work is funded through the Equality Unit Violence Against Women fund in Scotland with the overall aim to challenge the demand for commercial sexual exploitation, which includes prostitution, pornography, and so-called adult entertainment (e.g. stripping/lap dancing). This is delivered through awareness raising, public education, training, multi-agency working and developing new resources. The Women’s Support Project is a Scottish feminist charity, which has been operational for over 26 years working against violence against women and children. This work has highlighted the links between different forms of male violence and promoted interagency responses to the abuse of women and children.
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2 The porn industry, similar to other large commercial sectors, has its own trade journals. Included in these are
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3 Stop Porn Culture! through Gail Dines, Rebecca Whisnant and Robert Jensen developed a slide show for activists to use, www.stoppornculture/resources.com.
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