Sex, Sin, and Women's Liberation: Against Porn-Suppression
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Sex, Sin, and Women's Liberation: Against Porn-
Suppression
Carlin Meyer*
I. Preface
Men treat women as who they see women as being. Pornography
constructs who that is .... [P]ornography is the essence of a sexist
social order, its quintessential social act.
-Catharine A. MacKinnon
Given the cultural history we have inherited from Rabelais to Sade
to Magritte, it would be foolhardy to think we can dismiss, segre-
gate, or eliminate dehumanizing or violent constructions of male and
female sexuality.
-Susan Gubar2
Feminist porn-suppressionists3 claim that pornography4 constructs
* Associate Professor, New York Law School. J.D. 1974, Rutgers; LL.M. 1988, Yale. For
their invaluable comments, criticisms, and support, heartfelt thanks to Ed Baker, Arthur Berney, Robert
Blecker, David Cole, Martha Fineman, Karen Gross, Karl Klare, Sylvia Law, Janet Levy, Jethro
Lieberman, Jules Lobel, Leonard Meyer, Rudy Peritz, and Nadine Strossen. For their patient
assistance in every pbase of research and production, thanks to Marcy Melnikoff, Rose Benedetto,
Junling Ma, Christine Huebner, Leo Gordon, Joe Molinari, and Kate McLeod.
1. CATHARINE A. MAcKINNON, FEMINISM UNMODIFIED: DISCOURSES ON LIFE AND LAw 148,
154 (1987) [hereinafter MAcKINNON, FEMINISM UNMODIFIED].
2. Susan Gubar, Representing Pornography, in FOR ADULT USERS ONLY: THE DILEMMA OF
VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY 65 (Susan Gubar & Joan Hoff eds., 1989).
3. I use this term to distinguish feminists who favor porn-suppressiondue to its effects on women,
such as law professor Catharine MacKinnon and writer Andrea Dworkin, from others who favor it for
religious and moral reasons (I mean to include the latter when I omit the adjective feminist), as well
as from feminists like myself who agree that much pornography pictures women in degrading ways but,
nevertheless, oppose suppression of it. The term feminist includes both men and women.
4. As numerous writers have noted, it is notoriously difficult to define pornography, and most
definitions ultimately rest more on theprejudgments and prejudices of viewers than on clear delineation.
See, e.g., JEFFREY WEEKS, SEXUALITYAND ITS DISCONTENTS: MEANINGS, MYTHS AND MODERN SEX-
UALITIE 232 (1985) ('[P]ornography' is an exceptionally ambiguous yet emotive term which takes
on different meanings in different discussions.); cf. LINDA WILLIAMS, HARD CORE: POWER,
PLEASURE AND THE FRENzy OF THE VISIBLE 2 (1989) (discussing the futility of attempting some
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Sex, Sin, and Women's Liberation: Against Porn-Suppression
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