Feminists Fighting Pornography
Encyclopedia
Feminists Fighting Pornography (FFP, pronounced /fip/) was a political
activist organization against pornography
. It advocated for U.S. Federal
legislation
to allow lawsuit
s against the porn industry by women
whose attackers were inspired by pornography. FFP was based in New York
, N.Y.
, was founded in 1983 or 1984, and disbanded in 1997.
is opposed. It is defined as the sexualized degrading, dominating, humiliating, objectifying, subjugating, violating, annihilating, exploiting, or violence and is distinguished from erotica
, which is based on mutuality of power and pleasure. According to FFP founder Page Mellish, pornography provides the training for incest
, assault
, and rape
, results in the objectification
of women, affects women's ability to get equal rights
and equal pay
and encourages men associate sex
with violence
. Mellish ultimately claimed that all feminist issues were rooted in pornography. In a 1986 letter to the editor
of The Wall Street Journal
, an FFP member asserted that the members are "not against love and not against sex."
Mellish held all men and women who did not fight against pornography as accountable for violence against women, and claimed that women who enjoyed pornography or rough sex had "internalized the male definition of power".
Positions on pornography have been debated outside of FFP, including with respect to porn's effect on crime and feminist definitions of porn
.
, and also formerly of Women Against Pornography and Violence in the Media and National Organization for Women
, both of San Francisco, California
.
of 1991. Though the bill had some support including from "many feminists", it was not supported by Andrea Dworkin
, Catharine MacKinnon
, and some other feminists. Supporting the bill, Mellish appeared on a Larry King
show, where she credited executed serial killer of women Ted Bundy
, who claimed pornography as an influence, with bringing attention to the issue. Under the bill
, a person who was attacked after the attacker was substantially spurred by pornography could sue the pornography's producers, publishers, distributors, exhibitors, and sellers without needing a prior criminal charge
for the pornography itself. To be pragmatic toward passage, the bill was limited to child pornography
and obscene material
. The bill has been criticized. FFP also supported an earlier bill, the Pornography Victims Protection Act of 1987, for which FFP listed as endorsers "many [other] women's and children's organizations" and had "signatures of thousands" of bill supporters.
In other legislative matters:
Senate
Judiciary Committee
in 1991 as "a professional activist .... employed ... [by] Feminists Fighting Pornography", stating that the porn industry is large and that "a majority of ... [the] product" of the porn "industry ... either degrades or violates women", spoke on "the real harm of pornography—its proximate cause to violence against women. This causal link was a primary finding of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography upon examination of research[] which included a Michigan State Police study finding pornography was used or imitated just prior to or during 41 percent of the State's sexual assaults,[] a North Carolina State Police study that found 75 percent of the State's defendants in violent sexual assault cases had hardcore pornography in their homes or vehicles,[] and the FBI's finding that serial killers' most commonly shared trait was extreme pornography use." "The bill's proximate cause on incitement and influence is responsive to a Queen's University study in which 30 percent of sex offenders listed pornography as inciteful, preparatory, and instigative to the crime, and found rapists used pornography more than nonrapists." "[O]ne in four women respondents to Women's [sic] Day magazine ... reported being sexually abused as a direct result of pornographic materials[] .... [A] Yale University study ... found States with the highest pornography consumption had the highest rape rates, and lowest consumption, lowest rape rates." "Seventy-three percent [of "Americans in the Gallup poll in 1985"] affirmed sexual—note that there was no stipulation on violence—affirmed sexual magazines, movies, and books lead some people to commit sexual violence. In a Gallup poll of 1986, 76 percent mandated a ban of magazines containing sexual violence." In the balance of her testimony, she addressed the bill as noncensoring
because it imposed "no prior restraint or State empowerment" and criticized the opposition.
Congress is required to have a rational basis for legislation that, without it, might violate a right of a person under the Equal Protection Clause
of the U.S.
Constitution's
14th Amendment
but is not required to validate scientific conclusions to the same degree that may be required in academic science; rather, the legislative reasoning must not be arbitrary. This testimony stated the position of Feminists Fighting Pornography as of 1991 and was noted by the American Bar Association's ABA Journal
.
. "Even bombing porn houses only gets their attention; then we have to change men's view of women, change their idea of power."
"'We do some things that are illegal, little destructions of property, like Penthouse
subway ads.'" (Penthouse
is a pornographic magazine that advertised
in New York City subway stations
.)
Driving pornography out of stores and theaters would push it elsewhere or underground
, but would at least make it "'less respectable.'"
Role-reversal, having women view men as mere sex objects, "'isn't the answer either.'"
or magazine
was The Backlash Times. It was being published by 1983 or 1984 and continued until at least 1989. The newsletter carried news reports related to pornography generally, such as on assaults, responses, finances, politics, and legislation. It also published images from pornography, for which the group was criticized ("ironically but perhaps necessarily disseminating it ["porn"] further"). In response, the group raised the need to make clear what it was opposing, such as violence against and degradation of women, and thereby distinguish it from what it was not opposing, especially erotica.
In 1992 and after recent favorable "'attention'", Ms. Mellish said, "'[t]he press has censored our movement because the press has a vested interest in the First Amendment'", referring to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
and freedoms of speech and press.
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
activist organization against pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
. It advocated for U.S. Federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
to allow lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s against the porn industry by women
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
whose attackers were inspired by pornography. FFP was based in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, N.Y.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, was founded in 1983 or 1984, and disbanded in 1997.
Issue positions
PornographyPornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
is opposed. It is defined as the sexualized degrading, dominating, humiliating, objectifying, subjugating, violating, annihilating, exploiting, or violence and is distinguished from erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
, which is based on mutuality of power and pleasure. According to FFP founder Page Mellish, pornography provides the training for incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
, and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, results in the objectification
Objectification
Objectification is the process by which an abstract concept is made as objective as possible in the purest sense of the term. It is also treated as if it is a concrete thing or physical object...
of women, affects women's ability to get equal rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and equal pay
Equal pay for equal work
Equal pay for equal work is the concept that individuals doing the same work should receive the same remuneration. In America, for example, the law states that "employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility,...
and encourages men associate sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
with violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
. Mellish ultimately claimed that all feminist issues were rooted in pornography. In a 1986 letter to the editor
Letter to the editor
A letter to the editor is a letter sent to a publication about issues of concern from its readers. Usually, letters are intended for publication...
of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, an FFP member asserted that the members are "not against love and not against sex."
Mellish held all men and women who did not fight against pornography as accountable for violence against women, and claimed that women who enjoyed pornography or rough sex had "internalized the male definition of power".
Positions on pornography have been debated outside of FFP, including with respect to porn's effect on crime and feminist definitions of porn
Feminist views on pornography
Feminist views of pornography range from condemnation of pornography as a form of violence against women, to an embracing of some forms of pornography as a medium of feminist expression. Feminist debate on this issue reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely...
.
Leadership
FFP's founder and organizer was Page Mellish, formerly of the staff of Women Against PornographyWomen Against Pornography
Women Against Pornography was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City and an influential force in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s....
, and also formerly of Women Against Pornography and Violence in the Media and National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
, both of San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Legislative agenda
Feminists Fighting Pornography supported the Pornography Victims Compensation ActPornography Victims Compensation Act
The Pornography Victims' Compensation Act of 1991 was a bill, S. 983, in the U.S. Congress. The sponsor in the Senate was Senator Mitch McConnell with eight cosponsors. A Senate committee held hearings on the bill...
of 1991. Though the bill had some support including from "many feminists", it was not supported by Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....
, Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon is an American feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher and activist.- Biography :MacKinnon was born in Minnesota. Her mother is Elizabeth Valentine Davis; her father, George E. MacKinnon was a lawyer, congressman , and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit...
, and some other feminists. Supporting the bill, Mellish appeared on a Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
show, where she credited executed serial killer of women Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
, who claimed pornography as an influence, with bringing attention to the issue. Under the bill
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
, a person who was attacked after the attacker was substantially spurred by pornography could sue the pornography's producers, publishers, distributors, exhibitors, and sellers without needing a prior criminal charge
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
for the pornography itself. To be pragmatic toward passage, the bill was limited to child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
and obscene material
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
. The bill has been criticized. FFP also supported an earlier bill, the Pornography Victims Protection Act of 1987, for which FFP listed as endorsers "many [other] women's and children's organizations" and had "signatures of thousands" of bill supporters.
In other legislative matters:
- FFP also supported the anti-pornography civil rights ordinanceAntipornography civil rights ordinanceThe Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance is a name for several proposed local ordinances, closely associated with the anti-pornography radical feminists Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, that proposed to treat pornography as a violation of women's civil rights,...
supported by Andrea DworkinAndrea DworkinAndrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....
and Catharine MacKinnonCatharine MacKinnonCatharine Alice MacKinnon is an American feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher and activist.- Biography :MacKinnon was born in Minnesota. Her mother is Elizabeth Valentine Davis; her father, George E. MacKinnon was a lawyer, congressman , and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit...
. - It did not support anti-obscenity laws, because, in FFP's view, they did not address the harm of porn.
- Legislation alone was not a complete solution, according to Page Mellish; it was also necessary to remove "the need for porn".
Congressional testimony
Page Mellish, testifying to the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Judiciary Committee
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
in 1991 as "a professional activist .... employed ... [by] Feminists Fighting Pornography", stating that the porn industry is large and that "a majority of ... [the] product" of the porn "industry ... either degrades or violates women", spoke on "the real harm of pornography—its proximate cause to violence against women. This causal link was a primary finding of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography upon examination of research[] which included a Michigan State Police study finding pornography was used or imitated just prior to or during 41 percent of the State's sexual assaults,[] a North Carolina State Police study that found 75 percent of the State's defendants in violent sexual assault cases had hardcore pornography in their homes or vehicles,[] and the FBI's finding that serial killers' most commonly shared trait was extreme pornography use." "The bill's proximate cause on incitement and influence is responsive to a Queen's University study in which 30 percent of sex offenders listed pornography as inciteful, preparatory, and instigative to the crime, and found rapists used pornography more than nonrapists." "[O]ne in four women respondents to Women's [sic] Day magazine ... reported being sexually abused as a direct result of pornographic materials[] .... [A] Yale University study ... found States with the highest pornography consumption had the highest rape rates, and lowest consumption, lowest rape rates." "Seventy-three percent [of "Americans in the Gallup poll in 1985"] affirmed sexual—note that there was no stipulation on violence—affirmed sexual magazines, movies, and books lead some people to commit sexual violence. In a Gallup poll of 1986, 76 percent mandated a ban of magazines containing sexual violence." In the balance of her testimony, she addressed the bill as noncensoring
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
because it imposed "no prior restraint or State empowerment" and criticized the opposition.
Congress is required to have a rational basis for legislation that, without it, might violate a right of a person under the Equal Protection Clause
Equal Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...
of the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Constitution's
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
14th Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
but is not required to validate scientific conclusions to the same degree that may be required in academic science; rather, the legislative reasoning must not be arbitrary. This testimony stated the position of Feminists Fighting Pornography as of 1991 and was noted by the American Bar Association's ABA Journal
ABA Journal
The ABA Journal is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It claims to be "read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month"...
.
Strategy choices
FFP did not advocate burning porn parlors down, as was done in England, but believed that "It would be great if men were afraid to go to porn theaters." Mellish preferred to organize marches instead, because she believed her ability to be grassroots organizingGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
. "Even bombing porn houses only gets their attention; then we have to change men's view of women, change their idea of power."
"'We do some things that are illegal, little destructions of property, like Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
subway ads.'" (Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
is a pornographic magazine that advertised
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
in New York City subway stations
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
.)
Driving pornography out of stores and theaters would push it elsewhere or underground
Underground economy
A black market or underground economy is a market in goods or services which operates outside the formal one supported by established state power. Typically the totality of such activity is referred to with the definite article as a complement to the official economies, by market for such goods and...
, but would at least make it "'less respectable.'"
Role-reversal, having women view men as mere sex objects, "'isn't the answer either.'"
Activism
The FFP advocated in a variety of ways:- Electoral campaigns:
- It invited people to bring banners to New York MayoralMayor of New York CityThe Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
candidates' headquarters in 1985. - It assisted the election campaign of Green for Congress, reporting 100 FFP members doing so, in 1989. Bill GreenS. William GreenSedgwick William "Bill" Green was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York....
was a Republican U.S. Representative for a district in Manhattan. He was re-elected that year. During his Congressional career, he introduced The Pornography Victims Protection Act as a bill. - Mellish demonstrated in 1992 against United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
candidate Geraldine FerraroGeraldine FerraroGeraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
on the issue of her husband providing real estate to a pornographerPornographyPornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
. Whether the demonstration was the organization's is unknown.
- It invited people to bring banners to New York Mayoral
- Demonstrations and marches:
- It marched on 42d Street42nd Street (Manhattan)42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
, ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, on Apr. 8, 1984. At the time, 42d St. was known for its many pornographic businesses. - On Oct. 20, 1984, 500 women marched in Times SquareTimes SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
under the sponsorship of Feminists Fighting Pornography. - On Jan. 13, 1985, held a demonstration objecting to an award to an MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
vice president for contributing to fashionFashionFashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
. - FFP demonstrated against what they believed to be the district attorneyDistrict attorneyIn many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
's sexism in a case where a woman was reported as killing her fiancé after he broke down her door.
- It marched on 42d Street
- Petitions and tabling:
- In early 1984, FFP collected signatures on a petitionPetitionA petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
protesting a store selling Snuff, the film, on cassette. - In 1984, Mellish was tabling daily to educate the public. In 1989, she said that "'[p]eople aren't aware of this [kind of pornography]'". FFP's tabling was sometimes confused by the public as being by Women Against Pornography. One book writer later recalled of 1984 a woman from Feminists Fighting Pornography was tabling in ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and seeking signatures for a petition. "Beside her was a giant blowup of the notorious cover of Hustler that showed a woman's legs sticking out of a meat grinder." - In an unknown year, FFP tabled in Washington, D.C.
- The group was known for openly displaying pornography as part of anti-pornography information tabling. There were "public complaints of their streetcorner display that had nude photos", including that it was "disgusting". In one instance in 1989, Page Mellish and another FFP member were arrested and Ms. Mellish was jailed, according to The National Law Journal. She said, according to the same newspaper, "'We've been arrested or had our pornography confiscated approximately seven times.'" Despite these reactions, "her group ... keeps setting up shop, hoping, she says, to educate the public", according to the newspaper then. That same year, according to USA Today, Page Mellish and another activist asked a state judge to dismiss obscenity charges for the nude photos. Attorney Ron KubyRon KubyRonald L. Kuby is a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and TV commentator. He has hosted radio programs on WABC Radio in New York and Air America Radio.-Beginnings:...
, then of Bill KunstlerWilliam KunstlerWilliam Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
's law firm, provided legal representation, according to The National Law Journal, and the New York Civil Liberties UnionNew York Civil Liberties UnionThe New York Civil Liberties Union is an civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, it is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with nearly 50,000 members across New York State.NYCLU's stated mission is to...
(NYCLUNew York Civil Liberties UnionThe New York Civil Liberties Union is an civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, it is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with nearly 50,000 members across New York State.NYCLU's stated mission is to...
), according to the Virginia Law Review, provided legal services (whether on separate cases or together is unknown). The result was that the legal right to display such material was sought and established. - In 1987, in support of the Pornography Victims Protection Act, then a bill, Sen. Specter, as he was introducing it, said FFP "has collected signatures of thousands of concerned individuals supporting passage of this bill."
- In early 1984, FFP collected signatures on a petition
- Other activism:
- It named feministFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and civil libertiesCivil libertiesCivil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
organizations that, according to FFP, had received funding from Playboy FoundationPlayboy FoundationThe Playboy Foundation is a corporate-giving organization that provides grants to non-profit groups involved in fighting censorship and researching human sexuality. It gives grants and in-kind contributions, such as advertising space in the Playboy magazine to organizations concerned with US First...
, although it is not clear whether all such organizations applied for or accepted the funds. - It offered tours of 42d Street and an FFP slideshow.
- It called for the boycottBoycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
ing of all stores that sell pornography. - FFP was critical of the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
with regard to child pornChild pornographyChild pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
.
- It named feminist
Newsletter and press
Its newsletterNewsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
or magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
was The Backlash Times. It was being published by 1983 or 1984 and continued until at least 1989. The newsletter carried news reports related to pornography generally, such as on assaults, responses, finances, politics, and legislation. It also published images from pornography, for which the group was criticized ("ironically but perhaps necessarily disseminating it ["porn"] further"). In response, the group raised the need to make clear what it was opposing, such as violence against and degradation of women, and thereby distinguish it from what it was not opposing, especially erotica.
In 1992 and after recent favorable "'attention'", Ms. Mellish said, "'[t]he press has censored our movement because the press has a vested interest in the First Amendment'", referring to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
and freedoms of speech and press.