Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,alt.censorship,alt.feminism,soc.women,alt.fan.karla-homolka From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M Kadie) Subject: [NCAC] 'MacKinnon/Dworkin "Theories" Flunk Reality Test' Message-ID: Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1993 22:45:41 GMT Lines: 40 Excerpts from an article in _Censorship News_ 4#50, a newsletter of the National Coalition Against Censorship. === begin=== All across Canada, the ideas of Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon -- no longer theory, but the law of the land -- are backfiring. [...] An explosion of censorship against women has come in the wake of the 1992 Canadian Supreme Court decision in _Regina v. Butler_, which adopted the Dworkin/MacKinnon theory that censorship considerations must be damned when sexually explicit expression 'degrades' women. (Who decides? Ah, there's the rub.) [...] The newsletter _Censorwatch_ reports that one quarter of Canada's feminist bookstores now have had material seized or detained by Customs. [...] The new Butler standard -- heralded by MacKinnon as 'good for women' -- has been used, according to _Feminist Bookstore News_, 'only to seize lesbian, gay and feminist material .... These actions underscore fears that the enforcement branches of government will always direct these laws against feminist erotica and lesbian and gay expression' [...] [...] The _reasons_ for MacKinnon's Canadian court 'victory' were described by Canadian sociologist Thelma MacCormack at NCAC's _SEX PANIC_ conference on Women, Censorship and 'Pornography': 'The Butler decision belongs to the Right. The Supreme Court of Canada doesn't gave a damn about gender equality. It is concerned about control, and was pleased to have a feminist gloss put on it.' [...]" ====== end ===== [According to the Newsletter, the report of NCAC's the Working Group's conference, _The SEX PANIC_, is available for US$5 from NCAC. The address of the NCAC is 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001. (212) 807-6222.] - Carl -- Carl Kadie -- I do not represent any organization; this is just me. = kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =