Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry
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Authors: Melinda Tankard Reist,Abigail Bray
Tags: #General, #Social Science, #Sociology, #Media Studies, #Pornography
BOOK: Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry
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“This powerful and humane book is a breakthrough. Like Rachel Carson’s
Silent Spring
which launched the environmental movement,
Big Porn Inc
shows us we are poisoning our own spirits, and that an ugly misuse of thousands of women – and very young children – is the dark and criminal underside of this industry. I hope this is the point where we turn away from pornography – from using it, from condoning it, from allowing it.”
– S
TEVE
B
IDDULPH, AUTHOR OF
T
HE
N
EW
M
ANHOOD
AND
T
HE
S
ECRET OF
H
APPY
C
HILDREN
“At a time when so many celebrities, academics and free speech fundamentalists are siding with the sex industry to deny that pornography is violence against women,
Big Porn Inc
is the voice of reality – a strong indictment; an epic work.”
– J
ANICE
G. R
AYMOND
, P
ROFESSOR
E
MERITA OF
W
OMEN’S
S
TUDIES AND
M
EDICAL
E
THICS; PAST CO-DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL
C
OALITION
A
GAINST
T
RAFFICKING IN
W
OMEN
(CATW)
“
Big Porn Inc
is a first-rate book: comprehensive and thoroughly researched. Porn does not liberate sexuality. What is it that men enjoy in porn: humiliation, degradation, control, sexual violence, submission …? Fortunately, this anthology considers the possibilities of resistance and offers hope for transformative futures.”
– R
ICHARD
P
OULIN
, P
ROFESSOR OF
S
OCIOLOGY AT THE
U
NIVERSITY OF
O
TTAWA AND AUTHOR OF
S
EXUALISATION PRÉCOCE ET
P
ORNOGRAPHIE
AND
P
ORNOGRAPHIE ET HYPERSEXUALISATION:
E
NFANCES DÉVASTÉES
“If you care about social justice, buy this book.
Big Porn Inc
is a must read for anyone interested in the human rights of women and children. The book is cogent and alarming, yet hopeful that together we can create a world where women and children are not hurt and degraded.
Big Porn Inc
is a much needed blueprint for ending the global porn industry.”
– C
HRISTINE
S
TARK, AUTHOR OF
N
ICKELS
AND CO-EDITOR OF
N
OT FOR
S
ALE
“When anthropologists from Planet Upsilon report on how civilization failed,
Big Porn Inc
will probably be Exhibit One. I thank the authors for the courage it took to wade through this material and put together this awesome book that drags us kicking and screaming to what so many do not want to know about corporate sex.
Big Porn Inc
may be our last chance to grasp porn ideology before it slips in and becomes the very fabric of our lives.”
– M
ARTIN
D
UFRESNE, ANTI-SEXISM ACTIVIST
, C
ANADA
“Global media have infused the culture with sexually objectified and commodified women and girls, mainstreaming pornography with ever-increasing harms to females everywhere.
Big Porn Inc
is a clarion call to action against this gross violation of women’s human rights. Brilliant, insightful, essential.”
– K
ATHLEEN
S
LOAN
, B
OARD OF
D
IRECTORS
, N
ATIONAL
O
RGANIZATION FOR
W
OMEN
(NOW) USA; C
ONVENOR,
UN
PANELS ON THE MEDIA’S SEXUAL COMMODIFICATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS
“Woman or man, ignore this book at your peril. A remarkable international collection of insightful essays on the growing, poisonous role Big Porn plays in global culture, economics, mores, and violence against women and children. Brava to Spinifex Press for publishing this gift to thoughtful readers.”
– R
OBIN
M
ORGAN, AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST
“Big Food, Big Oil, Big Pharma and, yes, Big Porn – global corporate giants that shape and exploit human needs and desires, profiting while furthering injustice and denying toxic effects.
Big Porn Inc
is a hugely necessary, radical and rousing work, full of big thoughts and big truths about the all-consuming pornographic worldview.”
– J
ANE
C
APUTI
, C
REATOR OF
DVD
T
HE
P
ORNOGRAPHY OF
E
VERYDAY
L
IFE
“Many people, for all sorts of reasons, have preferred to avoid thinking about the porn industry and its manifold negative impacts. The invasion of Big Porn throughout mainstream culture makes moving beyond such denial long overdue.
Big Porn Inc
offers clear and topical chapters from a range of thinkers who are uniquely well-equipped to explain why. This is a profoundly important book.”
– E
MMA
R
USH, LEAD AUTHOR
C
ORPORATE
P
AEDOPHILIA
: S
EXUALISATION OF
C
HILDREN IN
A
USTRALIA
; L
ECTURER IN
E
THICS,
C
HARLES
S
TURT
U
NIVERSITY
“In
Big Porn Inc
feminists lay down the gauntlet to pornographers by exposing the hate and harm of their man-dated sexuality which has become normative behavior.
Big Porn Inc
not only contests pornographic harm and hate. It will, I predict, incite a new bold wave of global activism in which we reclaim our future.”
– K
ATHLEEN
B
ARRY, AUTHOR OF
F
EMALE
S
EXUAL
S
LAVERY
, P
ROSTITUTION OF
S
EXUALITY
,
AND
U
NMAKING
W
AR
, R
EMAKING
M
EN
“
Big Porn Inc
represents a powerful and growing reaction against the influence of the porn merchants and society’s willingness to let them get away with one outrage after another. The book unleashes a cascade of emotions – shock, disgust, guilt, rage, and heart-felt admiration for the victims of the porn industry … A landmark publication sure to help open the eyes of the public to the modern scourge of porn and amplify the call for greater decency and respect. Because without them, there can be no true liberation.”
– C
LIVE
H
AMILTON
, P
ROFESSOR OF
P
UBLIC
E
THICS AT
C
HARLES
S
TURT
U
NIVERSITY
“
Big Porn Inc
is a brilliant exposé on how the porn industry has sold us big fat lies about sex and sexuality. No previous generation has had to navigate such a flood of porn inspired imagery and concepts. Essential reading for everyone, especially the deluded defenders who remain willfully blind to the harmful impacts. I hope
Big Porn Inc
helps to create the seismic shift humanity needs.”
– J
ULIE
G
ALE, ACTIVIST AND FOUNDER OF
K
IDS
F
REE
2B K
IDS
“
Big Porn Inc
is a courageous book, brilliantly undertaken. Based on impressive research and experience, the collection provides a disturbingly convincing portrayal of the multi-billion dollar global pornography industry. The pornography industry’s assault on women, girls and our culture is real. This is the book we need to understand how and why and the means by which it can be halted.”
– M
ARY
L
UCILLE
S
ULLIVAN, AUTHOR OF
M
AKING
S
EX
W
ORK
: A
FAILED EXPERIMENT WITH LEGALISED PROSTITUTION
Silent Spring
which launched the environmental movement,
Big Porn Inc
shows us we are poisoning our own spirits, and that an ugly misuse of thousands of women – and very young children – is the dark and criminal underside of this industry. I hope this is the point where we turn away from pornography – from using it, from condoning it, from allowing it.”
– S
TEVE
B
IDDULPH, AUTHOR OF
T
HE
N
EW
M
ANHOOD
AND
T
HE
S
ECRET OF
H
APPY
C
HILDREN
“At a time when so many celebrities, academics and free speech fundamentalists are siding with the sex industry to deny that pornography is violence against women,
Big Porn Inc
is the voice of reality – a strong indictment; an epic work.”
– J
ANICE
G. R
AYMOND
, P
ROFESSOR
E
MERITA OF
W
OMEN’S
S
TUDIES AND
M
EDICAL
E
THICS; PAST CO-DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL
C
OALITION
A
GAINST
T
RAFFICKING IN
W
OMEN
(CATW)
“
Big Porn Inc
is a first-rate book: comprehensive and thoroughly researched. Porn does not liberate sexuality. What is it that men enjoy in porn: humiliation, degradation, control, sexual violence, submission …? Fortunately, this anthology considers the possibilities of resistance and offers hope for transformative futures.”
– R
ICHARD
P
OULIN
, P
ROFESSOR OF
S
OCIOLOGY AT THE
U
NIVERSITY OF
O
TTAWA AND AUTHOR OF
S
EXUALISATION PRÉCOCE ET
P
ORNOGRAPHIE
AND
P
ORNOGRAPHIE ET HYPERSEXUALISATION:
E
NFANCES DÉVASTÉES
“If you care about social justice, buy this book.
Big Porn Inc
is a must read for anyone interested in the human rights of women and children. The book is cogent and alarming, yet hopeful that together we can create a world where women and children are not hurt and degraded.
Big Porn Inc
is a much needed blueprint for ending the global porn industry.”
– C
HRISTINE
S
TARK, AUTHOR OF
N
ICKELS
AND CO-EDITOR OF
N
OT FOR
S
ALE
“When anthropologists from Planet Upsilon report on how civilization failed,
Big Porn Inc
will probably be Exhibit One. I thank the authors for the courage it took to wade through this material and put together this awesome book that drags us kicking and screaming to what so many do not want to know about corporate sex.
Big Porn Inc
may be our last chance to grasp porn ideology before it slips in and becomes the very fabric of our lives.”
– M
ARTIN
D
UFRESNE, ANTI-SEXISM ACTIVIST
, C
ANADA
“Global media have infused the culture with sexually objectified and commodified women and girls, mainstreaming pornography with ever-increasing harms to females everywhere.
Big Porn Inc
is a clarion call to action against this gross violation of women’s human rights. Brilliant, insightful, essential.”
– K
ATHLEEN
S
LOAN
, B
OARD OF
D
IRECTORS
, N
ATIONAL
O
RGANIZATION FOR
W
OMEN
(NOW) USA; C
ONVENOR,
UN
PANELS ON THE MEDIA’S SEXUAL COMMODIFICATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS
“Woman or man, ignore this book at your peril. A remarkable international collection of insightful essays on the growing, poisonous role Big Porn plays in global culture, economics, mores, and violence against women and children. Brava to Spinifex Press for publishing this gift to thoughtful readers.”
– R
OBIN
M
ORGAN, AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST
“Big Food, Big Oil, Big Pharma and, yes, Big Porn – global corporate giants that shape and exploit human needs and desires, profiting while furthering injustice and denying toxic effects.
Big Porn Inc
is a hugely necessary, radical and rousing work, full of big thoughts and big truths about the all-consuming pornographic worldview.”
– J
ANE
C
APUTI
, C
REATOR OF
DVD
T
HE
P
ORNOGRAPHY OF
E
VERYDAY
L
IFE
“Many people, for all sorts of reasons, have preferred to avoid thinking about the porn industry and its manifold negative impacts. The invasion of Big Porn throughout mainstream culture makes moving beyond such denial long overdue.
Big Porn Inc
offers clear and topical chapters from a range of thinkers who are uniquely well-equipped to explain why. This is a profoundly important book.”
– E
MMA
R
USH, LEAD AUTHOR
C
ORPORATE
P
AEDOPHILIA
: S
EXUALISATION OF
C
HILDREN IN
A
USTRALIA
; L
ECTURER IN
E
THICS,
C
HARLES
S
TURT
U
NIVERSITY
“In
Big Porn Inc
feminists lay down the gauntlet to pornographers by exposing the hate and harm of their man-dated sexuality which has become normative behavior.
Big Porn Inc
not only contests pornographic harm and hate. It will, I predict, incite a new bold wave of global activism in which we reclaim our future.”
– K
ATHLEEN
B
ARRY, AUTHOR OF
F
EMALE
S
EXUAL
S
LAVERY
, P
ROSTITUTION OF
S
EXUALITY
,
AND
U
NMAKING
W
AR
, R
EMAKING
M
EN
“
Big Porn Inc
represents a powerful and growing reaction against the influence of the porn merchants and society’s willingness to let them get away with one outrage after another. The book unleashes a cascade of emotions – shock, disgust, guilt, rage, and heart-felt admiration for the victims of the porn industry … A landmark publication sure to help open the eyes of the public to the modern scourge of porn and amplify the call for greater decency and respect. Because without them, there can be no true liberation.”
– C
LIVE
H
AMILTON
, P
ROFESSOR OF
P
UBLIC
E
THICS AT
C
HARLES
S
TURT
U
NIVERSITY
“
Big Porn Inc
is a brilliant exposé on how the porn industry has sold us big fat lies about sex and sexuality. No previous generation has had to navigate such a flood of porn inspired imagery and concepts. Essential reading for everyone, especially the deluded defenders who remain willfully blind to the harmful impacts. I hope
Big Porn Inc
helps to create the seismic shift humanity needs.”
– J
ULIE
G
ALE, ACTIVIST AND FOUNDER OF
K
IDS
F
REE
2B K
IDS
“
Big Porn Inc
is a courageous book, brilliantly undertaken. Based on impressive research and experience, the collection provides a disturbingly convincing portrayal of the multi-billion dollar global pornography industry. The pornography industry’s assault on women, girls and our culture is real. This is the book we need to understand how and why and the means by which it can be halted.”
– M
ARY
L
UCILLE
S
ULLIVAN, AUTHOR OF
M
AKING
S
EX
W
ORK
: A
FAILED EXPERIMENT WITH LEGALISED PROSTITUTION
Melinda Tankard Reist
is a writer, speaker, blogger, media commentator and activist against violence against women, objectification of women and sexualisation of girls. Melinda is author/editor of 4 books including
Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
(Spinifex Press, 2006) and
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(Spinifex Press, 2009). Melinda’s opinion pieces appear frequently in Australian media and she is a regular on morning television and current affairs programs. She is a co-founder of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. Melinda is named in the
Who’s Who of Australian Women
and the
World Who’s Who of Women
. Her Website is <
melindatankardreist.com
>.
Dr
Abigail Bray
is a Research Fellow at the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University. She has published widely in leading international academic journals on anorexia, child sexual abuse, moral panics, and child pornography. She is the author of
Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference
(2004) and
Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls
with Elizabeth Reid Boyd (2005). She was an inaugural inductee into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Her forthcoming book
Misogyny Re-Loaded
will be published by Spinifex in 2012. She is a member of Socialist Alliance and the Marxist collective Das Argument.
is a writer, speaker, blogger, media commentator and activist against violence against women, objectification of women and sexualisation of girls. Melinda is author/editor of 4 books including
Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
(Spinifex Press, 2006) and
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(Spinifex Press, 2009). Melinda’s opinion pieces appear frequently in Australian media and she is a regular on morning television and current affairs programs. She is a co-founder of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. Melinda is named in the
Who’s Who of Australian Women
and the
World Who’s Who of Women
. Her Website is <
melindatankardreist.com
>.
Dr
Abigail Bray
is a Research Fellow at the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University. She has published widely in leading international academic journals on anorexia, child sexual abuse, moral panics, and child pornography. She is the author of
Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference
(2004) and
Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls
with Elizabeth Reid Boyd (2005). She was an inaugural inductee into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Her forthcoming book
Misogyny Re-Loaded
will be published by Spinifex in 2012. She is a member of Socialist Alliance and the Marxist collective Das Argument.
Other books by Melinda Tankard Reist
Giving Sorrow Words
(2000)
Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
(2007)
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(2009)
Other books by Abigail Bray
Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference
(2004)
Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls
(2005) with Elizabeth Reid Boyd
Giving Sorrow Words
(2000)
Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
(2007)
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(2009)
Other books by Abigail Bray
Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference
(2004)
Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls
(2005) with Elizabeth Reid Boyd
BIG PORN INC
EXPOSING THE HARMS OF THE GLOBAL PORNOGRAPHY INDUSTRY
edited by
Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray
EXPOSING THE HARMS OF THE GLOBAL PORNOGRAPHY INDUSTRY
edited by
Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray
First published by Spinifex Press 2011
Spinifex Press Pty Ltd
504 Queensberry St
North Melbourne, Victoria 3051
Australia
[email protected]
www.spinifexpress.com.au
Copyright © on collection Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, 2011
Copyright © on individual contributions remains with the authors, photographers and creators
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.
Copying for educational purposes
Information in this book may be reproduced in whole or part for study or training purposes, subject to acknowledgement of the source and providing no commercial usage or sale of material occurs. Where copies of part or whole of the book are made under part VB of the Copyright Act, the law requires that prescribed procedures be followed. For information contact the Copyright Agency Limited.
Edited in-house by Renate Klein
Copy edited by Maree Hawken
Indexed by Kath Harper
Cover design by Deb Snibson, MAPG
Typeset by Palmer Higgs
Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group
The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Big Porn Inc: exposing the harms of the global pornography industry / Melinda Tankard Reist; Abigail Bray editors.
9781876756895 (pbk)
9781742195407 (ebook: pdf)
9781742195414 (ebook: kindle)
9781742195438 (ebook: epub)
Includes bibliography and index.
Pornography. Internet pornography. Sex in popular culture. Sex role in children.
Mass media and sex. Sex-oriented businesses.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Tankard Reist, Melinda.
Bray, Abigail, 1966-
306.742
Spinifex Press Pty Ltd
504 Queensberry St
North Melbourne, Victoria 3051
Australia
[email protected]
www.spinifexpress.com.au
Copyright © on collection Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, 2011
Copyright © on individual contributions remains with the authors, photographers and creators
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.
Copying for educational purposes
Information in this book may be reproduced in whole or part for study or training purposes, subject to acknowledgement of the source and providing no commercial usage or sale of material occurs. Where copies of part or whole of the book are made under part VB of the Copyright Act, the law requires that prescribed procedures be followed. For information contact the Copyright Agency Limited.
Edited in-house by Renate Klein
Copy edited by Maree Hawken
Indexed by Kath Harper
Cover design by Deb Snibson, MAPG
Typeset by Palmer Higgs
Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group
The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Big Porn Inc: exposing the harms of the global pornography industry / Melinda Tankard Reist; Abigail Bray editors.
9781876756895 (pbk)
9781742195407 (ebook: pdf)
9781742195414 (ebook: kindle)
9781742195438 (ebook: epub)
Includes bibliography and index.
Pornography. Internet pornography. Sex in popular culture. Sex role in children.
Mass media and sex. Sex-oriented businesses.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Tankard Reist, Melinda.
Bray, Abigail, 1966-
306.742
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