Feminist legal theory strives, in part, to uncover the ways in which gender shapes law (and vice versa) and propose solutions to change or redirect the law to rectify gender inequality. In this sense, this is a feminist project focusing on the regulation of coercive heterosexual pornography. Traditionally, liberal states around the world, such as the United Kingdom, rely mainly on obscenity law to minimise the dissemination of pornography. However, such an approach is conceptually flawed and, in practice, it will continue to inadequately protect women who are harmed in and through pornography. This is because the traditional approach misunderstands the nature of the damage that flows from pornography and avoids expressly addressing a multitude of indirect harm. Instead, prominent radical feminists view pornography as not merely perversity but also a display and exercise of male dominance. In the light of this understanding, the radical feminist’s approach is to expressly acknowledge that pornography is an issue of gender inequality, and one way to resolve this inequality is through an adjudicatory shift. Specifically, I argue in this paper that adjudication through a dominant/subordinate lens is a preferable alternative that the law and courts should adopt.
2. Catharine MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (HUP 1989) 159. The term ‘liberal state’ was adopted from the works of radical feminists and the term is interchangeable with ‘liberal nation’.
3. Martha Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice (OUP 1999) 55-58.
4. MacKinnon, Toward, 159.
5. Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin (eds.), In Harm’s Way (HUP 1997) 444.
6. I address the problems with this definition below (‘Feminist and amateur pornography’).
7. Erik Asard and Lance Bennett, Marketplace of Ideas (CUP 1997) 28.
8. JS Mill, On Liberty (Hackett 1978) 16.
9. Ibid, 9.
10. Ibid.
11. Ronald Dworkin, ‘Women and Pornography’ (1993) NY Review 39.
12. American Booksellers Association v Hudnut, 771 F 2d 323 (1985).
13. William Ross (transl.), Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics (Lesley Brown ed., OUP 2009) 142-162.
14. Catharine MacKinnon, ‘Reflections on Sex Equality’ (1991) 100 YLJ 1281, 1297.
15. 490 US 228 (1989).
16. MacKinnon, Reflections, 1292.
17. MacKinnon, Toward, 160.
18. Ibid, 243. Men who are raped are acknowledged in the liberal state but are regarded, statistically and socially, as exceptions rather than the norm.
19. The CJIA only covers images that are “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene nature” (s 63(6)(b)). Therefore, I will discuss it as a part of the general obscenity legislation. The Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 is at the time of writing debated in the House of Lords and will not be dealt with in this paper.
20. R v Smith [2012] EWCA Crim 398, [2012] 1 WLR 3368.
21. MacKinnon, Toward, 200.
22. MacKinnon, In, 44-199.
23. I adopt Eaton’s language of “direct/indirect harm” – Anne Eaton, ‘Sensible Antiporn Feminism’ (2007) Ethics Journal 674, 677.
24. Celine Shimizu, Hypersexuality of Race (DUP 2007) 165.
25. Linda Williams, Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and Frenzy of the Visible (UCP 1999) 87.
26. Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified (HUP 1987) 130.
27. For other heads – Gary Brooks, Centerfold Syndrome (JBP 1995).
28. Ana Bridges and others, ‘Aggression and Sexual Behaviour in BestSelling Pornography’ (2010) <http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/16/10/1065.full.pdf> accessed 20 March 2016.
29. Shimizu, 176; Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (NAL 1983) 241.
30. David Hume, ‘Of the Standard of Taste’ in Thomas Green and Thomas Grose (eds), Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary (LF 1985).
31. MacKinnon, In, 312; empirically supported – Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant, ‘Effects of Massive Exposure to Pornography’ in Neil Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein (eds), Pornography and Sexual Aggression (AP 1984); Dolf Zillmann, Connections Between Sexuality and Aggression (PP 1998).
32. Shimizu, Hypersexuality, 235; Williams, Hard, 72.
33. Laura Mulvey, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (eds), Film Theory and Criticism (OUP 1999).
34. In a nutshell, Kant’s humanity formula states that we should never treat ourselves or others as a mere means to an end. The merits of Kant’s humanity formula are beyond this paper. Robert Johnson, ‘Kant’s Moral Philosophy’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer edition, 2014) <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/> accessed 21 March 2016.
35. Nussbaum, Sex, 251.
36. Shimizu, Hypersexuality, 178.
37. Besides being an everyday observation, this is a key pillar of Bentham’s utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation (CP 1907).
38. To be clear, there are, in reality, men and women who actively seek out sadomasochistic sexual practices. This means that the pain/pleasure distinction could have furry edges, and this is discussed in greater detail below (see ‘The Liberated Woman’).
39. This is “at the heart of Kant’s moral theory.” Johnson, Kant’s, 1.
40. MacKinnon, Toward, 204.
41. Laura Kipnis, Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy (DUP 1998) 158.
42. MacKinnon, Toward, 138, 197-198.
43. Ibid, 130.
44. Katherine Bartlett, ‘MacKinnon’s Feminism: Power on Whose Terms?’ (1987) 75 California LR 1559.
45. Tristan Taormino and others, Feminist Porn Book (FP 2013).
46. Shimizu, Hypersexuality, 177-179.
47. Notwithstanding MacKinnon’s lack of explanation, I note that the more crucial issue is that men are encouraged or expected to be aroused by pornography depicting male dominance/female subordination.
48. MacKinnon, Toward, 198.
49. Susan Griffith, Pornography and Silence (HarperCollins 1981) 83.
50. Covenant Eyes, ‘Pornography Statistics’ (2015) <http://www.covenanteyes.com/lemonade/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/2015-porn-stats-covenant-eyes.pdf> accessed 21 March 2016.
51 Berl Kutchinsky, ‘Pornography and Rape: Theory and Practice?’ (1991) accessed 21 March 2016.
52 David van Mill, ‘Freedom of Speech’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring edition 2015) accessed 21 March 2016.
53 MacKinnon, Toward, 207.
54 Jill Manning, ‘Impact of Internet Pornography on Marriage and the Family’ (2005) accessed 21 March 2016; Anthony Mulac, Laura Jansma, and Daniel Linz, ‘Men’s Behavior toward Women after Viewing Sexually-Explicit Films’ (2002) Communication Monographs 311.
55 Eaton, Sensible, 699.
56 Ministry of Justice, ‘Overview of Sexual Offending’ (2013) accessed 22 March 2016.
57 Neil Malamuth and Joseph Ceniti, ‘Repeated Exposure to Violent and Nonviolent Pornography’ (1986) accessed 22 March 2016.
58 Rae Langton, Sexual Solipsism (OUP 2009) 2-3.
59 MacKinnon, Toward, 168.
60 Shaun Young, Analysis of Political Liberalism (UPA 2002); Ronald Dworkin, ‘Is There a Right to Pornography?’ (1981) OJLS 177, 178.
61 Andrea Dworkin, ‘Pornography Happens to Women’ (1993) accessed on 3 April 2016.
62 Ibid.
63 MacKinnon, Reflections, 1282.
64 JS Mill, Subjection of Women (Hackett 1988) 261.
65 MacKinnon, Toward, 164.
66 R v Hicklin (1867–8) LR 3 QB 360, as seen in R v Smith [2012] EWCA Crim 398, [2012] 1 WLR 3368.
67 Catharine MacKinnon, ‘Not a Moral Issue’ (1984) 2 Yale LPR 321, 323.
68 Undesirable Publications Act (Chapter 338) in Singapore and Miller v California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973).
69 Eyes, Pornography, 17-20.
70 Ibid.
71 Catharine MacKinnon, Are Women Human? (HUP 2007) 113.
72 “I know it when I see it”, per Judge Stewart in Jacobellis v Ohio, 378 US 184 (1964).
73 R v Peacock – Unreported, 6 January 2011 (Crown Court, Southwark). Discussed here – accessed 3 April 2016.
74 Helena Kennedy, Eve was Framed (Vintage 1993) 17.
75 David Dyzenhaus, ‘Mill and Harm of Pornography’ (1992) Ethics Journal 534, 535.
76 MacKinnon, Toward, 95.
77 Ibid, 191.
78 Ibid.
79 MacKinnon, In, 319.
80 Ibid.
81 Joshua Cohen, ‘Freedom, Equality and Pornography’ in Jessica Spector (ed), Prostitution and Pornography (SUP 1996) 261.
82 Nussbaum, Sex, 18-20.
83 American, 771 F 2d 323 (1985).
84 MacKinnon, Toward, 150.
85 Carol Ann Duffy, Standing Female Nude (APP 1998).
86 Shimizu, Hypersexuality, 37.
87 Ibid, 178.
88 Backlash, ‘Written Evidence’ (2016) accessed 22 March 2016.
89 MacKinnon, Toward, 149.
90 Jessica Elliott, Role of Consent in Human Trafficking (Routledge 2014) 111.
91 Per Judge Easterbrook in American; Geoffrey Stone, ‘Government must Leave to the People the Evaluation of Ideas’ (2010) 77 CLR 1219.
92 32 F 3d 1007 (1994).
93 Ibid, 1009-1011. He said that the lower court failed to consider the “asymmetry of positions.”
94 Ibid, 1011.
95 This requires accepting that at least some women cannot adequately protect themselves. Otherwise, this discretion will not be exercised, eg American.
96 However, it is widely accepted that subordination exists in at least some pornography – Stephen Kershnar, Sex, Discrimination and Violence (UPA 2009) 34; Peter Lehman, Pornography (RUP 2006) 255.
97 Richard Corliss, ‘When Porno was Chic’ (2005) accessed 21 March 2016.
98 Rebecca Sullivan and Alan McKee, Pornography (PP 2015) 162-166; Tristan Taormino, ‘What is Feminist Porn?’ (2013) accessed 22 March 2016; Taormino, Feminist.
99 Ibid
100 Sullivan, Pornography.
101 Kershnar, Sex; Lehman, Pornography.
1. LLB candidate, University College London (UCL), and President of the UCL Law Society.
(2017). Is Pornography Merely Obscene? Feminist Perspectives on the Regulation of Pornography. Legal issues Journal, 5 (1), https://www.legalissuesjournal.com/article/05-01-15012017/
