NADINE STROSSEN
The Pornography Industry's Wet Dream
By Diana E. H. Russell
(snip)
How many ACLU lawyers does it take to screw over women harmed by porn? Try this one.
Nadine Strossen's OBJECTIVE in Defending Pornography is to destroy the reputation and achievements of the feminist movement against pornography. To this end, she dishes up the same tired old caricature of us as anti-sex prudes, pro-censorship, and in collusion with the right wing.
Not until the very last chapter does Strossen address the scientific evidence on the harmful effects of pornography, and her discussion of that evidence is a sham. Most of the key researchers on the relationship between pornography and violence against women (Neil Malamuth, James Check, Dolf Zillman, Bryant Jennings, myself) do not rate a single mention in her book.
I confronted Strossen on National Public Radio in February about the gaping holes in her review of the scientific literature. Her disingenuous defense was that she had relied on a short book -- which she described as the best source on the subject -- by her nonacademic pal, anti-censorship advocate Marcia Pally, founder and president of Feminists for Free Expression and a columnist for Penthouse. Pally concluded that (surprise! surprise!) "no credible evidence substantiates a clear causal connection between any type of sexually explicit material and any sexist or violent behavior."
http://www.dianarussell.com/Strossen.html