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The feminist activism of charliegrrl and co

My first encounter with an adult porn mag

Posted by charliegrrl on January 4, 2007

Newsagents often sell adult porn mags. By ‘adult’, I mean magazines that are defined as porn mags, that include fully nude photos and are kept on top shelf, available to those over 18. When I walk into a newsagents with the top shelf full of porn, I feel enraged. So, after having read many lads mags, I felt I needed to read the sort of adult porn sold in my local Spar.

The magazine is called Reader’s Wives. It is aimed at men over 30. The theme of the magazine is to feature reader’s wives naked: men send in naked pictures of their wives, then they vote on their favourite pictures and the best Reader’s Wife, gets a full page spread of photos. The men get paid £25 for every photo of their wife they get published. They direct men to their website to upload photos.

This is very similar to lads mags, as they too have features where they invite men to send in photos of their girlfriends, and they invite men to vote on the best photo of a woman, to see a full feature on them posing semi-naked.

Reader’s Wives is different in the profile of women featured, as they range in age from approx 20-55, a range of body sizes, with no critique of the woman’s body. The photos mainly focus on the woman’s vagina, or anus, with the vagina often unshaved.

Reader’s Wives contains many disturbing and explicit porn ads. The language they use to describe women is horrendous and the scenarios are violent and pander to the male fantasy of paedophilia and rape.

Rosie and Her Little Sister Get Fucked!

Virgin Fucked By Uncle Sam!

Dad Watches Me Suck His Mates Cock!

After You Fuck My Daughter, I’m Next! *EDIT*

*Edit* (This scene comes under the over 40 category, so the daughter would be over 40, so technically not paedophilia, but still incest and implies rape.)

The above porn ads eroticise sexual abuse of minors. They are the titles of porn stories available to listen to via phone. They make clear references to common scenarious of abuse- the Dad abusing her daughter, the Uncle abusing his neice- so a man can act on his fantasy of having sex with a minor.

The porn ads include photos of young women, posing as young girls, on a young girls bed surrounded my teddy bears.

The magazine includes a feature of a young woman who looks barely 18. She isn’t one of the Readers’ Wives. The feature is constructed to imply she is under 18- an innocent teenage girl. She is wearing young teen girls clothing and the setting is specifically designed to look like a teenage girls bedroom.

My Brother’s Mates Gang Fucked Me!

Hooded Struggling Student! Whip Her!

Stop Struggling and Relax! Your Arse is Mine!

Hood Her, Hold Her Arms, Now Strip Her!

Hold Her Still, I Fuck Her Mouth First!

The above porn ads eroticise rape. They provide for the fantasy men have of raping women. Again, these are porn stories available to listen to via phone.

This violence is sold in our local newsagents.

So, if your local newsagents sells porn, please pressure them to stop. Talk to them, write them letters, tell them you refuse to shop there until they stop selling sexual violence against women.

The postal address of this porn mag is

Dept FRW, Galaxy Publications, PO Box 312, Witham, Essex, CM8 3SZ

Send them a letter of disgust. Or perhaps something else…

As the images are too upsetting to blog, I have written a report on this magazine for those who want to read more. But be WARNED, the report contains sexually explicit images you most likely will find disturbing. Please don’t view if it may upset you.

Reader’s Wives

 *Edit* After compiling this report I realised I need to clarify a scenario, so please take this into account when referencing the document:

“After You Fuck My Daughter, I’m Next!”  This scenario comes under the category entitled ‘Dirty Old Slappers, Over 40 & Under 85’. Clarifying the age of the daughter gives the statement a different meaning- so it doesn’t refer to child sex abuse, but is incest and implies rape.

The images are intended for the view of people over 18. Please respect this.

63 Responses to “My first encounter with an adult porn mag”

  1. Thanks for taking the time to do this Charlie and as Robin Morgan says “Pornography is the theory, and rape the practice” You word doc says it all and as you point out this is available in fucking “newsagents”

  2. tcupnewt said

    I don’t think I’ll look at that report- it’ll only upset me too much. I don’t get how that kind of terrifying behavior can be so popular and condoned. It’s nothing to do with sex it’s about the power to control through sex.

    The practice of sending in pictures of partners really disturbs me – it’s like a kind of car evaluation or something. It shows them objectifying people they say they love. Infiltrates everything… I wonder wether all the women in the magazine know their picture has been sent in?

  3. fannyblood said

    freedom of speech, aye?

  4. fannyblood said

    is this legal?!!! i mean, really?! is this freedom of fucking speech?!!?!?

  5. Nah Fanny it’s hate speech!

  6. Aimée said

    My god. I downloaded the report, but the images don’t seem to work. Honestly I’m kind of glad they don’t.

    That is really ridiculous. I don’t know what else to call it. There aren;t many words that can describe that kind of twistedness. I would write them an email if I had more confidence that it would actually change anything. I’m not the greatest at writing angry emails.

    I hope you did though, because I know you could come up with something far more intelligent, witty and articulate than I.

    This has to stop.

  7. Hate Speech exactly.

    If anyone has trouble with seeing the report or the images, then I can email the report to them directly, if they email me x

  8. Ummm…I’m sending them anti-porn stuff, along with some ReSisters!

  9. Charlie, many thanks for writing this report. I know you said copies of your report can be forwarded and so I will be writing to a colleague of mine at Scottish Women Against Pornography to let her know about your report. Reports such as yours are precisely what is needed because unfortunately too many women and men too, believe that porn is harmless fun. They sometimes base their claims on myths surrounding porn or what they believe porn shows – not the reality. Readers Wives is not as bad as the Daily Sport – but again that does not mean I find Readers Wives acceptable because I don’t. This misg.mag together with others are all peddling one thing – namely women and girls of all ages are just ……objects for men’s sexual pleasure and domination. I’m reminded of what Robert Jensen has written about how it is common for sexual insults to be hurled at women and also that old hackneyed phrase ‘women are just three holes for men.’ Apologies if this offends but that is what porn is about – reducing women to nothing – just sexualised disposable objects – no humanity, because women are not human according to the pornographers which is why sexualised cruelty is considered ‘funny and humorous.’ We must also not forget that racial hatred is another arm of the porn industry with non-white women racially stereotyped as being either sexually voracious and animalistic or totally passive and submissive, depending on the female’s ethnicity. Non-white men too are racially stereotyped but they are still portrayed dominating and inflicting callous sexual cruelty on white and non-white women and girls. These images are peddling women-hatred/misogny under the claim such images are just ‘fantasy’ because the women portrayed playing under-age girls are over the age of 18. Such are the ways the pornographers get around the legal system.

  10. fannyblood said

    charlie … call me naive but if you took this to tony blair … what would he say?

  11. Sian said

    My first thoughts were that of Fannyblood’s – I cannot believe it’s legal to advertise rape and incest so blatantly no matter what sick git wants to fantasise about it!

    You know, I thought feminism had its work cut out, then I saw this and just felt like giving up. Not that I will. I’ll never give in and become someone that sees such vile filth as acceptable! I always knew there was a lot of “barely legal” crap but this is another level… and there’s people out there that argue FOR this?! I don’t think I need to see any statistics ever again – how can there be doubt that there is a link between rape and porn when porn is advertising rape scenarios???????

  12. It’s been going on in Hustler like forever! Have a look at
    Hustling The Left: Not work safe
    and view “Hustler Hate Speech Slideshow” on the right

  13. Yes Jennifer, most porn mags I’ve read seperate black and asian women as ‘other’ women, so it is obvious they are made from the white male gaze. I’ve heard lots about the racism in pornography, and I need to analyse this more. In this magazine there are a couple of adverts referring to black women as ‘Big Black Fucking Machines’.

    Also I noticed the way they refer to elderly people is disgraceful- again subjecting a vulnerable group of women to violence and humiliation. And also pregnant women- and we know a woman becoming pregnant can be when a man turns violent on her…

    Exactly Sian, those porn story scenarios conjure scenes of gang rape- they are advertising rape.

  14. Charlie, Gail Dines and I believe Robert Jensen too, have written on the subject of racism and women-hatred in pornography. I recommend you look up Gail Dines on the internet – she is an expert on pornography and an activist. One of the racialised and sexist stereotypes is of course the claim that black women are sexually voracious, never sexually satisfied etc. Also, that Asian women are more sexually compliant, submissive etc. But such views are ‘fantasy.’ Without wanting to disturb anyone too much, porn has become even more extreme – images of larger women are common, older women, disabled women, you name it, it is there in porn. Ever more extreme and all to sate so-called natural male sexual needs! As regards Blair and co. well – unfortunately having attended one Home Office meeting within the last year – I gained the impression that porn is perceived as a non-issue! This was despite the fact examples of mainstream porn were shown to representatives. But we must not forget the images Charlie shows are considered non-violent and therefore acceptable!

  15. Fanny, I’m not sure what Tony Blair would say about this… He’d probably say something like, well, it’s not as bad as some other things I’ve read…like he said about lads mags…

    Send it to your MP, and see what they say..?

  16. You know, I am sick of these politicians- are they so out of touch with the real world..? They are ignoring the abuse and the way we feel when we see such images condoned. They can’t see past their male privilege. Let’s not forget that it is likely that male politicians will use pornography.

    Thanks for the references Jennifer, I’ll look them up.
    Another interesting point was that they seemed to have a porn scenario for many situations in which a man may wish to act out his anger, or a situation in which he may feel subordinated.
    For example…
    Violating the mother-in-law
    Violating the divorcee
    Violating a police woman
    Violating a posh woman/girl
    Violating the boss (female)

    Lads Mags love to do features on ‘wierd’ porn- the strangest type I’ve seen, is digitally blowing up women’s bodies with air so that they looked like they were about to burst…

  17. Rachel H-G said

    They must feel so inadequate to “need” this misogynistic, vile, sh***. However, I will never feel sorry for them.

  18. v said

    readers wives is kind of seen as a “great british institution”, if some men are to be believed. kind of up there with the carry on movies, and benny hill. i can actually remember specific photo shoots from that which i saw years and years ago. 😦

  19. v said

    charlie – is this really your first encounter with an adult porn mag?

    please be careful doing your research. readers wives is the tamer end of the porn ‘market’. its hideous, i know, i totally know. i dont know what to say without sounding like im telling you what to do. please be careful.

  20. Yep, this is the first adult porn mag I’ve read. Most of the porn I’ve seen has been on the net, and it’s much worse than Readers’ Wives I agree. Thanks for your warning V, a friend has also been saying this to me who was abused with being forced to look at porn. I know there will be porn out there that I can’t even imagine. One guy sent me a link to a porn image, that was disguised as a feminist link. It was the most horrific image I’ve ever seen- so horrific it still shocks me to think about it, but at the same time I can barely remember the photo, because my mind blanked it as soon as it popped up on the screen. But I feel I need to know the abuse- it makes me sick, but I go by- know thy enemy so you can bring them down.
    Thanks again V
    x

  21. Liz said

    I don’t know what to say – I read the report and the images really horrified me.

    If men are reading and looking at these kind of degrading images – thinking they are funny and erotic – then I’m not sure I want to even give a crap about them. I mean, I have a dad and my partner is a man, and I really don’t think all men are evil or anything like that.

    But it makes me feel panicky and violated to think that women’s bodies are seen as commodities, to hurt and abuse and violate.

    I’ve educated my partner and am happy to say that he doesn’t use porn – but what about those men that I come into contact with every day? The men that sit next to me on the train, the men that are at work, the men that run our country.

    HOW can they even condone such hate images and speech against women? Why do they just sit by and say it’s okay or that they can’t do anything because it’s censoring free speech? I don’t get any of it any more.

    Thanks Charlie for doing the report because its important to know these things and what we are up against.

    xxx

  22. fannyblood said

    Doesn’t it even make you feel physically sick reading these posts? And we’re trying to help the situation?

    So what we’re saying is even though incest, paedophilia, child abuse etc. are ILLEGAL practises, within the context of pornography it’s a FREE FOR ALL according to the Home Office, Jennifer?

    An exasperated and tearful “fighting a losing battle … ?” is muttered under my breath.

    Sorry ladies. It’s so simple, yet it’s being completely ignored?

    My local MP doesn’t even care to sign the petitions I send him Charlie i.e Violence against women/Rape convictions etc. He blatantly ignores me and the petitions. God knows what sort of man he is?

    F x

  23. Liz, I’m sorry if the images upset you. Part of me feels guilty making such images available in a feminist space because I know they are upsetting, but like you said, we have to know the truth about porn.

    Fanny, I know what you mean. If Kofi Anan (UN Secretary General) can acknowledge that crimes against women is one of the worst human atrocities we are facing, than why isn’t our government doing anything about it..? Why are Rape Crisis Centres closing down all over the country..? Why are conviction rates still obismal..? Why is the porn industry allowed to sell scenes of rape..? I know it is dispiriting, but we mustn’t give up.
    x

  24. Hi, Fannyblood, the meeting I attended at the Home Office was a very difficult one because some of the representatives just couldn’t see that porn is women-hatred. Instead their focus was once again on child porn as though child porn is a totally separate issue whereas in fact it is not – it is a continuum of porn. Men who view porn become bored with so-called ‘tame’ issues instead they seek more ‘advanced images’ in other words viewing images of younger and younger females is all about power and control. Research has shown that men who view porn get a rush of power but this very quickly melts away due to repetition hence they then seek something more extreme such as bestiality, but even then they become desensitised and in order to get their rush need even more sexually violent acts of cruelty. Malmuth and Donnerstein’s research comes to mind as well as Wendy Stock and another’s whose name escapes me at present.

    That is why child porn is a continuum – it is not a separate issue. It is all about power and control, hence why child porn is so popular because children do not have the same power as adults. Add a mix of male belief in entitlement to sexually dominate and control and we have child porn.

    At the meeting I came up against claims about ‘freedom of speech’ that old chestnut again. Problem is in so many individuals’ minds including politicians is the belief child porn is harmful but ‘adult’ porn is not. We must also not forget the very powerful porn industry itself which has become mainstream and corporations such as the Murdoch empire and others too which have subsiduary companies producing and selling porn. Porn is one of the most profitable ‘industries’ and these corporations wield immense power politically. Another meeting I attended with various MPs some of them blatantly denied that porn does cause harm and instead they attempted to divert attention yet again to the harm of child porn. Children must be protected but adult women apparently have the same power as adult men. (I wish!!).

    Charlie I’m glad you are taking steps to protect yourself but yes I agree we do need to know what is out there. So-called gonzo porn is now mainstream and increasingly more sexually degrading and violent towards women of all ethnicities.

  25. fannyblood said

    what about our human rights?

  26. fannyblood said

    The link to the piece Jennifer is talking about:

    http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9272

    and another extremely useful link at the bottom:

    http://feministantipornographymovement.org

  27. Remember this..?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1991084.stm

    So New Labour wouldn’t care when they receive donations from the porn industry

    (Thanks TB)

  28. fannyblood said

    i used to work for richard desmond. i was also pushed onto selling top shelf when i was only a naive 20 year old. i can remember all those titles in that article. i also remember one called ‘barely legal’ charlie. says it all, doesn’t it?

  29. fannyblood said

    that last comment was meant to say selling advertising space on top shelf magazines. one of them was readers’ wives.

  30. Thanks Fanny for providing the links. Sometimes my mind gets ahead of my fingers and I forget to provide the evidence! I’ve remembered the name of another anti-porn academic, researcher and feminist writer it is Gloria Cowan.

    Remember that old saying ‘divide and conquer’ well and this is only my personal view – because there is so much disagreement as to whether or not porn causes harm and negates women’s human rights – the porn industry just sits back so to speak and is virtually untouchable.

  31. Grace said

    *deep breath* am I shocked to tears once again by this and I really think you are so brave Charlie to even look at those images and read through those publications so that you can fight with knowledge and inform us of the things that you see. You’ve got such eggs (replacement for balls bitch+animal style – eggs = courage)!

    I haven’t read the attachment because I feel sad enough already but I really can’t believe that this shit is legal. Is it honestly legal to say ‘listen to this rape taking place, it’s staged, honestly’?? Because for 1 things the fact that it’s staged isn’t what they get off on is it, its the abuse itself. And for 2, a lot of those things are real, not staged, just like snuff-movies -how the hell is that legal? That’s like saying that if someone is a bystander at the scene of a rape and doesn’t do anything to stop it they should just be let off.

    My thoughts echo Liz’s with regard to the men in our lives and who we encounter.

    Jennifer Drew said: “Ever more extreme and all to sate so-called natural male sexual needs” well I got told off for arguing the view that these ‘needs’ are not needs at all, and was likened to a BNP militant for doing so – well fuck it, i’d gladly be accused of being militant against porn, especially this kind of thing where there is just NO perspective that can truly say that this isn’t degrading – of course I don’t uphold any perspective that says that any porn isn’t degrading but it’s expected in the society that we live in that ‘everyday’ porn like ladsmags is accepted because no one stops to think about it, but I am sickened by the idea that people could just accept this.

  32. Grace said

    Charlie, my current local MP is none other than the Rt Hon Clare Short – she is avidly against pornography as i’m sure you know and has had this to say on the general subject of porn and pg3 – http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Clare+Short/88c02bfe-1763-42d2-ba35-9db34bc0c6cc.htm

    Am I right in thinking she would be a good person to contact? And if so would it be okay to link her to this page?

    I’m afraid I know too little about politics so I am sorry in advance if this is a totally inappropriate idea for reasons that I haven’t come across.

  33. fannyblood said

    hi jennifer. it’s one thing not wanting to see that porn is violence against women, it’s another ignoring the fact that magazines like readers’ wives are celebrating/promoting incest, paedophilia and child abuse etc. … isn’t it?

  34. Nesta said

    charlie do you come the position that this is mens natural imbuilt desires?
    That they wish to do these things because they are men and that it is not because of social conditioning? Women are socially condition to feel inferior, to believe that they should be blamed for things, that what happens to them is because it’s their fault. Is it not the other way around for men? That they are conditioned whilst growning up that they can achieve
    anything, that they have value and are worth something. You always see women in collections, usually with a male at the centre in the media (although these days women are often portrayed surrounded by other women, a kind of mistress of the brothel image, the most desirable women. The women the others all wish to become). These images place women in a situation of subordination. And when men’s sexual outlet is proposed to them in ways of degradating others, this conditioning
    surely impacts on how they sexually respond. Men’s idea of a good time is never shown in a mutually respectful relationship where the feelings, needs and desires of the other person are considered and that this act of consideration and love is something that produces plesant sexual feelings.

  35. Arguments I’ve heard and read concerning images such as the ones in Readers’ Wives wherein adult women are dressed as young girls and also the telephone advertisements which describe child sexual abuse, claim that these are all just ‘fantasies’ not reality because no child is being sexually abused. Therefore according to this argument child sexual abuse is not being condoned or promoted since all the actors are over 18 years of age.

    Jackson Katz, Gary Brooks and Robert Jensen among others all argue that men and boys learn how to do ‘male heterosexuality’ and it is primarily via viewing pornography that they learn the myths concerning both female and male sexualities.

    As Leonore Tiefer says ‘sex is not a natural act’ because sexuality is learned and it varies according to different cultures and historical context.

  36. Nesta, I don’t think men have a ‘natural’ inbuilt desire to rape and abuse children. I think it is all about power- oppressing and abusing those with less power and those who are more vulnerable. Men benefit from keeping women and children frightened. Power is expressed through sexuality and sexual acts.

    I agree with Jennifer that sexuality is learnt- this is obvious to a person who is not heterosexual- I know personally I have had to ‘unlearn’ heterosexualisation. We are constantly fed a heterosexual script- man as ‘doers’ women as objects…

  37. stormcloud said

    Thanks everyone for some really great links! I hadn’t realised that this thread had taken off!

    Charlie, I think that Blair met with some of his porn-funding buddies on the morning of the 10-min rule bill (nice timing, coincidence seems… well, not really). And then in some news article, TV I think, he claimed “not to know anything about them [LMs]”.

    I totally agree with Jennifer on the porn having to become more and more extreme to get the ‘thrill’ factor. And also the child porn – adult porn continuum (plus all the racism stuff as well). It’s all connected. The continuum.

  38. fannyblood said

    jennifer, that is sick. so fantasising about having sex with school children is ok then is it!?!? absolute fucking bullshit.

  39. fannyblood said

    fantasising about raping your daughter is just fantasy!?

    we need more women mp’s on board here?

  40. Could be one avenue Fanny, to lobby women MPs to do something about porn..?

  41. BB done a good post examining “fantasys”

    http://bitingbeaver.blogspot.com/2005/09/power-of-thought-ii-please-fantasize.html

  42. fannyblood said

    i’m sure most women would find this repulsive? diane abbott is the closest MP (hackney north & stoke newington) to me who i know is sick of offensive material saturating our newsagents etc. i shall get in touch with her.

    x

  43. Grace said

    How can it be acceptable just because it’s only ‘fantasising’ about having sex with children? Obviously because paedophiles are only criminals once they are caught for a crime, for instance if they have sexual pictures of actual children, but if they only have pictures of adults dressed as children (possibly because ashamed of feelings, possibly because know how to work the system) that’s okay. I heard somewhere (sorry to be so vague) that since pornography has become more normalised in society that the rape rate has increased (is that right?)- is there no responsibility on magazines who advertise these ‘fantasies’ for readers who then go out and commit sex crimes against women and children?

  44. fannyblood said

    exactly, grace. like having a hard drive full of child porn ie babies being raped etc. will only land you 2 months in jail (if that?!?!?!). unless you actually get caught physically raping a baby then i guess you might get 2 years in jail.

    i guess that’s the system we’re fighting against at the end of the day.

    as i say, we need more women on board here.

    x

  45. Definitely the numbers of men and boys raping women and girls has increased dramatically over the last 10 years here in the UK. The NSPCC together with Sugar Magazine carried out a survey on young teenage girls and boys and what did they discover – 43% of teenage girls who responded said they had been forced to endure unwanted sexual acts and the male person responsible was a boy or male friends the girl knew. That is just an example of teenage girls’ experiences. Rape Crisis UK (easily located on internet has yearly figures for numbers of males raping females. However, I can just hear the pro-porn group saying ‘where’s your proof that porn is related to men raping women and girls? Surely it is a case of more women falsely crying rape or just a bad sexual experience which the woman/girl can’t deal with and so blames her male partner by claiming he raped her.’ Yes, that is precisely why mainstream porn mags. use adult women dressed as underage girls – in order to get around our wonderful legal system.

    Sparkle thank you so much for BB’s link – I’ve always found her postings to be so grounded and most useful. Have already printed out the link you gave. Many thanks.

  46. stormcloud said

    Yes, I remember that link Sparkle, thanks!

    Jennifer, we are fighting a no-win situation. As you say, lots of ‘getting around the system’. It’s depressing.

  47. I’ve been thinking about what I posted with regards to how the pro-porners use every trick going to ensure anti-porners are silenced. I think I might have come across as being either resigned to the situation or believing we cannot resist. That was not my intention. I gave some examples of what the pro-porners say in order to alert everyone if they aren’t already aware, of just what is being claimed. Biting Beaver’s article on fantasies was in my view an excellent rebuttal of claims that fantasies are just that -harmless fantasies – well they aren’t. I’m not trying to preach just to say we need to be not only aware of what pro-porners claim but also ready if possible to rebut their arguments. I admit I don’t have all the answers and I’m constantly learning hence my pleasure at reading BB’s article on fantasies. So, next time I’ll endeavour not only to assume what pro-porners would claim, but also provide something which would trash their misognystic claims.

  48. Grace said

    I told someone about this today – particularly the advertisements of rape and paedophilic ‘fantasies’ – and they said that kind of thing should be dealt with akin to inciting racial hatred, because it possibly incites sexual violence and of course there is hatred of women implicit in all of this. But until they can actually prove that this sort of thing incites abuse nothing will be done about it – when is a rapist going to say “I did it because it sounded so good on that phoneline I called up from an advertisement in a porn magazine”??

    The simple fact is that the people who make these advertisements, and who publish them in their magazines are sick-minded and care more about money than the people who will be hurt directly or indirectly by their actions. So, basically normalising thoughts and fantasies of sexual abuse is okay as long as they don’t come out and say “go and rape someone”. Why is it okay to fantasise about abusing someone?

  49. stormcloud said

    To add to my previous comment (I was having a downer moment of resignation) –

    But that is not to say we should give up. We must keep fighting it. It is a difficult fight, esp when the rules and playing fields get constantly moved about. But, hang in there!!

  50. SarahGrills said

    Absolutely shocking. I am lost for words.

  51. Sam said

    when is a rapist going to say “I did it because it sounded so good on that phoneline I called up from an advertisement in a porn magazine”??

    There’s no shortage of serial killers and rapists who have spoken of how pornography fueled their fantasies and gave them ideas they used to commit sexual crimes. The following sentiment is readily expressed by many convicted rapists:

    “My experience with pornography … is once you become addicted to it, (and I look at this as a kind of addiction like other kinds of addiction), I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Like an addiction, you keep craving something that is harder, something which gives you a greater sense of excitement. Until you reach a point where the pornography only goes so far, you reach that jumping off point where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it would give you that which is beyond just reading or looking at it.” -Ted Bundy

  52. fannyblood said

    EXACTLY GRACE. but they didn’t need cases of racist abuse do they to make it illegal to incite race hatrid?! but of course, it’s a different story when it comes to women? we’re just fucking WOMEN!!!!!

  53. Grace said

    Sam – I didn’t know that, thanks for highlighting it. The fact that it is KNOWN that pornography leads to violence – and more if it is taken to be the starting point for Bundy – and yet nothing is done about it is beyond words really isn’t it?

    i’ll stop going on because I know I have a bit, but I have emailed my local MP anyway. We’ll see what she has to say if anything.

  54. “Listen, I’m no social scientist, and I haven’t done a survey. I don’t pretend that I know what John Q. Citizen thinks about this. But I’ve lived in prison for a long time now. And I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me. And without exception, without question, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography”

    Also by Ted Bundy – who incidentally Avadon Carol (feminists (?) against censorship) states (and I heard it with my own ears at the Ladyfest debate) that Bundy was swinging the “porn made me do it” crapola.

    Of course, Avadon also claims that pornography is not used by paedophiles in the grooming of children for sexual abuse. Having spent ten years plus as a CSA therapist I know she is talking bollox.

  55. Anonymous said

    i can’t remember who said this now (sorry!) but i read recently (or had a convo?!) that they actually try and take porn AWAY from sex offenders/paedophiles once convicted because it encourages them to re-offend?!?!

  56. Anonymous said

    it was after debating with someone that porn actually helps diffuse a sex offenders appetite, not encourage it?! i.e the age old debate that without porn there would be more rapists …

  57. Hi Charlie and all those that emailed comments.So much to say so little time.But first to congratulate Charlie on the truly amazing amount of work and time she is giving to tackling pornography and helping to raise awareness.
    The disbelief and disgust expressed from women seeing the content and level of hate directed at women and children in pornography, is disturbingly familiar.As for Tony Blair-don’t waste your time. One MP threw one of Desmond’s porn mags down in front of Blair in digust,he knows exactly what their content is.This situation reminds me of when children become aware of the reality of the world-starvation, poverty, injustice-and ask the question’if people know about all the terrible wrongs in the world -why doesn’t someone do something?’But we cannot be surprised, we live in a capitalist consumerist societyour world is pornified.
    There are times when it does feel hopeless but it isn’t-we are the ones who can do something.Don’t doubt the power that we all have-use it.Join an anti-porn group-every anti-porn act becomes part of a wider global activism that is gathering to fight porn.The internet is part of the problem of the mainstreaming of pornography and it is also an incredible tool we are using to fight back.aS ONE WOMAN SAID-‘IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY-LOOK IN A PORN MAG’.
    Remember as Dworkin said’Resist-do not comply’
    Catherine Harper -SWAP

  58. Sam said

    I have raped or killed no one, but as a former pornography user I fully understand the feelings Bundy describes. Using pornography brought me to a place where my partner and I toyed with the idea of hiring a prostituted women for a night because eventually the images are not satisfying enough and you seek the extra kick of real-time pornography.

    People like Avedon Carol assume we’re against pornography because we don’t know anything about it, but I’ve found most of us are former users and pornstitutes with more knowledge about the negative effects of pornography than we ever thought we’d get from embarking on the S.S. Pornofore.

  59. fannyblood said

    thanks catherine.

    by the way, those anonymous comments (#55/56)were from me. not sure what happened there.

    x

  60. Re fighting pornography.Scottish Women Against Pornography always need more members, the membership fee is small but we rely on the fees and donations to keep going.Membership forms on the website.
    I am very aware that the website is urgently needing updated but am trying to manage the campaign single-handed.This includes writing reports and giving presentations.Details on the website of an anti pornograpgy conference in Boston in March organised by Gail Dines
    http://www.swapcampaign.com (formerly .co.uk)
    Catherine Harper-SWAP

  61. Grace said

    well I heard back from my MP – fat lot of good it did:

    http://graceneedshelp.blogspot.com/2007/01/bit-short-from-clare.html

  62. Laura said

    Great post Charlie, just discovered your blog yesterday thank to the Guardian and I think it’s amazing. Unbelievably I wasn’t as upset by the report as I feared I’d be – I think that’s because last night I read something so horrific about gonzo porn that I actually found it hard to sleep. While I despise what I saw in your report, all I can think of is ‘Thanks God they didn’t brag about doing to those women what they did to the gonzo women.’

    By the way, I’m from Ireland and don’t really know of any feminist organisations over here, so if any of you do and could email me about them, that would be really brilliant. Thanks.

    *Edit* if anyone has details about feminist organisations in Irelend then leave details below, thanks

  63. rebecca said

    I hate all porn; I hate those ‘fluffy’, ‘glossy’ acceptable supposedly harmless lads’ mags like Zoo and Nuts, I can’t even go the corner shop for a pint of milk without being harassed by a pair of breasts. Then there are those ones on the shelf above them, garish, gratuitous, images of women normally fully naked, squatting, putting on there best
    ‘don’t you just want to shag me’face, when I know she’s really thinking‘did I get that meat out the freezer?’.The pictures are usually accompanied by witty little captions such as ‘stick your tongue in’ or ‘do it over my boobs’, you know something subtle like that, just in case we didn’t quite know what the magazine was about. After looking at the stuff that is available for free on the internet, I am amazed! I suppose it’s quite naive of me but the stuff that is available is so violent (Not that I don’t think that about all porn) I have always hated porn, very basically the objectification and commodification of women is something I can’t put up with. Profit from what is to me (at least) exploitation (in many ways concerning both men and women), is unacceptable. On a personal level, porn is really damaging to me, those images make me feel ugly and worthless, when I collapse on my couch at the end of the day, I find it hard to tell myself, I am a good woman, I am a worthwhile person, I am an attractive woman. Everything, the TV, the radio, magazines tells me I am worthless (I feel ashamed about it), the most important thing about a woman is her sex appeal, if you don’t have sex appeal you are nothing. I am so glad I have found this site, Its dramatic but it has saved me!! It’s good to read such a wide range of opinions, it gives me hope people are angry and want to do something about it. I live in Liverpool, if there are any feminists or feminists groups send me an email let me know what you are up to thanks. 05008300@hope.ac.uk

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