As we have been out on campus promoting the upcoming protest for International Women’s Day, what has been most striking is the level of emotion and convictions incited by the fact that we condemn pornography.

Some of you have defended pornography at the tops of your voices…
 
Some of you have joined us in criticizing it, mostly in whispers…

A few of you have opened up with your deep concerns as to the scope of woman-hating in porn, but also your concerns about condemning any form of sexual expression…

Still others of you have refused to engage at all (sometimes with the insistence that even bringing up the subject of pornography and enslavement is just “too upsetting”)…

All this leads to our invitation:

TONIGHT, at 6:30 pm, join us in a group trip to a XXX porn store/peep show near Times Square.  Let’s go in together, spend some time browsing, take down a few titles.  Then, let’s sit together and discuss what we saw.
 
Is porn harmless?  Is it a means for women to empower themselves? Or is it one of the most degrading and violent forms of celebration of the hatred of women?

Come and form your own opinion, but not without seeing it for yourself!

MEETUP:  6:30 tonight, March 2nd at Starbucks - east side of 8th Ave. between 43rd-44th Sts.
 
RSVP:  stoppatriarchy@gmail.com

— from Sunsara Taylor &  End Pornography & Patriarchy Crew

By Sunsara Taylor

I was happy to see that Maura Judkis over at the Washington Post blogs picked up on my commentary on the Liquid Plumr Double Impact ad the other day.  I was significantly less happy, however, when she brought to my attention this ad from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which makes light of violence against women and sexual violence:



This woman is clearly very injured.  She is in a neck brace, for Christ’s sake.  Plus, the ad intentionally features her stumbling and seeming to wince from pain between her legs as she tries to climb the stairs.

Her injuries are supposed to have been caused by “TFWVAKTBOOM.”  That is, “Boyfriend went vegan and knocked the bottom out of me.”  As the ad goes on to say, her boyfriend “went vegan” and all of a sudden was able to “bring it like a tantric porn star.”  Then, we see footage of her being banged violently against the wall (later he is seen patching the wall up with plaster).

The “capper” to the whole ad is that she seems to have stumbled through the streets, wincing painfully all the way, wearing her neckbrace and almost nothing else (why would she bother to get dressed, it would delay the sexual aggression she is portrayed as clearly craving) to go out and purchase some raw veggies for her newly vegan boyfriend.  All, as is spelled out with no room for subtlety or guessing, because she is so eager to be near-raped and battered again.

News Flash:

Women DON’T like being battered and beaten.  No one should want to have sex like a porn star — porn is about dehumanizing and degrading, about getting off on the enslavement of others.  And if you want to make a case for “going vegan” — especially if you claim to be doing so out of a desire to be “ethical to animals” — then make a fucking argument for why that is ethical, don’t do so based on appealing to ugly misogyny and machismo or by trivializing sexual assault and violent battery.

It is time this shit be opposed and called out for the woman-hating it concentrates and normalizes.  This is NOT something people should just laugh off or get used to.  The normalizing of violence and sexual assault against women is growing.  It will not stop if it is not publicly and massively resisted and challenged.  This is why one of the stops on our March 10th protest for International Women’s Day is Times Square, where we will protest the objectification and degradation of women which saturates American culture.  We’ll protest the way that women’s bodies are displayed — half naked and half starved — and used to sell everything from cars to clothes to “American culture” to the world.

This is part of a larger march connecting up the many sites of the degradation and enslavement of women.  We’ll be starting at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the biggest Catholic institution in New York for their role in the assault on birth control and abortion.  We’ll protest the US Military Recruiting Center for the way it concentrates violence against women.  We’ll protest one of the anti-abortion “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” and several of the strip clubs in the area.  JOIN US!

http://stoppatriarchy.tumblr.com/march10

March 10th — for International Women’s Day
Protest and March against sites of women’s oppression!


12 noon: GATHER NEAR ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL in New York City!

Read More

A series of three talks given by Sunsara Taylor, followed by Q&A, discussion, debate, and mobilization. Sunsara is currently working with others to launch this new effort to End Pornography and Patriarchy; the Enslavement and Degradation of Women.

• Wed. November 2 – 7:00 pm

The Woman-Hating Reality of Pornography and Why You Should Want No Part of It

• Wed. November 16 at 7:00 pm

No More Defensiveness, Conciliation, or Reliance on the Democrats:
Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

• Wed. November 30 – 7:00 pm

Why and How the Future Revolutionary Society Will End Pornography, Prostitution, and Patriarchy

All events at:

Revolution Books
146 West 26th Street, NYC
212-691-3345

Btw 6th-7th Aves.
28th St. stop on 1 or R train
Donation requested at the door
www.revolutionbooksnyc.org

Sunsara Taylor writes for Revolution Newspaper, is on the Advisory Board of The World Can’t Wait, and is a co-host on “Equal Time for Freethought” on WBAI in NYC.