Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry (42 page)

Read Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry Online

Authors: Melinda Tankard Reist,Abigail Bray

Tags: #General, #Social Science, #Sociology, #Media Studies, #Pornography

Anna van Heeswijk
OBJECT: Challenging ‘Sex-object Culture’
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My name is Anna van Heeswijk. I’m 29 and the Campaigns Manager for OBJECT – the award winning pressure group set up in 2003 to challenge the sexual objectification of women and the mainstreaming of the multi-billion pound sex industries. OBJECT has no office and little money, yet with the help and support of trade and student unions, survivors of the sex industry, feminist policy makers, sister organisations, and committed activists across the country, in 5 years we have changed 2 laws and helped revitalise grassroots anti-pornography feminism in the UK.
In partnership with the Fawcett Society,
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a leading campaigning group for equality between women and men, OBJECT stemmed the proliferation of lap dancing clubs and stripped the illusion that lap dancing is a harmless part of the leisure industry. We have exposed the exploitative industry of lap dancing for what it is and lobbied successfully for a change in the law to allow for better regulation and for limits to be placed on the number of clubs in any vicinity – which can now be set at zero by local councils. We have provided a feminist analysis to underpin our campaign and put the issue of sexism and sexual objectification at the heart of the licensing debate.
In partnership with Eaves,
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a feminist front-line service provider for women exploited in the sex industry, we secured the first piece of legislation in the UK to directly tackle the demand for prostitution, bringing the buyers out of the shadows and making it a crime to purchase sex from a person who has been exploited. This shifts the criminal gaze away from the person exploited in prostitution on to the person who directly contributes to this exploitation by paying for sex. We have raised awareness of the harmful nature of the sex industry and successfully lobbied for government-run job centres to ban advertising vacancies in the sex industry.
As well as legislative change, OBJECT campaigns for a shift in cultural attitudes. We make explicit the links between the explosion of the sex industries, the ever-increasing portrayal of women as sexual objects, and the misogynistic attitudes which underpin and legitimise violence and discrimination against women. In order to raise awareness and to develop grassroots activism on these issues, OBJECT spearheads national days of action against ‘sex-object culture’ including
Feminist Fridays
which initiate direct action against ‘lads’ mags’.
Feminist Fridays
have served to empower individuals and groups to take action and have led to major retailers agreeing to cover up lads’ mags and put them on the top shelf.
An important time to be an anti-porn feminist activist
Women in the Western world are told that feminism is outdated and that sexism is a thing of the past. And yet, wherever you look, sexism and inequality remain rife. In the UK, approximately 80% of Parliament is male;
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nearly 1 in 4 women over 16 has experienced sexual violence;
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2 women are murdered each week by male partners (Povey, 2005); and the gender pay gap means that in effect women stop being paid in October whilst men continue to be paid until the end of the year.
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The explosion of the sex industries represents a backlash against the struggle for equality between women and men. Increased levels of objectification and the sexualisation of women’s bodies promotes the idea that no matter how intelligent or capable women are, and how far we progress as a group, our worth is still dependent on how attractive we are to men.
The role of the sex industries in fuelling and maintaining patriarchy is highlighted by research into male motivations for going to lap dancing clubs (Frank, 2003). When men were asked why they frequent strip clubs, common responses included that they wanted to meet women who were not ‘feminist’ and that, with a growing fear of sexual harassment lawsuits at work, they wanted to ‘let out frustration’ and be in an environment in which they could revert back to traditional male–female roles and relationships.
Patriarchal relations are most blatant in relation to prostitution – an industry based on the premise that men can buy access to women’s bodies. The effect on those exploited in prostitution (the majority of whom are women and girls) is
devastating, with statistics showing that prostituted women are more likely than not to experience serious sexual and/or physical abuse at the hands of pimps and punters (Home Office 2004b), and that 68% of women in prostitution suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the same level as torture victims (Farley et al, 2003). The prostitution industry further undermines broader struggles for women’s equality. What is the meaning of our efforts to combat sexual harassment and male violence in the home, in the workplace, and on the streets if men can buy the right to perpetrate these very same acts against women and girls in prostitution?
Prostitution represents an extreme end of commercial sexual exploitation. But sexual objectification exists on a continuum, with images and messages stemming from pornography increasingly seeping into all aspects of popular culture. Feminist language of ‘choice’ and ‘empowerment’ has been co-opted to legitimise sex-object culture and promote the sex industry as liberating. In fact, treating women like sexual objects dehumanises women and this is a core element of sexism. The more acceptable it becomes to view women as a sum of body parts, the easier it becomes to disrespect, mistreat and act out violence towards women as a group. This makes anti-porn activism crucial in challenging the industries that promote the attitudes and beliefs which underpin sex discrimination and male violence.
‘Activists Rise Up’
It is an exciting time to be an anti-porn feminist. Women and men across the country are increasingly speaking out against the oppression of women. This spirit of resistance has been mobilised by the Million Women Rise marches which galvanise thousands of women to call for an end to male violence; by the Reclaim the Night marches organised annually by the London Feminist Network and other groups nationally to take back our streets; by the Feminism in London conferences, and the UK Feminista Activist Summer Schools; by the success of the OBJECT-Fawcett campaign to challenge the mainstreaming and proliferation of lap dancing clubs; the student union-led campaign against sexist beauty pageants being reintroduced into universities; monthly OBJECT
Feminist Fridays
to campaign against sexist lads’ mags (see Long, this volume); and the
Demand Change!
OBJECT-Eaves coalition to tackle the demand for prostitution.
Lessons learned in challenging sex-object culture
• Big vision, achievable goals
OBJECT mobilises activism around campaign goals which are achievable while providing a broad analysis of sexual objectification and sexism.
In relation to lap dancing, the legislative goal of the
Stripping the Illusion
campaign was relatively straightforward – to change the way that lap dancing clubs are licensed. Lap dancing clubs promote the idea of women as sexual objects who are always sexually available and who exist to fulfil the sexual fantasies of men (see Stella, this volume). They represent sites of commercial sexual exploitation, with performers paying to work and structural conditions of competition leading to women often ending shifts in debt to the club. They make sexual harassment seem normal, and they create no-go zones for women who feel unsafe walking past them at night. Yet, until 2010, lap dancing clubs were licensed in the same way as ordinary leisure venues. This rendered it virtually impossible for licenses to be refused, and acted as a green light to the industry which doubled in size over 5 years.
The 2010 change in the law allows local councils to license lap dancing clubs as Sexual Entertainment Venues. This allows councils to consider the gender impact of clubs and set a limit on the number of licences they grant, which can be set at zero. This is a powerful tool to clamp down on the lap dancing club industry and OBJECT are in the process of supporting local communities to lobby their councils to apply this legislation to its fullest.
As well as pushing through legislative change, the
Stripping the Illusion
campaign exposed the reality of the lap dancing industry and located arguments about licensing within the broader context of sexism and sexual objectification of women and girls.
• Making women’s voices central
A central goal of OBJECT’s work is to provide a platform for women who have been exploited in the sex industry to speak out about the reality of their experiences. This is crucial to counteract the glamourised portrayal of lap dancing, prostitution and pornography peddled by the mainstream media. Perhaps the most effective campaigning tool developed with survivors of the sex industry has been 2 short films in which actors read out the testimonies of women involved in prostitution and lap dancing. OBJECT and Eaves screened the
Demand Change!
film in Parliament on the eve of the vote to criminalise the purchase of sex from a person who has been exploited. Survivors of prostitution from the film were quoted in the House of Lords debate and their testimonies marked a crucial turning point in discussions. It was powerful to inform these women that their words were pivotal in changing the law.
Testimonies have also helped to create a sense of solidarity amongst women who have been exploited in the sex industry who often feel isolated in their
experiences. Throughout the lap dancing campaign we were approached by former lap dancers who expressed relief at seeing the other side of the story being put forward and who wanted to share their experiences about what they consistently described as an exploitative and soul-destroying industry. After identifying a clear need for support, OBJECT has been awarded funding to work in partnership with a women’s service provider to establish provision for women who have experienced harm in the lap dancing industry.
• Partnership work
Partnering with Eaves and the Fawcett Society and building coalitions with NGOs, unions, politicians, activist groups and survivors of the sex industry has allowed us to share expertise, divide the workload and effectively reach audiences less accessible to us as a single organisation. It has also provided an inspiring model for joint working and helped establish a unified force committed to ending the sexual objectification of women.
• The importance of activism
Grassroots activism has been pivotal to OBJECT’s success as a campaigning organisation. As well as influencing policy, activism empowers the individuals and groups who take part. It ameliorates feelings of isolation and powerlessness and provides opportunities to unite and make change.
In spreading anti-porn activism, it has been important for OBJECT to set a tone that is bold and unflinching in our demands whilst providing a welcoming and uplifting experience for those involved. Creativity, visual stunts and the use of songs and chants have been instrumental in terms of making noise, taking up space, and creating a sense of solidarity which has characterised our protests and inspired ordinary people to take action.
Examples of our activism include a protest outside the lap dancing industry awards ceremony in which placard-holding OBJECT activists descended upon the red carpet queue of men in suits, banging tambourines and chanting ‘Women, Not Sex Objects!’, then enacting and filming our own awards ceremony outside the venue. We awarded the lap dancing lobby for, amongst other things, ‘promoting sexist attitudes’, and ‘the biggest misuse of the word
gentlemen
’ in reference to ‘Gentlemen’s Clubs’!
OBJECT’s monthly
Feminist Fridays
involve targeting high street retailers, writing anti-sexist slogans on brown paper bags, and covering whole displays of lads’ mags with messages such as ‘love women, hate sexism’ and ‘FHM – For Horrible Misogyny’ (see Long, Thompson, this volume). The displays are followed by songs, sit-ins, and congas as we hand out leaflets and collect signatures.
Monthly activist meetings give opportunities for activists to brainstorm ideas and take ownership of campaigns whilst providing guidance to ensure that campaign messages remain consistent.
As well as organising protests and stunts, OBJECT develops diverse ways for people to get involved in campaigns. This includes devising ‘Lobby Your MP Weekends’, organising ‘National Days of Action’ to collect signatures, and producing template letters, consultation responses, toolkits and ‘Joint Statements of Support’ to facilitate individuals and NGOs to take action. Politicians and policy makers often refer to campaign actions they read about in the media, or to the number of letters they have received urging them to support our campaigns.
The power of persistent lobbying, campaigning and activism should never be underestimated!
• Use of the media
OBJECT press-releases our actions and regularly uses the media as a tool to spread awareness, garner support and help put issues on the political agenda. We have built a media contact list and made relationships with key journalists who support our work. However, when campaigning against the multi-billion pound sex industry the playing field is uneven in terms of access to media coverage. This makes utilising alternative media outlets such as online discussion groups, social networking sites, email newsletters and YouTube videos a crucial part of anti-porn activism.

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