Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry (45 page)
Author Biographical Notes
Asja Armanda
is an ethnologist and philosopher. She is co-founder of the
Kareta Feminist Group
, the first feminist group in Croatia. She broke the story of the sexual atrocity dimension of genocide as a feminist issue. With Natalie Nenadic, she initiated the
Kadic v. Karadzic
case in New York against the head of the Bosnian Serbs which pioneered the claim for sexual atrocities as acts of genocide under international law.
Dr
Abigail Bray
is a Research Fellow at the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University. She has published widely in leading international academic journals on anorexia, child sexual abuse, moral panics, and child pornography. She is the author of
Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference
(2004) and
Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls
with Elizabeth Reid Boyd (2005). She was an inaugural inductee into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Her forthcoming book
Misogyny Re-Loaded
will be published by Spinifex. She is a member of Socialist Alliance and the Marxist collective Das Argument.
Caroline
is a health educator in Scotland who requested anonymity.
Gail Dines
is a Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Wheelock College in Boston. A long time radical feminist activist, Dines is a founding member of Stop Porn Culture. Her latest book is
Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality
(2010).
At non-profit Prostitution Research & Education in San Francisco, Dr
Melissa Farley
addresses the connections between prostitution, racism, sexism and poverty. The PRE Website is a widely used resource <
www.prostitutionresearch.com
>. PRE is affiliated with the Center for World Indigenous Studies and Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. Melissa Farley has written 25 peer-reviewed articles on prostitution and trafficking, and 2 books,
Prostitution, Trafficking & Traumatic Stress
(2004) and
Legal Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections
(2007).
Nina Funnell
is a sexual ethics researcher and opinion writer who has written extensively on issues connected with violence against women. Nina also works as a victim’s rights advocate and was awarded the Australian Human Rights Commission Community (Individual) Award in 2010 for this work. Nina is currently completing her first book on sexting and sexual ethics education.
Ruchira Gupta
was inspired to found Apne Aap (<
http://www.apneaap.org/
>) after working with courageous young women in the brothels of Mumbai, and make her award-winning documentary,
The Selling of Innocents
. Well known for highlighting the link between trafficking and prostitution, Ruchira brought groups of survivors to speak before the UN General Assembly in 2008 and 2009. She has been honoured with the Clinton Global Citizen Award in 2009, the UK House of Lords’ Abolitionist Award in 2007, an Emmy in 1995, and was featured in Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s 2009
New York Times
bestseller,
Half the Sky
.
Writer and social researcher
Maggie Hamilton
gives frequent talks and lectures, is a regular media commentator and a keen observer of social trends. Her many books include
What Men Don’t Talk About
, as well as
What’s Happening to Our Girls?
and
What’s Happening to Our Boys?
which look at the 21st century challenges that our boys and girls are facing.
Dr
Susan Hawthorne
has been involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement for around 40 years and writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She is Adjunct Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at James Cook University, Townsville. She received her PhD in Political Science and Women’s Studies at the University of Melbourne and is the author of numerous books including
Wild Politics
(2002) and
Cow
(2011).
Professor
Sheila Jeffreys
is a lesbian feminist who has been an activist against violence against women and the sex industry since the early 1970s in London. She is a founding member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia. Dr Jeffreys teaches sexual politics and international feminist politics at the University of Melbourne.
The Idea of Prostitution
(1997/2008) is one of her 7 books on the history and politics of sexuality, with
The Industrial Vagina: The political economy of the global sex trade
the most recent (2009). Her next books are
Man’s Dominion: The rise of religion and the eclipse of women’s rights
and a new edition of
Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution
(both 2011).
Robert Jensen
is a Journalism Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is the author of
All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice
(Soft Skull Press, 2009);
Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
(South End Press, 2007),
The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege
(City Lights, 2005);
Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity
(City Lights, 2004); and
Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream
(Peter Lang, 2002).
Originally from Canada,
Christopher N. Kendall
now practices as a Barrister at John Toohey Chambers in Perth, Western Australia. Formerly he was the Dean of Law at Murdoch University. Chris has published and lectured throughout North America and Australia on the harms of gay male pornography, sexual violence and gay male domestic abuse. In 2004, he published
Gay Male Pornography: An Issue of Sex Discrimination
(University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver).
Dr
Renate Klein
is a long-term women’s health researcher and has written extensively on reproductive technologies and feminist theory. A biologist and social scientist, she was Associate Professor in Women’s Studies at Deakin University in Melbourne until 2006 and a founder of FINRRAGE (Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering). She wrote on the dangers of premature medicalisation of girls in Melinda Tankard Reist’s
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(2009).
Melinda Liszewski
is a co-founder of Collective Shout and manages its Websites and campaigns.
Dr
Julia Long
is a radical feminist activist and campaigner, particularly involved with the London Feminist Network and OBJECT. She recently completed her PhD on the re-emergence of feminist anti-porn activism at London South Bank University. Julia is a firm advocate of women-only organising, and prefers marching and chanting to emails and online activism! Her professional background is in education, the voluntary sector and gender equality policy. Julia’s book on the resurgence of anti-porn feminism will be published by Zed Books in 2012.
Catharine A. MacKinnon,
who worked closely with Andrea Dworkin until her death in 2005, including in originating the human rights approach to pornography, is Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, The James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law (long term) at Harvard Law School, and Special Gender Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (The Hague).
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
is the author of 26 books, among them:
The Assault on Truth; A Dark Science: Women, Sexuality and Psychiatry in the 19th Century; Final Analysis; Against Therapy; When Elephants Weep; The Pig Who Sang to the Moon; The Face on Your Plate;
and
The Dog Who Couldn’t Stop Loving
. He lives on a beach in Auckland with his golden lab Benjy, 3 cats, 2 sons, Manu and Ilan, and his wife Leila, a pediatrician.
Anne Mayne
is a long-time activist against violence against women. She was the co-founder of Cape Town Feminists (1973) and Rape Crisis Cape Town (1976). Anne is the current vice-chairperson of Embrace Dignity, an organisation that campaigns against trafficking in women and girls.
Matt McCormack Evans
was born in 1988 and is a feminist campaigner and activist. He is the co-founder and Project Coordinator of The Anti Porn Men Project. He has also worked for OBJECT, a leading human rights organisation that challenges the sexual objectification of women, and volunteered for UK Feminista, a new feminist activist organisation. He is currently in postgraduate education studying Philosophy at Durham University in the UK.
Dr
Betty McLellan
is a feminist ethicist, author, psychotherapist and committed activist of long standing. She is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Community Welfare and the Centre for Women’s Studies at James Cook University, Townsville, and the author of
Overcoming Anxiety
(1991),
Beyond Psychoppression
(1995),
Help! I’m Living with a (Man) Boy
(1999, 2006) and
Unspeakable: A feminist ethic of speech
(2010).
Hiroshi Nakasatomi
is a co-founding member of the Anti-Pornography and Prostitution Research Group. He is an Associate Professor of Law at Fukushima University in Japan where he teaches constitutional law, law and gender and peace studies. He has published
Pornography and Sex Violence: In Search of New Approaches to Legal Regulation
(Akashi Shoten, 2007) and co-authored
Evidences: Sex Violence and Harms of Pornography Today
(ShakaifukushiKyougikai, 2010).
Natalie Nenadic
is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky, USA. She teaches in the history of philosophy (especially Arendt, Heidegger, and Hegel), ethics, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of law, especially international justice. She has lectured widely on these topics in North America, Europe, and Australasia. With Asja Armanda, she initiated the
Kadic v Karadzic
case in New York against the head of the Bosnian Serbs which pioneered the claim for sexual atrocities as acts of genocide under international law.
Dr
Caroline Norma
is a Lecturer in the School of Global Studies, Social Science, and Planning at RMIT University, and a member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA).
Dr
Helen Pringle
is in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales. Her research has been widely recognised by awards from Princeton University, the Fulbright Foundation, the Australian Federation of University Women, and the Universities of Adelaide, Wollongong and NSW. Her main fields of expertise are human rights, ethics in public life, and political theory.
Diane L. Rosenfeld
is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School in Cambridge where she teaches courses on Title IX; Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice; and Theories of Sexual Coercion. She holds a J.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. Diane Rosenfeld served as the Senior Counsel to the Violence Against Women Office at the U.S. Department of Justice before teaching at Harvard.
Diana E.H. Russell,
Professor Emerita of Sociology at Mills College, is the author/co-author, editor/co-editor of 17 books, 3 of which are on pornography:
Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography
(1993),
Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm
(1994), and
Dangerous Relationships: Pornography, Misogyny, and Rape
(1998). Dr Russell has also engaged in numerous actions against pornography since 1976 when she helped found the San Francisco-based organization, Women Against Violence in Pornography & Media (WAVPM).
Dr
Robi Sonderegger
is an internationally renowned clinical psychologist and expert consultant in trauma associated with sexual exploitation, human trafficking, war and natural disaster (with tens of thousands of refugees having graduated from his programs). He is also the Chief Executive of Family Challenge Australia, a nationally registered mental health charity that provides specialist psychology services in Australia and throughout the world.
Stella
grew up in rural Victoria before living for some time in America. She worked in offices and restaurants while studying naturopathy before becoming a stripper. After exiting the sex industry she completed a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University. She now lives with her partner of 10 years and their 3 daughters in the country. She hopes that by sharing her experience as a stripper, the unglamorous truth of the damage it does to women’s lives may be better understood.
Dr
Chyng Sun
is a Clinical Associate Professor of Media Studies at McGhee Division at School of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University. In addition to various academic research on pornography, she is also the director for the documentary film
The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality, and Relationships
(2008), <
http://www.thepriceofpleasure.com
>.
Melinda Tankard Reist
is a writer, speaker, blogger, media commentator and activist against violence against women, objectification of women and sexualisation of girls. Melinda is author/editor of 4 books including
Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
(Spinifex Press, 2006) and
Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls
(Spinifex Press, 2009). Melinda’s opinion pieces appear frequently in Australian media and she is a regular on morning television and current affairs programs. She is a co-founder of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. Melinda is named in the
Who’s Who of Australian Women
and the
World Who’s Who of Women
. Her Website is <
melindatankardreist.com
>.
Professor
S. Caroline Taylor
is Foundation Chair in Social Justice at Edith Cowan University, Australia. She is Founder and Chair of Children of Phoenix Inc., a charity that assists survivors of childhood abuse to rebuild their lives through education and mentoring. Dr Taylor is an academic, researcher, social commentator, advocate and provides specialist evidence in child abuse cases, and passionately supports the rights of children to live free from all forms of violence, discrimination and disadvantage.