Defending Pornography, Nadine Strossen
Defending Pornography, Nadine Strossen
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Defending Pornography
Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights

Author: Nadine Strossen

Narrator: Nadine Strossen

Unabridged: 17 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/16/2024


Synopsis

A new edition of a groundbreaking, feminist defense of pornography as free speech

Named a Notable Book by the New York Times Book Review in 1995, Defending Pornography examines a key question that has divided feminists for decades: is censoring pornography good or bad for women? Nadine Strossen makes a powerful case that increasing government power to censor sexual expression, beyond the limits that the First Amendment sensibly permits (for example, outlawing child pornography) would do more harm than good for women and others who have traditionally been marginalized due to sex or gender. She explains how the very anti-porn laws pushed by some feminists have led to the censorship of LGBTQ+ and feminist works, and she examines the startling connections between anti-porn feminists and right-wing fundamentalists. In an illuminating new preface, Strossen lays out the multiple current assaults on sexual expression, which continue to come from across the ideological spectrum. She shows that freedom for such expression remains an essential prerequisite for the equality, safety, and dignity of women and sexual/gender minorities.

About Nadine Strossen

Nadine Strossen is a New York Law School professor emerita, past national president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), a senior fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), and a frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. Her books include HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship and Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know®.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on March 21, 2020

As someone who regularly defends sex work and sex workers, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately it was quite a disappointment. I have actually read some Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin (the book's chief foils) and I found Strossen's treatment unfairly dismissive of these serious thin......more

Goodreads review by Betsy on April 18, 2011

"The cure for every excess of freedom of speech is more freedom of speech." Molly Ivins, quoted in Defending Pornography.......more

Goodreads review by David on July 27, 2024

The author does her best to make the case for why society should neither ban nor censor pornography. She shows the inconsistent implications of her pro-censorship opponents and also engages the common idea of pornography as inherently abusive to women. She shows that the reasons given for banning po......more

Goodreads review by Megan on March 31, 2019

Starting this book I came in with no specific viewpoint on pornography and how that fit into the feminist agenda. With that said, my mind was quickly awakened to the rhetoric on both sides on how pornography relates to women's rights, violence, and views on women. I think Nadine Strossen does a grea......more

Goodreads review by Galatea on December 21, 2022

Full disclosure, there is a clear vested interest in me singing the praises of this book. I am a pornographer. I make art and stories that involve sex, sexuality, and intimacy. While I do not think it is anything to be ashamed of, it is clear that there any many who would disagree. That being said, t......more