Coalition Sees Plan as Threat to Free Speech : Feminists Resist Pornography Law

A coalition of local feminists asked Friday that the proposed Los Angeles County anti-pornography ordinance be scrapped because it violates the right of free speech and could be twisted into banning feminist and sex education books.

“Women do not need the illusionary solution of censorship,” said Betty Brooks, one of the founders of the Los Angeles Rape Crisis Hotline. “Women need real equality, real power.

“This plan treads on the dangerous ground of (deciding) what material is appropriate for people in a democratic society to view.”

The proposed ordinance, recommended to the Board of Supervisors by the county Commission for Women, is now under review by the county counsel and chief administrative officer, who are due to report to the board later this month. When first considered in February, the proposal won approval by Supervisors Kenneth Hahn and Michael Antonovich, but failed to muster the necessary third vote.

The ordinance would declare pornographic “the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women” in either pictures or words that, among other things, dehumanize women, present them as sexual objects, or present them in “postures of sexual submission, servility or display.”

Those who allege they were victimized by pornography or say that specific material is degrading to women as a group would be allowed under the ordinance to seek relief through a civil lawsuit.

In a press conference Friday at the Greater Los Angeles Press Club, Carol Downer of the Feminist Womens’ Health Center said the feminist representatives agree that pornography is degrading to women, but argued that the ordinance would cause more problems than it would solve.

Freedoms at Stake

“The strategy we use cannot abridge our freedoms,” added Sondra Hale, an anthropologist and former director of the Women’s Studies program at California State University, Long Beach.

Brooks also argued that conservatives who oppose feminist teachings could use the ordinance to declare feminist books pornographic. Specifically, they said, they fear that books showing graphic pictures of genitalia or sexual practices--used to educate women about their bodies--could be affected.

She and Hale noted that protests led by conservative groups--who objected to the graphic nature of teaching materials--led to the 1983 purge of teachers and classes in the Long Beach women’s studies program.

“We are concerned that this ordinance can and will be used by the right wing and Moral Majority to selectively oppress lesbian and gay publications and activities,” said Suzann Gage, representing a feminist support group called Women on the Sexual Fringe.

Defending the proposed ordinance were Gloria Allred, its co-author, and Stella Ohanesian, president of the women’s commission that supported it.

“Feminists need to care about equality as much as they care about free speech,” Allred said. “At first, I felt that way as well. Now I feel comfortable that this is a fair and just reconciliation of all of our goals.”

Ohanesian said the ordinance will have no effect on feminist books or other explicit teaching devices.

“That is not at all what this ordinance is all about,” she said. “It is against violence against women. Pornography must be regulated. We hope that it will work.”