Editrix Abby |
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Feminists for Free ExpressionI'm not much for committees. You know, meetings and "The floor recognizes," etc. Which makes it somewhat problematic when it comes to my being a Board Member. It isn't the board of Chase Manhattan Bank or anything; I'm on the Board of a feminist anti-censorship group. I'm still not sure why I was asked to be on the board. I can't offer any legal expertise and most of what the group does is sign on to "amicus briefs"--whatever the hell they are. What I have to offer are my party planning skills, and they came in handy for our last fundraiser. Of course, we debated and "recognized the floor" as to how much we should charge for our fundraiser and finally agreed on $20, an amount most people spend on a cover charge and one cheap beer. Therefore we didn't make a dime. At least not until the star speaker's media mogul husband kicked in a few grand. And then we'd made that few grand. Why, I wondered, didn't we just ask him for the cash and skip the party altogether? But then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to make myself [appear] useful.With my experiences on The Board, it doesn't surprise me that nothing gets done in Washington--or anywhere else more than three or four people get together to try and make decisions. We've been "deciding" for almost a year now whether the group needs to go on. There are plenty of better funded anti-censorship associations in America, many of which enjoy a much higher profile than we do. "But we're the only group addressing censorship concerns from a woman's point of view," we lament. We don't agree that the government--or any other entity--should censor "to protect women." We don't, and I personally don't, believe that women need any protecting from anything--including pornography. But often other women seem to disagree with us. There are plenty of women who'd like to see porno censored completely, claiming it inspires violence against women. This has never been substantiated and I can honestly say that my experience with the true porno hounds of the world has been quite pleasant. Most of them are shy and essentially harmless. But women's groups tend to demonize any consumer of adult materials, which, being the creator of an adult publication, in turn demonizes me. And that brings me back to my little anticensorship group. Even though I'm not totally sure exactly what it is we do, especially when we aren't throwing a fundraiser, I feel it's necessary to be a part of something that will stand up to those who would silence me and my comparatively inconsequential smut magazine. And for as often as we may be paralyzed with indecision, at least we're a manageably sized group. I get to have my say, even if I do have to be recognized by the floor. Or whatever. If I were to join the ACLU, which I think I may have without even knowing it, I wouldn't get to feel like such a part of the process. I wouldn't be able to plan the fundraisers. And I probably wouldn't ever be recognized by their floor, as I'm sure it's way too big. So I soldier on, insisting that even if we don't accomplish much, and even if the larger associations are doing our jobs for us, and even if Larry Flynt has a bigger budget to cope with the anti-porn crazies, that we should stick together. The day may come when I need defending, and it would be comforting to have a revved up team so close at hand. Someday perhaps no one will pay attention to what other people read, watch and enjoy. Until then, I have my committee. Imperfect as we may be. For more info on FFE: www.ffeusa.org [Written in the late '90s...I think!] |
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