Feminist Law Professor and Anti-Pornography Activist Catharine MacKinnon on “Lovelace” Film – Harvard University Press Blog

Here is an insightful interview on the new film Lovelace (@LovelaceMovie), by anti-porn law professor Catharine MacKinnon! MacKinnon was Linda’s attorney, still manages her estate today, and was involved with the making of the film, which she recommends.

By the way if anyone has seen “Lovelace”, please let us know what you thought. Thanks!

P.S. The film “Lovelace” is available to be seen in select theaters, Video On Demand on cable, and via iTunes, Amazon.com, and other online outlets. Full list of theaters and other options at links below:

https://www.facebook.com/LovelaceMovie?sk=app_208195102528120&ref=woobox

http://gowatchit.com/movies/lovelace-266713

From Harvard University Press:

CATHARINE MACKINNON ON LOVELACE:

The pornographic film Deep Throat, released in 1972, was a cultural sensation whose star, “Linda Lovelace,” was said to put a girl-next-door face on the sexual revolution. But the actual life of Linda Boreman, as depicted in the new biopic Lovelace, was one of beatings, rape, and terror. Feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon, author of such works as Toward a Feminist Theory of the State and Only Words, represented Boreman after she came forward with her story, and later, with Andrea Dworkin, pursued civil rights litigation as a means to fight pornography. We asked MacKinnon about Boreman, Lovelace, and the potential impact of the film.

—–

Q. You’ve noted that prior to the 1980 publication of Linda Lovelace’s Ordeal, you had no view of pornography one way or the other. For those unfamiliar with her story, who was Linda Lovelace?

“Linda Lovelace” was the fictional name of Linda Boreman, later Linda Marchiano, who was forced into captivity and made to perform fellatio and other sex acts by pimps, including organized crime, so that pornography, notably the notorious film Deep Throat, could be made of her. The film was instrumental in establishing pornography as culturally legitimate in the 1970s. After her escape, Linda’s valiant opposition to the sex industry included chronicling her abuse in Ordeal and extensive public testimony. Her revelations enabled a change in the way pornography was debated legally and socially, shifting the focus from morality to harm.

Q. This film comes decades after the landmark pornography civil rights hearings at which Marchiano testified, as documented in In Harm’s Way. Can you remind us what was at stake in those hearings?

The anti-pornography civil rights hearings collected in In Harm’s Way created a space for people victimized by pornography to speak about what had been done to them in its making or through its use. Up to that point, the legal argument over pornography had essentially only considered the freedom of speech issues.

The hearings documented the inequality that is foundational to the industry: that the “speech” of the pornographers is the use and abuse of the bodies of mainly women, who were far from free and were not speaking for themselves. The consequences of the distribution and use of the materials was shown to be equally silencing and endangering to legions of women and children who are abused by its consumers. Thus the #sexualexploitation of women and children in making pornography is mass-produced through its consumers to become violation of other women and children.

The civil rights ordinances the hearings debated were passed several times, then found to violate the First Amendment on the theory that the more harm the materials do, the more protected as speech they are–an incorrect, indeed reversed, view of First Amendment law. The ordinances could still be passed and found constitutional today.

Q. What was your involvement with the Lovelace film?

I represented Linda from 1980 until her death, was her friend, and continue to represent her Estate and her children. Lovelace is based in part on our life story rights. It shows Linda as human and credible, as she was not seen as being in life. All she ever wanted was to be believed and respected, to have people face what really happened and take steps to stop it. We see this film as a major step forward in that process. Apparently, when you make fact into fiction, people begin to believe it is true.

We participated in the making of the picture, are proud of it and the people who made it, and feel strongly that Linda would be proud of it.

READ THE REST AT THE LINK BELOW: (And please don’t forget to like, comment and share to spread the word and support the cause. Thanks! )

http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2013/08/catharine-mackinnon-on-lovelace.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please support the cause by following us here at this blog, liking us at Facebook, subscribing to our YouTube channels, and following our Twitter accounts. Thanks! ~~

FACEBOOK: AntiPornography.org – Nonreligious, Pro Free Speech, Pro Healthy Sex & Love ~~ http://www.facebook.com/ENDSexploitation ~~

YOUTUBE CHANNELS: AntiPornographyBlog ~~ AntiPornographyOrg ~~ SayNOtoProstitution ~~ ENDSexTrafficDEMAND ~~ PornAddictionHelp ~~ SayNOtoSadomasochism ~~

TWITTER ACCOUNTS: @AntiPornography ~~ @ENDSexTraffic ~~ @ENDProstitution ~~ @NoSadomasochism ~~ @PornAddictHelp1 ~~ @HealthySexNLove ~~

Post created by AntiPornography.org Nonprofit Organization ~ Preventing and combating the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual slavery, while supporting safe, healthy, equality-based sex, love, and relationships ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: To comment on this post please do not click on the "Add a comment" link above. Instead, if you're viewing this post on the main blog page, please click on the "# comments" link further down and to the right, next to the time of this post. Or, if you're viewing this post on its own page, please click on "Post a comment" below the tags of this post. Also, apologies for if there are any unclickable URLs in this post. They will be fixed as time allows. In the meantime, please feel free to just copy any unformatted link and then past it into a browser address bar and then hit ENTER, in order to get to the desired page. Thanks!

NOTE: There is no more of this post at the "Read more" link below. (If anyone knows how we can make sure that that link doesn't show up in any future posts, please let us know. Thanks!) Sorry about any confusion or inconvenience, and thank you for your patience and understanding while we work on resolving this technical issue and any others at this blog that need addressing.