Women Uniting For War on Porn

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | Sunday, October 14, 2001 | Mark Eddington

[TexRef]

    At the same time President Bush talked about terror in a nationally televised speech Sept. 20, concerned women met in Provo to discuss what they see as another grave threat to America.
    Smut.
    Members of Women For Decency, a group founded nine months ago, huddled with Utah porn czar Paula Houston at Provo's library to draw up battle plans in their fight against porn.
    If anyone thinks taking on saucy magazines and movies and suggestive lingerie ads in magazines should take a back seat to tackling terrorists, members of the fledgling organization cropping up across Utah suggest otherwise.
    "The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny," says Women For Decency Director Janalyn Holt. "Pornography destroys families. It's not a one-time shot like an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. But little by little, blow by blow, it can be just as destructive. We are getting bombarded on all sides."
    As talk turns to tactics in the group's war on porn, Holt sounds positively Bushlike in describing the conflict.
    "This is going to be a long road," says Holt, steeling her "worker bees" for the struggle. "There won't be any quick results because we have waited too long to put our foot down. We are in this for the long haul and will fight this as long as we need to."
    While U.S. bombs rain on Afghanistan, this 400-member cadre of women is besieging targets with e-mail, letters and phone calls.
    But they are polite about it.
    "We don't want to come across as a screaming bunch of citizens; we want to persuade people to uphold community standards," says Lisa Pettys, chairwoman of Women For Decency's Utah County chapter.
    The group is an agreeable bunch, Houston says.
    "They are very professional, very polite and pleasant to talk to," says Utah's official obscenity and pornography ombudswoman.
    John Garfield agrees. The general manager of the Provo Marriott received a letter from one of the porn fighters asking the hotel to stop carrying pay-for-view adult movies -- something it did about two years ago.
    Hampton Inn and LaQuinta Inn also are under scrutiny by the group. So is Better Homes & Gardens magazine, which ran a Spiegel ad of a woman leaning up against a naked man. The anti-porn group also is taking part in a nationwide campaign to cover up covers of Cosmopolitan, In Style and similar magazines displayed at supermarket checkout counters.
    Moreover, group members are hyperalert about racy posters in lingerie stores such as Frederick's of Hollywood and Victoria's Secret. Adult videos carried by the Sam Goody chain are in their crosshairs as well. The women -- men need not apply -- also are joining Illinois Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood's drive to get Abercrombie & Fitch to clean up its quarterly catalog. A&F Quarterly is sold over the counter in most states and by subscription in Utah.
    "When a 200-page magazine has 125 pages of sexual photos and full nudity, you know they have another agenda," Holt says.
    Company spokesman Hampton Carney counters that customers have to show photo ID to prove they are old enough -- at least 18 -- to buy or subscribe. Fun, frolicking, smart, hip, humorous and wholesome are adjectives he uses to describe the magazine marketed to the college crowd.
    "These are beautiful images shot by Bruce Weber, world famous photographer who shoots for Vanity Fair," Carney says of the pictures that show all but the pelvic region. "There is nothing pornographic about them."
    Nonetheless, the spring issue contained an interview with porn star Ron Jeremy and the company was castigated by the Michigan attorney general's office in 1999 after allegedly selling a copy to a 10-year-old. That is why the company now cards customers.
    While putting pressure on magazines, supermarkets, stores and Web sites is an important part of Women For Decency's mission, it is not the only one.
    Members also want to teach politicians and the public about porn's perceived evils and help its victims and addicts. Chapters meet monthly. Each is developing phone and e-mail trees so members can mobilize quickly. Unlike the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, Women For Decency has no plans to lean on legislators or others who do not heed their goals.
    Unless they break the law.
    "Just because we are a nice organization doesn't mean we won't play hardball," Holt vows. "We will be a force to be reckoned with."
    Ted Wilson, director of the University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics, says such groups succeed because of many Utahns' inflated views of themselves and their standards.
    "It's not that we are any more moral than any other place in the country, but we think we are," Wilson says.
    His advice to Women For Decency: Stick to persuasion and shun legal wrangles. He says the U.S. Supreme Court interprets the First Amendment broadly, and that groups get into trouble when they try to get a judge to enforce their views of morality.
    Holt says her group does not want to force anyone to do anything. But, she says, the Constitution does not protect obscenity and pornography.
    "It's not an issue of First Amendment rights; it's about right and wrong and what is appropriate."

[TexRef]

Was there any doubt that the porn czar was going to be a seriously ugly woman?

[hawaiian]

Hey, that's my wife!

[KeepTheEdge]

'Gad, She has Mans hands! from Seinfeld, remember?

[Azrael]

What if you get Playboy just for the articles? I never look at the pictures! Well I might have peeked once or twice, but...thats it.

[Henry F. Bowman]

"Pornography destroys families. It's not a one-time shot like an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. But little by little, blow by blow..."

Hmmmm...

[freeeee]

Holt says her group does not want to force anyone to do anything

BOLD FACED LIES

[Smedley]

The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny

Yep -- I'm in terror that my wife will find my smut!

[Righter-than-Rush]

I see a large woman jealous of the petites...

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

Was there any doubt that the porn czar was going to be a seriously ugly woman?

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind. She would fit right in with NOW.

"The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny," says Women For Decency Director Janalyn Holt.

This comparison is ridiculous. The lifestyle police are on the move again.

[Don Myers]

bttt

[danielobvt]

The only way they will get my porn is if they tear it from my cold, cramped hands! ;)

[Senator Pardek]

"The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny," says Women For Decency Director Janalyn Holt.

Completely uncalled for - they're still digging for bodies at the WTC. "Pornographic Terror" sounds like one of those terms the Left uses, along with "Environmental Racism", and "Economic Violence".

[Jarhead_22]

Thank God we have people like this noble woman willing to take the bold step of telling us what is and is not good for us.

"When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives."
--R. A. Heinlein

Semper Fidelis

[Hacksaw]

BOLD FACED LIES

Pornography, as we all know, is the keystone of the 1st Amendment.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Maybe she is bitter because she didn't make the " Utah Porn Czar All Nude Review".

[dead]

The parallels between [smut and terror] are uncanny," says Women For Decency Director Janalyn Holt.

Yeah, both words are comprised of letters. That’s about it.

Now shut up and show us your t##$!

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

ping

[Cogadh na Sith]

I noticed that too...

She's picked some unfortunate choices of words.

"Just because we are a nice organization doesn't mean we won't play hardball," Holt vows.

Hmmm: Hot Hardballin' Action...

I'm thinkin' that I see her problem....

Can't we just get a volunteer to give this dog a bone and end her crusade once and for all.

[b4its2late]

I see a large woman jealous of the petites...

I see a large woman that I hope will never be seen in petites.....