Text of the NOW Resolution Proposed July 2005
The NOW Board will vote on this Resolution in September 2005
PORNOGRAPHY OUTREACH AND AWARENESS
WHEREAS, pornography has been found to be a clear demand factor for prostitution and sex trafficking; that women in sex trafficking and prostitution are often used for pornography and vise versa; and WHEREAS, with the advent of the Internet and digital technology the volume of pornography has exploded exponentially; and
WHEREAS, pornography has become increasingly misogynistic, cruel, and violent; and
WHEREAS, pornographers have become increasingly aggressive in marketing pornography and in making their material accessible to children and adolescents; and
WHEREAS, pornography has become increasingly mainstreamed in the United States, resulting in a growing desensitization of viewers and the increasing normalization and public acceptance of pornography in our culture, including youth and pop cultures;
WHEREAS, pornography has become increasingly mainstreamed in the united states, resulting in the growing desensitization of viewers, and the increasing normalization and public acceptance of pornography in our culture, including in youth and pop cultures; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NOW reaffirm the following antipornography resolution that was endorsed by the NOW conference of 1984:
RESOLVED that NOW finds that pornography is a factor in creating and maintaining sex as a basis for discrimination. Pornography, as distinct from erotica, is a systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex, which differently harms women and children. This harm includes dehumanization, sexual exploitation, forced sex, forced prostitution, physical injury, and social and sexual terrorism and inferiority presented as entertainment and that pornography violates the civil rights of women; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW supports education and action by the chapters on this issue; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW will make clear its public stand against pornography on its website, and in all other public media; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW carry out all previous actions it has recommended against pornography, including education, legal remedies, and actions against corporations; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the National NOW Action Center create a concept paper on pornography to be made public on the NOW website and shared with all NOW chapters and members, advising them to include anti-pornography actions in the feminist work they do.
This document was authored by Stacey Cleveland and proposed as a resolution for consideration at the July 1-3 National Organization for Women Conference in Nashville, TN.
