Censored 2014 by Mickey Huff

clear: the police were with Ms. Sullivan from the very first time she or anyone else from CLPP approached us.
    This outrageous act of political suppression is a dangerous escalation in an overall growing trend toward a pro-porn, pro-”sex work” hegemony within academia as well as large sections of the so-called “women’s movement.” Not only is there an increasing embrace of pornography and the sex industry, but critiques focusing on the violence and degradation, the dehumanization and commodification of women’s bodies and destruction of millions upon millions of real women’s and young girls’ lives through these industries is being shut down as “beyond the pale”—and in this case, even criminal.
    Reversing this growing political suppression is essential. It is always wrong to call in agents of the highly oppressive and reactionary state to suppress the political views of fighters for liberation. It is also critical to women everywhere that the debate over, and opposition to, the truly monstrous crimes against women in the global sex industry deepen and spread.
    What Exactly Happened at Our Table that Merited the Police?
    A group of vociferous pro-porn people approached our table to argue in favor of porn and the sex industry, citing their personal experiences with the “sex industry,” with sexual violence, and with bondage, domination, and sadomasochism (BDSM). As we are not in favor of intruding into people’s consensual sexual behavior, we argued the larger point: sexuality is not formed for anyone in a vacuum. In a world that is saturated with violence against women, a world that sexualizes degradation and humiliation, it is not surprising that those ideas get reflected in people’s genuinely felt sexual desires, including by victims of sexual violence.
    But, the “right” to market yourself as a sexual commodity has no meaning outside of a world that gives rise to the idea of women’s bodies as commodities, as things to be used, tortured, degraded, and hurt for the sexual pleasure of men. And in that kind of world, thisreal world is littered with the bodies of millions of women and very young girls who have been kidnapped, pimped, beaten, tortured, sold by starving families, drugged and tricked, and repeatedly raped and sold and then discarded as nothing more than unthinking flesh.
    While this debate was passionate, we were calm, substantive and principled. We repeatedly refocused things on the need to look at all these phenomena from the vantage of the liberation of women, not from one’s own narrow experience, and on the possibility and necessity of opening up space for truly liberating personal and sexual relations, based on equality, mutual respect, and a shared desire. We also drew attention to our call to action, which explicitly states that we are not seeking to enact laws to ban pornography, and that we oppose the criminalization of women in the sex industry; rather, we are challenging individuals to reject this culture of degradation and commodification of women.
    For this the police were called, and we were escorted off campus grounds under threat of arrest.
    A Little Background
    Stop Patriarchy attended the CLPP conference due to our opposition to the war on women, especially as a result of the extreme escalation of attacks on abortion rights across the country. Today, abortion is more difficult to access, more stigmatized, and more dangerous to provide than at any time since Roe v. Wade.
    StopPatriarchy.org sees this as the “mirror opposite” of the increasingly degrading, cruel, brutal, humiliating, and mainstream nature of pornography, and was eager to get into all this with conference participants. Within this, some members were bringing the view of all-the-way revolution and communism as it has been reenvisioned by Bob Avakian. 17
    It came as no surprise that people had strong reactions—positive and