“On Saturday, February 4, 2006, I attended the “Sex for Sale” symposium sponsored by the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism. It was a well-run and intellectually rich conference, organized around two panels. I’ll give an incomplete account of some the presenters’ main points, and interested blog readers might want to look for the webcast, which should be posted to the conference website shortly.
“The morning panel on prostitution was moderated by Yale Law Professor Vicki Schultz. Norma Hotaling, the founder of Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) spoke about the importance of recovering the stories of those who have been victimized by the sex trade. Her program provides mental health, alcohol treatment and other programs for men and women trying to escape the sex trade. Melissa Farley of Prostitution Education and Research delivered a talk entitled, “Feminism and Cultural Amnesia,” criticizing the view that prostitution is a “job.” She points to the violent nature of prostitution, the emotional damage done to prostituted women and the ways that racism and class prejudice are institutionalized in prostitution. Kathleen Bergin of South Texas College of Law presented her research project, “Sexualized Advocacy: The Ascendant Feminist Backlash,” which examines the pitfalls (and perceived advantages) of sexualized appearance of female attorneys. Ann McGinley of the William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV, gave an update on her research on women in the casino industry. She suggests that failure to protect women from sexual harassment and violence in their jobs as blackjack dealers, cocktail waitresses, exotic dancers and prostitutes effectively denies women the opportunity to participate in these jobs. Rhacel Parrenas of the University of California at Davis detailed her research on Filipina migrant hostesses in Tokyo and questioned the extent to which United States policies fail to fully account for the way these women are trafficked because of the conditions of their employment. Before taking questions from the audience, Vicki Schultz asked panelists to consider whether feminists are critical of sex work because of the sale of sex itself, or because of the many surrounding conditions in which sex is
sold.
“The afternoon panel on pornography was moderated by Yale Law Professor William Eskridge, Jr.. I started off with a discussion of third wave feminism and its potential contribution to the feminist conversation about pornography. Gail Dines of Wheelock College described her research on the way that the black male body is
fetishized in pornography. Michael Lucas talked about how gay pornography differs from heterosexual pornography and articulated his view that gay pornography has many positive aspects. Donn Short from Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto described why he believes that the traditional feminist harms-based analysis should not be applied to gay pornography. Celine Parrenas Shimizu from the University of California at Santa Barbara spoke of specific Asian women’s experiences using self-produced pornography as a way of challenging and complicating the hypersexualized image of Asian women. Tristan Taormino explained how government regulations place a burden on independent and feminist pornographers who make collaborative films that seek to empower women and men. Bill Eskridge asked panelists about the intersection between pornography and social attitudes before taking questions from the audience.
“After both panels, there were break-out sessions on topics such as the connection between pornography and prostitution, methods of sex research and academic theorizing and the effects of pornography. The keynote address was delivered by Viviana Zelizer of Princeton University. It was a great conference!”
