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Tess Catalano posters and flyers, 1975-1994
"We Oppose Violent Pornography" - Back
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On July 4, 1986, 5 members of the Women's Freedom Front demonstrated against objectification and against pornography by simultaneously ripping up pornography and riding on a float without shirts. The action took place in Cedar Bluff, Iowa at a 4th of July parade viewed by 15,000 people. The messages in pornography are the antithesis of freedom for women. The act of ripping up pornography is symbolic retaliation against the male propaganda that women like to be objectified and injured and raped. The float on which the women rode confronted the paradox of a "free" society which permits women to be shirtless if they are hired by pornographers or advertisers who sell products by marketing women. Women who remove their shirts as they wish in a noncommercial context are actively stopping the male pornographic fantasy of man as dominator and woman as object. The visual image of women as proud Liberty goddesses stands in dramatic opposition to pornographic representations of women as "bunny," "tits," or "cunt." The real obscenity in our culture is marketing women as products. Signs on the float read: BREASTS BELONG TO WOMEN, NOT PIMPS COMBAT MAMMOPHOBIA DOES THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM MEAN CIVIL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN OR LICENSE FOR PORNOGRAPHERS? WE OPPOSE VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY -- WE FAVOR NUDITY AND SEXUALITY -- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. This action is one of a series of feminist direct actions against pornography by Citizens for Media Responsibility without Law and the Iowa Women's Freedom Front (more to come). Additional copies: 1.50 or 7 for 10.00 Order from: Melissa Farley, Women's Freedom Front, Paul-Helen Building, Iowa City, IA 52240 [handwritten] HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESS -JEAN 1986 Float designed by: Melissa Farley Photo by: Loup Langton
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On July 4, 1986, 5 members of the Women's Freedom Front demonstrated against objectification and against pornography by simultaneously ripping up pornography and riding on a float without shirts. The action took place in Cedar Bluff, Iowa at a 4th of July parade viewed by 15,000 people. The messages in pornography are the antithesis of freedom for women. The act of ripping up pornography is symbolic retaliation against the male propaganda that women like to be objectified and injured and raped. The float on which the women rode confronted the paradox of a "free" society which permits women to be shirtless if they are hired by pornographers or advertisers who sell products by marketing women. Women who remove their shirts as they wish in a noncommercial context are actively stopping the male pornographic fantasy of man as dominator and woman as object. The visual image of women as proud Liberty goddesses stands in dramatic opposition to pornographic representations of women as "bunny," "tits," or "cunt." The real obscenity in our culture is marketing women as products. Signs on the float read: BREASTS BELONG TO WOMEN, NOT PIMPS COMBAT MAMMOPHOBIA DOES THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM MEAN CIVIL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN OR LICENSE FOR PORNOGRAPHERS? WE OPPOSE VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY -- WE FAVOR NUDITY AND SEXUALITY -- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. This action is one of a series of feminist direct actions against pornography by Citizens for Media Responsibility without Law and the Iowa Women's Freedom Front (more to come). Additional copies: 1.50 or 7 for 10.00 Order from: Melissa Farley, Women's Freedom Front, Paul-Helen Building, Iowa City, IA 52240 [handwritten] HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESS -JEAN 1986 Float designed by: Melissa Farley Photo by: Loup Langton
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