7 NOTES & BOLTS
11 SEX RATED
15 LETTERS
17 FANTASY TAPE
20 INTERVIEW; William Shatner
From Canada to the outer universe by Allan Jaffe
23 MARTINE
A Slow Burner
Pictorial
31 SHAMELESS TALES
Stop Thirty-five
40 EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT STRIPTEASE IN TORONTO BUT
DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO ASK
43 THE GREAT CANADIAN BEAVER HUNT
A visit to the bedrooms of the nation
48 NIKKI
Pictorial
Delightful & Desirable
56 OLD JADE
An Erotic Flight into Fantasy
Fiction by Jacob Reis
59 CHERYL'S STUFFED TOY
Pictorial
63 HOUSEWIFE HOOKERS
71 CAT
She Purrs — And Scratches
Pictorial
91 LOVE AT FIRST BITE
Pictorial
PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT
Under Attack
Censor boards are crumbling, the bluenoses are in retreat;
independent-minded adults everywhere are throwing their hats in the air
and cheering. And we're under attack ... again.
This time it's feminists, but before I get into this, I want to digress
for a moment and (as a famous crook once said) make one thing perfectly
clear. I'm going to take a shot at the feminist anti-pornography
stance. This does not mean I am attacking all feminists, or feminism
itself. Feminism is not like Republicanism or the Liberal Party of
Canada. There's no central committee laying down policy for everyone
who calls herself a feminist.
So, get it straight. I'm not talking about "feminism".
Okay, digression's over, on to the meat.
I've heard the feminist argument against pornography in private
conversations and public speeches; I've seen it in newspapers, books
and magazines and it goes something like this: The vast majority of
pornography deals with the beating, degradation and subjugation of
women, with making them slaves to the whims of male taskmasters. This
means that porn is political: its real subject is not sex, but power.
It means that men and the male culture have a deep hatred of women and
porn reflects and encourages that hatred. Therefore, men who read and
enjoy the stuff secretly want to act out sadistic fantasies on real
women. Therefore, pornography should be banned, censored. Women should
shame men into giving it up and governments should intervene.
First, let's take this business about the majority of pornography
depicting the degradation of women. Well, some of it does and some men
are sadists. But in my experience, the majority of horny tales have
nothing to do with degradation. They have to do with two strangers
meeting, being instantly attracted to each other, fucking themselves
silly and parting, never to meet again. No pain. No slavery. Just two
consenting adults having a good time.
In all the arguments I've heard, no one has ever told me where the idea
of the "majority" comes from. I mean, who sat down and did the
counting? Nobody, I'll bet. In fact, though I can't put my finger on
just why, most of the feminist antiporners come across like they've
actually seen very, very little porn. And what they did read, they read
with a closed mind. If that's true, then it's no wonder they've decided
porn is about power: people generally find what they go looking for.
As for men wanting to act out sadistic fantasies, again: show me some
proof. For years, I've nurtured a fantasy about being Tarzan. But do it
for real? No way! Bloody battles and raw meat are great on the screen,
but the reality is pain, terror and a boring, boring diet.
Finally, I think the censorship of pornography is a far greater evil
than pornography itself could ever be, even if it is all that its
detractors say it is. Censorship from the feminist angle is political
censorship. It's one group telling another: you can't read this because
it doesn't agree with our views. And that, in principle, is no
different than the Soviet Union's editing of news or suppression of
dissident writers.
