During the 1980’s, pornography came in a variety of
forms such as movies, videos, books, magazines,
paintings, audio recordings, and photographs. First
Amendment advocates, such as pornography pub-
lisher Larry Flynt, argued that protecting pornogra-
phy was vital to democracy. Pornographers and their
supporters believed pornography was much more
that just sexually explicit material and could be used
to express discontent and to convey unpopular ideas,
forms of speech that were protected by the First
Amendment. Critics of pornography, however, did
not share this view. Religious groups and some femi-
nists opposed pornography and supported laws that
restricted or banned it. Religious groups believed
pornography was immoral, and they discouraged
their members from viewing or reading pornogra-
phy. Some feminists, such as Andrea Dworkin and
Catharine MacKinnon, argued that pornography vi-
olated the civil rights of women, because it dehu-
manized them and could be linked to sex discrimi-
nation, rape, and abuse.
Regulation of Pornography Dworkin and MacKin-
non helped cities, most notably Minneapolis and In
dianapolis, draft antipornography ordinances. These
laws would allow women to sue producers and distrib-
utors of pornographic material if the women could
prove that they had been harmed by that material.
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the In-
dianapolis law and others like it were unconstitu-
tional. Most pornography was defined by the Court as
“indecent,” rather than “obscene.” Obscene materi-
als had no First Amendment protections, but only the
most extreme pornography fell into that category. In-
decent material, on the other hand, could not be
banned—although it could be regulated. In another
1986 decision, the Court upheld laws that allowed cit-
ies and towns to use zoning laws to keep adult movie
theaters away from homes, schools, churches, and
parks.
In 1988, pornographers began providing sexually
oriented telephone services known as “dial-a-porn.”
Congress immediately passed a law making “dial-a-
porn” illegal. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court over-
turned the federal law, because it violated the free
speech rights of pornographers. The Court said that
the “dial-a-porn” industry should be regulated to
protect minors, but it could not be outlawed alto-
gether, because banning “dial-a-porn” would deny
adults access to this sexually oriented telephone ser-
vice. Congress then passed a different law that re-
quired telephone companies to block “dial-a-porn”
services unless they received written authorization
from the subscriber.
While adult access to pornography was constitu-
tionally protected, children were to be protected
from indecent material. The selling of hardcore por-
nography was limited at first to adult bookstores,
mail-order companies, and pay television channels
that parents could control. As home video took off,
however, pornographic videos became much more
easily accessible through local rental stores. Individ-
uals had to be at least eighteen years old before they
were allowed to enter pornographic stores, and video
stores had to segregate their pornographic material
from their other videos in an “adults-only” area.
Other stores that sold pornography displayed por-
nographic magazines partially covered. Making por-
nography accessible to minors was illegal, as was
creating pornography that featured children under
the age of eighteen. Making or trafficking in child
pornography was a felony.
In 1984, U.S. president Ronald Reagan appointed
a commission, headed by Attorney General Edwin
Meese III, to study pornography. In July, 1986, the
Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on
Pornography (also called the Meese Report) con-
cluded that pornography was harmful to society.
This conclusion was the opposite of the conclusion
reached by a 1970 presidential commission that had
found no proof that pornography caused crimes.
The Meese Report was highly critical of pornogra-
phy, and the report itself was criticized for being bi-
ased and inaccurate.
Also during the 1980’s, convenience stores across
the country were ordered to remove from their
shelves men’s magazines such asPlayboy,Hustler, and
Penthouse. A federal judge later overturned this or-
der, ruling that the removal of pornographic maga-
zines from stores was a form of censorship. Anti-
pornography activists also launched attacks against
the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for
funding museums that displayed the photos and
other works of art that the activists believed to be
pornographic.Impact During the 1980’s, efforts to ban pornogra-
phy failed. Antiporn activists believed pornography
should be illegal, because it was immoral, was addic-
tive, and dehumanized women. Supporters arguedThe Eighties in America Pornography 773