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CITY OF CAMBRIDGE
In the Year One Thousand, Nine Hundred 85
AN ORDINANCE
In amendment to an ordinance formerly entitled "the General Ordinances of the City of Cambridge" as revised in 1972 and now designated as "The Code of the City of Cambridge."
Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Cambridge as follows:
Inasmuch, as pornography, a systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex which differentially harms women, exists in the City of Cambridge, posing a substantial threat to the health, safety, welfare and equality of citizens in the community, and existing state and federal laws are inadequate to solve these problems;
There shall be enacted amendments to the Human Rights Code, Revised Ordinance No. 1016 (Aug. 23, 1984), in recognition that pornography: promotes bigotry and contempt and fosters acts of aggression, which diminish opportunities for equality of rights in employment, education, property, public accommodations and public services; creates public and private harassment, persecution and denigration; promotes injury and degradation such as rape, battery, sexual abuse of children, and prostitution and inhibits just enforcement of laws against these acts; contributes significantly to restricting women in particular from full exercise of citizenship and participation in public life, including in neighborhoods; damages relations between the sexes; and undermines women's equal exercise of rights to speech and action guaranteed to all citizens under the Constitutions and laws of the United States, the State of Massachusetts, and the City of Cambridge.
The Code of the City of Cambridge is hereby amended by adding
to Chapter 25, "Human Rights," the following amendments
entitled `Anti-Pornography Amendments.'
CHAPTER 25
HUMAN RIGHTS
ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY AMENDMENTS
A BILL TO AMEND CHAPTER 25, "HUMAN RIGHTS,"
OF THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE BY ADDING PORNOGRAPHY
AS SEX DISCRIMINATION
Section 1: DEFINITION: §E of Chapter 25, "Human Rights," shall be amended to add:
(15)(a) Pornography is the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures and/or words that also includes one or more of the following: (i) women are presented dehumanized as sexual objects, things or commodities; or (ii) women are presented as sexual objects who enjoy pain or humiliation; or (iii) women are presented as sexual objects who experience sexual pleasure in being raped; or (iv) women are presented as sexual objects tied up or cut up or mutilated or bruised or physically hurt; or (v) women are presented in postures of sexual submission, servility, or display; or (vi) women's body parts - including but not limited to vaginas, breasts, or buttocks - are exhibited such that women are reduced to those parts; or (vii) women are presented as whores by nature; or (viii) women are presented as being penetrated by objects or animals; or (ix) women are presented in scenarios of degradation, injury, torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised or hurt in a context that makes these conditions sexual.
(b) The use of men, children, or transsexuals in the place of women in (a) above is also pornography for purposes of this ordinance.
Section 2: HARMFUL ACTS; §8A of Chapter 25, "Human Rights," shall be amended to add:
(18.) It shall be sex discrimination through pornography to engage in any of the following activities:
a. Coercion into pornography: To coerce, intimidate, or fraudulently induce (hereafter, "coerce") any person, including transsexual, into performing for pornography, which injury may date from any appearance or sale of any product(s) of such performance(s). Complaint(s) may be made against the maker(s), seller(s), exhibitor(s) and/or distributor(s) of said pornography, including to eliminate the product(s) of the performance(s) from the public view.
Proof of one or more of the following facts or conditions shall not, without more, negate a finding of coercion:
(i) that the person is a woman; or
(ii) that the person is or has been a prostitute; or
(iii) that the person has attained the age of majority; or
(iv) that the person is connected by blood or marriage to anyone involved in or related to the making of the pornography; or
(v) that the person has previously had, or been thought to have had, sexual relations with anyone, including anyone involved in or related to the making of the pornography; or
(vi) that the person has previously posed for sexually explicit pictures with or for anyone, including anyone involved in or related to the making of the pornography at issue; or
(vii) that anyone else, including a spouse or other relative, has given permission on the person's behalf; or
(viii) that the person actually consented to a use of the performance that is changed into pornography; or
(ix) that the person knew that the purpose of the acts or events in question was to make pornography; or
(x) that the person showed no resistance or appeared to cooperate actively in the photographic sessions or in the events that produced the pornography; or
(xi) that the person signed a contract, or made statements affirming a willingness to cooperate in the production of pornography; or
(xii) that no physical force, threats, or weapons were used in the making of the pornography; or
(xiii) that the person was paid or otherwise compensated.
b. Trafficking in pornography: To produce, sell, exhibit, or distribute pornography, including through private clubs.
(i) City, state, and federally funded public libraries or private and public university and college libraries in which pornography is available for study, including on open shelves but excluding special display presentations, shall not be construed to be trafficking in pornography.
(ii) Isolated passages or isolated parts shall not be actionable under this section.
(iii) Any woman has a claim hereunder as a woman acting against the subordination of women. Any man, child, or transsexual who alleges injury by pornography in the way women are injured by it also has a claim.
c. Forcing pornography on a person: To force pornography on a person, including child or transsexual, in any place of employment, education, home, or public place. Complaint(s) may be made against the perpetrator of the force and/or institution responsible for the force only.
d. Assault or physical attack due to pornography: To assault, physically attack, or injure any person, including child or transsexual, in a way that is directly caused by specific pornography. Complaint(s) may be made against the perpetrator of the assault or attack and/or against the maker(s), distributor(s), seller(s), and/or exhibitor(s) of the specific pornography.
e. Defenses: It shall not be a defense to an action under (18)a-d that the defendant did not know or intend that the materials were pornography or sex discrimination.
No damages or compensation for losses shall be recoverable under 18(b), or other than against the perpetrator of the assault or attack under 18(d), unless the defendant knew or had reason to know that the materials were pornography.
In actions under 18(b) or other than against the perpetrator of the assault or attack under 18(d), no damages or compensation or losses shall be recoverable against maker(s) for pornography made, against distributor(s) for pornography distributed, against seller(s) for pornography sold, or against exhibitor(s) for pornography exhibited, prior to the effective date of this law.
Section 3: RELIEF: §D.(4.) of Chapter 25, against the perpetrator of the assault or attack under 18(d), no temporary or permanent injunction shall issue prior to a final judicial determination that the challenged activities constitute a violation of this ordinance.
(ii) No temporary or permanent injunction shall extend beyond such material(s) that, having been described with reasonable specificity by the injunction, have been determined to be validly proscribed under this law.
f. Civil damages, including punitive and compensatory, as well as reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements, shall be available as relief for violations of Sections 18 (a-d), notwithstanding any limitations as may be imposed or implied by Sections 4 (a) (b) or (c) herein.
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