When Nadine Strossen's book Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights was first published in 1995, America was in the grips of a major cultural schism over erotic expression. Conservatives and an influential cadre of feminists had teamed up to promote porn censorship, with some success. The radfem contingent claimed the existence of legal porn was an affront to women—hindering their fight for equality and driving violence against them—and thus argued that free speech was incompatible with feminism. But feminists like Strossen didn't accept this. A New York Law School professor who headed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1991 to 2008, Strossen argued that opposing censorship was not only important as an abstract liberal principle but was in itself good for promoting women's rights.
Nearly a quarter century later, Strossen's arguments are still a vital antidote to much of what one hears from prominent feminists. And as the left-right anti-porn alliance continues to wield influence in statehouses and in Congress, a brand new reissue of Defending Pornography is a must-read for a new generation of free speech defenders and libertarian feminists.
