Guide to the Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media Records, 1977-1983
Processed by Daniel Spencer; machine-readable finding aid created by
Xiuzhi Zhou
Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
P.O. Box 424280
San Francisco, California 94142
Phone: (415) 777-5455, #2
Email: glhsnc@aol.com
URL: http://www.glhs.org/collectn/glhsmss.htm
© 1999
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media Records, 1977-1983
Accession number: 1996-21
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
San Francisco, California
Contact Information:
- Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
- P.O. Box 424280
- San Francisco, California 94142
- Phone: (415) 777-5455, #2
- Email: glhsnc@aol.com
- URL: http://www.glhs.org/collectn/glhsmss.htm
- Processed by:
- Daniel Spencer
- Date Completed:
- June 1997
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 1999 The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media Records,
Date (inclusive): 1977-1983
Accession number: 1996-21
Creator:
Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media
Extent: 2.9 linear feet in 3 boxes
Repository: The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.
San Francisco, California.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Acquisition
The Records (#1996-21) were acquired in 1996 in conjunction with the acquisition of the Women's Building Records (#1996-15).
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright to unpublished manuscript materials has been transferred to the Gay and Lesbian
Historical Society of Northern California.
Audio-Visual Materials
Box 3 contains cassette tapes and VHS tapes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media Records, 1996-21, The Gay and Lesbian Historical
Society
of Northern California.
Historical Note
Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media (WAVPM) was founded in 1977 following the 1976 Conference on Violence
Against Women, sponsored by the San Francisco Women's Centers. Initially based in the Berkeley Women's Center, WAVPM moved
to the Women's Building in San Francisco after its purchase in 1979. Perceiving a link between the debasement of women in
mass media representations and reported increases in the number and severity of violent acts against women, members aimed
to raise public awareness of these conditions. WAVPM, along with Women Against Pornography (WAP) in New York City and Women
Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) in Los Angeles, led women's groups of the late-1970s/early-1980s in crusades against
pornography and promoted public discussion of the relationship between media depictions and sexist violence, bringing pornography
to the top of the feminist agenda and exacerbating a division among feminists (and among leftists in general) between proponents
of free speech and opponents of degrading images.
Major projects of WAVPM include a 1978 National Feminist Conference on Pornography, regular feminist tours of pornography
theaters, a slide show illustrating the connection between mass media images and attitudes toward women, a monthly newsletter,
and sponsorship of annual Take Back the Night marches. During the group's most active period from 1978 to 1982, the group
grew from 35 members to over 1000.
On International Women's Day in 1977, WAVPM executed its first political action, the picketing of Ultraroom, a live sex show
in which women performers used whips and chains on each other. The group sought to bring attention to a sexual economy "in
which women beat each other for men's sexual stimulation." On-going difficulties faced by the organization included: negotiation
of free speech issues, definition of the group's position on non-violent pornography, and reconciliation with dissenting poor
and working class women and S/M lesbians.
Ultimately an organization of women working in the sex industry formally protested WAVPM members' attitude against pornography.
WAVPM general membership meeting records end in 1983 with the protest of a visiting group, the U.S. Prostitutes Collective,
which demanded that WAVPM respect sex workers' decisions, stop opposing pornography, and discontinue interference with sex
work, the livelihood of many poor women. Problems with debt closed the records of the steering committee, which was trying
to salvage a floundering door-to-door fundraising campaign.
Scope and Content
WAVPM Records document the affairs of this prominent feminist organization of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The collection
is divided into five series: Administrative, Communications, Events/programs, Research, and Audio-visual. Dated materials
are placed chronologically within each folder. Folders without dates either contain material spanning the life of the organization
or undated materials.
Administrative records (1.25 linear feet) are the largest series in the collection, including minutes from general membership
meetings, board meetings, and committee meetings as well as voluminous correspondence files and records of fundraising efforts,
which include grant proposals to foundations. Administrative folders pertaining to the WAVPM slide show and the National Feminist
Conference on Pornography are located in the Events and Programs Series. The Julie Greenberg (a WAVPM coordinator during the
early '80s) Notes folder is largely undated and without clear organization, but these records may serve to fill gaps in other
administrative folders. The correspondence extensively documents both the internal workings of WAVPM and much of their publicity
and outreach work not documemted in the Events and Programs Series.
The communications series includes a (nearly) complete collection of
Newspage, WAVPM's widely circulated newsletter. Also included in this series are public statements made by the group and publicity for
WAVPM-sponsored events. Publicity related to fundraising is located in the administrative series, and publicity related to
events are contained in the Events and Programs Series.
The events and programs series contains materials related to the group's early protests of pornography theaters and sex shows
in San Francisco and materials regarding
San Francisco Examiner protests. Also included in this series are records of WAVPM's popular slide show of images culled from mass media depicting
(or insinuating) violence against women. Records of the National Feminist Conference on Pornography are contained in this
series as well. The latter constitutes the bulk of the second box of records, including correspondence with speakers or potential
speakers, grant proposals, and conference evaluations. The correspondence folder features exchanges with Kathy Barry, Susan
Brownmiller, Irene Diamond, Andrea Dworkin, Suzanne Lacy (representing the Ariadne Artists' Collective), Julia London (representing
Women Against Violence Against Women, Los Angeles), Valerie Miner, Judy Reisman, Adrienne Rich, Diana Russell, and Marjorie
Smith.
The research series is composed primarily of subject files, containing articles about violence and the media. Most address
the proposed link between depictions of violence and acts of violence against women. These materials range in format from
academic papers to newspaper clippings.
The Audio-visual Series located in box 3--apparently containing media clips and audio transcripts of slide presentations--remains
unprocessed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Feminism
Related Collections
Title: Women's Building
Identifier/Call Number: #1996-15
Title: Lyon/Martin Papers
Identifier/Call Number: #1993-13
Box 1
Statement of Purpose, 1978
Committee Records [including minutes]
Board of Directors, 1979-82
Steering Committee, 1980-83
Action Committee, 1979-82
Fundraising/Finance Committee, 1982-83
Newspage Committee, 1979-83
First Ammendment Committee, 1980
End of the Year Report, 1978
Financial Records, 1981-83
Operations Manual, 1980-81
Structure Meeting Records, 1979
Retired Senior Volunteer Program Records, 1983
Office-work Party Records, 1981
New Action Campaign Questionnaire
Other Feminist/Anti-Porn Groups
Protest Letters, WAVPM-sponsored
Protest Letters, Non-WAVPM-sponsored
Attorneys (Regarding First Ammendment)
Resource Information for Grants
Pittsburg Bridge and Iron Works Charitable Trust
Newspage Newsletters, Duplicate Copies
"Abusive Images of Women in Mass Media and Pornography," Queensland, Australia
National Feminist Conference on Pornography, 1978
Workshop Plans (early notes)
Presentations: Proposals and Presenters' Biographies
Coordinating Committee Notes
Staff Room Information Log Contents
National Feminist Conference on Pornography, 1978 (cont.)
Disability Workshop Transcript
Workshop Evaluations (see Participant Packet for workshop codes)
Public Service Announcements
Lesbian Tide Correspondence
First Feminist Papers on Pornography, 1979
Take Back the Night March
"Women, Pornography, and Free Speech," NYU Law School Symposium, 1978 Participant Packet, Women Against Pornography Conference, NYC, 1979
San Diego State University Questionnaire for Study of Attitudes Toward Pornography, 1981
Women Against Pornography, Canada
Trends in Reporting Minor Sexual Offenses in Australia and Overseas,
1981
