From: MediAction@aol.com Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 02:10:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: "MEDIAlert!" - July 8, 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX: "MEDIAlert!" - 7.8.97 -ITEM 1: "Right Turns on the Information Highway" [Communications Decency Act; American Family Association; Concerned Women for America; Family Research Council; Morality in Media; National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families]. -ITEM 2: "Block Party" [Cyberpatrol; SurfWatch; Net Nanny; MSNBC; Associated Press; Reno v. ACLU; Interactive Services Association; Bill Clinton; Joseph Biden]. -ITEMS 3 to 8: "Media/Briefs" [MTV; The Real World; TV Guide; Ellen; My So-Called Life; Why American Families Should Boycott Disney; Troon Productions; Gay-TV; Government Gay]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M E D I A l e r t ! _________________________ July 8, 1997 Al Kielwasser [1] R I G H T T U R N S On June 26, by a 7-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the "Communications Decency Act" (CDA) as an unconstitutional abridgment of First Amendment freedoms. Under the ruse of "protecting" children, the CDA would have curtailed a broad range of online speech. Congress originally passed the act last February. The court's decision has since been condemned by various Right Wing, sex-negative and heterosexual supremacist groups. "This is not good news for the thousands of families who discover every day that their children have accessed offensive and disgusting material on the Internet," said Cathy Cleaver, legal policy director of the Family Research Council (FRC). "With no legal liability for those who pursue children with graphic images and language on the Internet, we need to act fast and firmly to ensure that our country does not give pornographers special rights." "Pornographers beware: this will not be the last word on protecting children from your corrupting influence," Cleaver warned. "While 'Reno v. ACLU' said that the specific provisions of the CDA are too broad, the Court also said that more narrowly tailored provisions could be upheld." Echoing the FRC, a press release from Morality in Media declared: "The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion means that children now have no protection under the law from indecent explicit sexual depictions on their home computers" (PR Newswire, June 26). The organization voiced disappointment "in the failure of the Justices to provide guidance on how the Communications Decency Act could be amended to constitutionally protect the children of our nation from this vile material." Morality in Media identifies as "a national, interfaith non-profit organization established in 1962 to combat obscenity and to uphold decency standards in the media." The group has indicated that it will now "request Congress to appoint a Blue-Ribbon Commission of leading First Amendment lawyers and eminent persons learned in the technology of the Internet, and come up with a practical, effective, and constitutional solution. It will also urge Congress to make the on-line companies and Internet Service Providers equally liable with the pornographers as facilitators of the crime." A lesser-known organization, the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (NCPCF) also weighed in against the Supreme Court's decision. "Parents cannot and should not be expected to protect their children single-handedly," said NCPCF president Jerry Kirk. "Without further legislative action, the Internet will remain the only place in America where you can knowingly send pornography to someone you know is a minor." "We have a long tradition in our society of passing laws that help parents protect their children from harmful material -- like cigarettes, alcohol or drugs," Kirk added. "If the CDA was too broadly worded, then let's come up with one that is better." The NCPCF specifically complained that "many libraries and schools have been slow or even opposed to installing filters on computers used by minors," and Kirk called for an "all out effort by library boards and school districts to install filtering software that protects children using their computers for Internet access." The nation's largest anti-gay media watchdog, the American Family Association (AFA), has also joined in the censorious clamor. The AFA is currently hawking "The Next Right Thing" -- a comic book that tells children how "to make Godly choices" when confronted with online "obscenity." Another source of pro-censorship views and anti-child propaganda is Concerned Women for America (CWA), which claims to be the largest women's organization in the United States. A recent issue of CWA's monthly magazine, "Family Voice" (March 1997), is dedicated to the wages of cyber-sin -- finding fault with virtually every function or feature of the Internet. The CWA blames e-mail for transmitting child pornography and for encouraging online affairs (dubbed "cyberadultery" by the CWA). The web is similarly demonized, for allowing individuals "to post whatever they choose" -- including obscene pages of "steamy romance fiction and writings on lesbian sadomasochistic practices." Newsgroups are also dominated by "postings of a prurient nature" and have become a breeding ground for cyberstalkers, the CWA contends. "Last year," the CWA points out, "a Massachusetts man pleaded guilty to charges of raping two teenaged boys he met through a computer bulletin board." Finally, the CWA condemns online chat rooms as another source of smut and danger. According to the CWA: "Explicit back-and-forth typed conversations describing crude sexual exchanges are commonplace in chat rooms. Users often pretend to be of the opposite gender, deny they are married, or fake their age. Worse, pedophiles and homosexuals lurk in chat rooms, luring unsuspecting children into dangerous encounters OFFLINE." Like each of the fundamentalist groups. the CWA maintains that none of this "offending" online activity warrants any Constitutional protection. "Concerned Women for America does not believe our Founding Fathers would in any way sanction this interpretation," said CWA spokesperson Nina Hacker. "The First Amendment was designed to protect political speech -- not demoralizing filth -- in a democratic society. As long ago as 1712, the Massachusetts Bay Colony criminalized the publication of anything obscene." Hacker's comments are perhaps more revealing than intended. Like most Right Wing censors, she pines for the good old days of witch hunts and white supremacy. * * * ACTION ALERT! Resist the far right's plans for undermining "Reno v. ACLU." Contact local library boards and school districts, advising them to seek alternatives to heterosexist or homophobic filtering software. Encourage your state and congressional representatives to oppose any new censorship initiatives (particularly those put forth by homophobic groups). To monitor the opposition media, request more information -- "direct from the homophobe's mouth;" most of these Right Wing groups offer free ("trial") subscriptions to their magazines, newsletters, online alerts, and other propaganda. Contact: American Family Association, P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803, tel. 601-844-5036, fax 601-844-9176, e-mail twildmon@afa.net, web-site www.afa.net; Concerned Women for America, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20024, tel. 202-488-7000, fax 202-488-0806, e-mail familyvoice@cwfa.org, web-site www.cwfa.org; Family Research Council, tel. 202-393-2100, web-site www.frc.org; Morality in Media; National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families,. [2] B L O C K P A R T Y In the wake of "Reno v. ACLU," both politicians and the press have shown a heightened interest in "blocking" software -- that variety of commercial computer programs designed to restrict children's Internet access. "With the right technology and rating systems," Bill Clinton suggested, "we can help ensure that our children don't end up in the red light districts of cyberspace." The president promised "he would study the decision, gather people representing industry, parents, teachers and librarians to review it, and continue to look for a way to keep children from viewing pornography on the Internet" (Reuters, June 26). In Congress, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) announced similar plans and he intends to "back an alternative legislative approach requiring the government to help develop technological filtering solutions" (Reuters, June 26). "The market is already developing software and hardware to enable parents to block children's access to filth, violence and other objectionable material," said Biden. "This solution is now proven as the better way." Not surprisingly, Reuters (June 27) has reported that "software makers are suddenly scrambling to profit by selling tools to block obscene and indecent web sites on the Internet." "In what appeared to be a well-choreographed response to the widely awaited ruling," said Reuters, "the companies rushed to tout their technical solutions for preventing children from perusing Web sites their parents consider to be offensive." "Fundamentally it's good for business because what the Supreme Court has really done is raise the level of buzz," said Mike Sears, president and general manager of SurfWatch. SurfWatch software "stops users from connecting to 35,000 sites and blocks them from entering some 20,000 search terms for finding materials over the Internet" (PR Newswire, June 26). Significantly, the media buzz has focused on keeping children safe from the dangers (imagined or real) of cyber-porn. Typical of this slant is an MSNBC (June 28) report, in which anchor George Lewis described Internet blocking services as "software on the market that allows parents to block their children's access to pornography." Missing from this narrow slant has been any serious account of the broader uses to which blocking software can be -- and is being -- put. In particular, the homophobic appeal of blocking software has largely been ignored. While mainstream journalists simply equate "smut" with pornography, the term is applied more broadly by homophobes. To the heterosexual supremacist, ANYTHING gay or lesbian is smut; EVERYTHING homosexual is indecent or obscene. An Associated Press report on the CDA's demise ("What's A Parent to Do?," June 26) is typical. According to AP's lead: "The nation's highest court just rejected a government drive to shield kids from Internet smut. And every day new sites on the World Wide Web offer titillating photos and sex chat lines to unsuspecting surfers.... Enter Cyber Patrol, Net Nanny and other software that block slices of the Internet parents deem objectionable. Like virtual cops policing the seedy side, the filtering technology - while no means foolproof - aims to step in where government doesn't." Children using popular Internet search-engines "never know what they'll find," according to the AP report. For example, the article suggests: "Kids seeking to satisfy a sweet tooth might look for 'brown sugar.' But the first site that pops up on AltaVista is a 'Collection of erotic and hardcore pictures of beautiful black women.'" Not simply improbable (how likely is it that a child seeking candy would actually search for "brown sugar" on the Internet?), the AP's example is typical of the mainstream slant on "smut blocking." As noted -- media coverage is almost exclusively concerned with pornography, even though the blocking software itself is not so limited. Queer or questioning kids, seeking to satisfy their unique need for information and support, often go searching on the net. By intention or default, however, that access is routinely denied by many blocking programs. In grossly blocking access to "sex," for instance, much software will inadvertently block everything from AIDS/HIV web sites to decidedly non-sexual pages of lesbian/gay history. Of course, blocking software also makes it EASY for parents who INTENTIONALLY want to censor fair, accurate and age-appropriate information about homosexuality. This fact is often overlooked, even by supporters of free expression. For example, Brian O'Shaughnessy, director of public policy for the Interactive Services Association, responded to the CDA decision by claiming simply: "Parents, not children, should decide what content is right for their families. And it is up to parents, not government, to control content and how it is used at home" (Business Wire, June 26). O'Shaughnessy's statement fails to comprehend that lesbian and gay youth often find themselves in heterosexist, and even hostile, families. Homophobic parents should NOT decide what content is right for lesbian or gay children. Though few youth advocates or software makers seem willing (or able) to make this point. The media might not tell us WHAT TO THINK, but -- as national "agenda setters" -- they do tell us WHAT TO THINK ABOUT. The ease with which blocking software lends support to homophobic bigotry should be closely thought out. And hopefully, rejected. * * * ACTION ALERT! To ensure that the public discussion of blocking software includes the unique needs and interests of queer and questioning youth, recommend such coverage to leading newspapers, wire services, computer magazines and trade periodicals. Also, remind politicians to seek lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender representation on any "Blue-Ribbon Commissions" or other advisory committees concerning children and the Internet. Contact: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC; U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510, tel. 202-224-3121 (Sen. Joseph Biden, tel. 202-224-5042, fax 202-224-0139); U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515, tel. 202-225-3121. Encourage software makers to specifically and actively reject homophobic uses of their blocking programs. Contact: "Net Nanny," Trove Investment Corporation, Main Floor - 525 Seymour Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6B 3H7, e-mail netnanny@netnanny.com, web-site www.netnanny.com/netnanny. "Cyberpartrol," Microsystems Software, Inc., 600 Worcester Rd., Framingham, MA 01701, tel. 800-489-2001 or 508-879-9000, fax 508-626-8515, e-mail info@microsys.com, web-site www.microsys.com; "CyberSitter," Solid Oak Software, Inc., Post Office Box 6826, Santa Barbara, CA 93160, fax 805-967-1614, e-mail info@solidoak.com; "SurfWatch," SurfWatch Software, 105 Fremont Avenue, Suite F, Los Altos, California 94022, tel. 415-948-9500, fax 415-948-9577, e-mail press@surfwatch.com (or info@surfwatch.com), web-site www.surfwatch.com. Contribute similar suggestions to groups that offer advice on children and Internet "safety." For example, the GoodParents.com web site [www.goodparents.com) includes "a discussion forum for parents, reviews by parents of computer-related products, and tips for parents whose kids are active online." ISA is the interactive industry's leading trade association, whose membership includes America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, Microsoft, AT&T, MCI, IBM and Netscape; contact: Brian O'Shaughnessy, Interactive Services Association, tel. 301-495-4955, e-mail briano@isa.net, web-site www.isa.net. Re/Sources: "OutProud!" - The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth - pioneered the use of Internet and online services for outreach to queer youth, and has long been active in working to ensure freedom of expression in cyberspace. OutProud! is a non-profit organization, providing services both to individuals and to other agencies "working for the benefit of queer youth." Contact: OutProud!, 454 Las Gallinas Avenue, Suite 261, San Rafael, CA 94903-3618, tel. 415-499-0993, fax 415-499-1013, e-mail info@outproud.org, web-site www.outproud.org. _________________________ M E D I A / B R I E F S [3] *** BRAVE NEW WORLD . . . . MTV recently announced the 7th season of it's popular video-verite series, "The Real World." Telling the "true story of seven strangers picked to live in a house," the series has included lesbian, gay or bisexual cast members in throughout the previous six seasons. Lodged in Boston, the most-recent cast will include a 20-year-old lesbian. As described by MTV: "Genesis is very open about her sexuality; she knew from a very young age that she was gay. Up until she moved in with her new housemates in Boston, she lived with her girlfriend Tammy, with whom she has been involved for two and a half years." As Genesis herself explains: "When I open my mouth most people are shocked to know that I speak my mind clearly, don't take any shit, and I am very much a liberal." C o n t a c t : Judith McGrath, President, MTV, 1515 Broadway, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10036, fax 212-258-8718, e-mail feedback@mtv.com. [4] *** MAKING THE LIST . . . . "TV Guide's" July 4 edition is billed as a "special collectors' issue," in which the editors have "ranked the very best shows from five decades of television history." Specifically, the magazine pays tribute to "The 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time" -- prime-time programs deemed "timeless treasures" by the magazine. Each episode is briefly highlighted in an article that spans from the 50s to the present, and covers nearly 40 pages. Included amongst the "very best" picks are two lesbian- and gay-themed shows. At number 35, the coming-out episode of "Ellen" (April 30, 1997) made the list; an episode of "My So-Called Life" (November 10, 1994) -- in which "Rickie (Wilson Cruz), who's gay, has a crush on Corey (Adam Biesk), who likes Rayanne (A. J. Langer)" -- ranked 38th. "TV Guide" is among the most-widely circulated magazines in the U.S. C o n t a c t : Steven Reddicliffe, Editor-in-Chief, "TV Guide," web-site Radnor, PA 19088, web-site www.tvguide.com. [5] *** THE FUNDIE PAGES . . . . Heterosexual supremacists at the American Family Association (AFA) have published a four-page pamphlet on "Why American Families Should Boycott Disney." The AFA intends to distribute "hundreds of thousands" of these pamphlets, which purport to expose Disney's "collusion with homosexual rights activists." According to the AFA, Disney's various media outlets have conspired to "push homosexuality" -- for reasons of personnel as well as profit. First, "a significant number of" of Disney executives are lesbian or gay. Second, "homosexuals form a wealthy and identity-conscious consumer group -- and Disney knows it." "In normalizing the homosexual lifestyle," the AFA claims, "Disney has discovered a successful mix of mission and money." Citing Biblical proof that homosexuality and lesbianism are the "unnatural" and "degraded passions" of a "depraved mind," the AFA warns: "With the winds of change blowing across America;s moral landscape, Disney's marketing strategy has little downside, because middle America -- even many Christians -- appear to be sleeping while the homosexual revolution overthrows Judeo-Christian culture.": "If middle America continues to support Disney's products, the company will continue to use that money to subsidize the normalization of homosexuality," the pamphlet concludes. "While a day at Disney World may not seem like a visit to Sodom and Gomorrah, it might just take us there." C o n t a c t : American Family Association, P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803, tel. 601-844-5036, fax 601-844-9176, e-mail twildmon@afa.net (or afa@afa.net), web-site www.afa.net. [6] *** BREAKING THE MOLD . . . . Men still outnumber women in television, and female characters often reinforce sexist values -- particularly in children's programming. As an alternative, the Troon company produces a series of claymation videos that feature strong women and less aggression for children 10 and under. According to a company spokesperson, Troon aims to create children's programming that is "artful and unique, funky and funny -- without resorting to gratuitous violence or unrealistic role models. We emphasize art, music and cultural diversity, and frown upon gender stereotyping. You won't find any princes, princesses, mermaids or superheros in our stories." C o n t a c t : Troon Productions, 1700 K Street NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20006, tel. 202-296-1313, fax 202-296-7783, e-mail troonies@troonies.com, web-site www.troonies.com. [7] *** GAY TV GUIDANCE . . . . The "Gay-TV" e-mail list provides a free, weekly guide to mainstream television programs that feature lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender themes. In addition to date, time and channel, a brief description is given for each up-coming broadcast. To subscribe to this handy service, send e-mail to listserv@xconn.com, with the following one-line command as the message (not the subject line): SUBSCRIBE GAY-TV. [8] *** A NOVEL SITE . . . . The author of "Government Gay" -- the new "gay spy-thriller from St. Martin's Press" -- has launched a promotional website. Samples from the book are included [http://surfnetcorp.com/fredh]. [end 7.8.97] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT MEDIALERTS Distributed as a community press service since 1992, "MEDIAlert!" [TM] is an advocacy-oriented column of media criticism, focused on lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues. Recipients may print, publish or post this material, in whole or part, under this or any title, without prior permission. When appropriate, attribution can be made to "Al Kielwasser" and/or "MEDIAlert!" File copies of publications using all or part of any "MEDIAlert!" are always appreciated. Contact: MEDIAlert!, voice-mail/fax 415-826-5203, e-mail mediaction@aol.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR NOTES Al Kielwasser is the editor of "Gay People, Sex and the Media" (New York: Haworth Press). His media criticism and research has appeared widely, in both mainstream and academic publications; he was twice elected Chair of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/San Francisco Bay Area.