Feminists blamed for bookshop raid

Wednesday, July 15, 1992 - 10:00

Feminists blamed for bookshop raid

A police raid on a gay bookshop in Canada is being blamed on some feminists, according to the Sydney newspaper Capital Q.

Police raided the Toronto bookshop on April 30 and charged the owner and manager with selling "obscene" material — the sexually explicit US lesbian magazine Bad Attitude.

The charges were brought under a new Ontario provincial law drafted by feminists who were seeking to suppress pornography. The law defines obscenity as "dehumanising and degrading material that predisposes people to commit acts of anti-social behaviour".

Capital Q quoted the comment of the editor of a Toronto gay magazine: "For many years the gay movement has been saying to feminists that if you bring in these laws, you'll be the first victim".

From GLW issue 62