Bad Attitude(s) on Trial: Pornography, Feminism, and the Butler Decision

'The authors tackle their subjects with a sensitivity to the arguments of their ideological foes, but effectively demonstrate that the protection of women from harm does not begin with the suppression of imagery.'

Karen Hill, Quill and Quire

'Bad Attitude/s presents a detailed refutation of anti-pornography feminists, accuses them of being enveloped by conservative social trends, and offers arguments for a dissenting feminist positions.'

Bart Testa, The Globe and Mail

'Bad Attitude/s on Trial is a thoughtful and complex study of both genuinely complicated social issues and tangled legal reasoning. It's definitely worth reading.'

Stan Persky, The Vancouver Sun

'A thorough and provocative book.'

Bart Testa, The Globe and Mail

'Although many readers many not agree with the opinions expressed about sexuality and depiction in Bad Attitude/s, they should take careful note of how genuine progressive concerns have been hijacked by the same old authoritarian social forces we thought were history.'

Robyn Gillam, eye Weekly

'The most daring aspect of Bad Attitude/s on Trial is the authors' attempt to sketch out a positive theory of sexuality to counter the essential negative view enshrined in the common law traditions shared by Canada and the United States.'

Nathan M. Greenfield, The Boston Book Review

'Bad Attitude/s pierces through the thick veil of hypocrisy surrounding the pornography debates in a lively and well-documented examination of the clashes between bodies and state power, detailing the vicissitudes of the pornography issue in a specifically national context. Rethinking the intersections of sexuality and nation via pornography, it should prove alluring to scholars, fans, ambivalent partisans and outraged citizens alike.'

Laura Kipnis, author of Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America

'Many observers, especially feminists, have welcomed the Canadian Supreme Court's "Butler" decision that sexual explicitness was not, in itself, obscene. This book shows, however, that in the absence of a test for explicitness, "deviance" has become the new scapegoat and minority sexualities have come under increasing censorship. What seemed a liberalization of the law has turned into the occasion for the control of "bad attitudes." American feminists need to read this book to learn the perils of an ever-encroaching scapegoating of sexual differences. This could happen here!'

Linda Williams, author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure and the Frenzy of the Visible and editor of the journal Film Quarterly

'Bad Attitude/s is a superb book. It challenges us all to examine our prejudice about what pornography is. A provocation in the best sense of the word.'

Drucilla Cornell, author of The Imaginary Domain