Rethinking Democracy: Pornography and Sex Inequality; Legal Challenges in Canada and the United States.

This paper analyzes the obstacles within democracies to address well-documented injuries inflicted in the production and consumption of pornography. Drawing upon substantive legal challenges in Canada and the U.S., it notes that democratic ideals do not recognize gender specific harms asymmetrically directed towards women in a male dominated society. Canadian legal obscenity discourse makes judicial reviewers account for harm and inequality by introducing a concept of dehumanization, countering the primacy of free speech and expression. While promising as a discourse, it has not yet delivered change. Both countries lack institutional mechanisms for claimants hurt in the production or and/or consumption pornography. These challenges, in the context of developments in democratic theory and international human rights law, suggest the need for remedies that recognize these harms. For democracy to deliver equality among citizens, social equality should be affirmed by strengthening the legal rights of those victimized. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]