AN ACT TO PROTECT THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

  1 SECTION 1. It is hereby found and declared that pornography

							 2 is a practice of sex discrimination which exists in the

							 3 commonwealth and threatens th  health, safety, peace, welfare

							 4 and equality of its citizens. Pornography is a systematic practice

							 5 of exploitation and subordination based on sex that differentially

							 6 harms and disadvantages women through dehumanization,

							 7 psychic assault, sexual exploitation, forced sex and prostitution,

							 8 physical injury and social and sexual terrorism and inferiority

							 9 presented as entertainment and existing laws have proven

							 10 inadequate to solve such problem. It is further found that the

							 11 bigotry and contempt which pornography promotes and the acts

							 12 of aggression which it fosters:

							 13 (a) diminish opportunities for equality of rights in employment,

							 14 education, property, public accommodations, and public services;

							 15 (b) create public and private harassment, persecution, and

							 16 denigration; promote injury and degradation such as rape,

							 17 battery, sexual abuse of children, and prostitution, and inhibit just

							 18 enforcement of laws against these acts; (c) demean the reputations

							 19 and diminish the occupational opportunities of individuals and

							 20 groups on the basis of sex; (d) expose individuals who appear in

							 21 pornography against their will to contempt, ridicule, hatred,

							 22 humiliation, and embarrassment and target them for abuse and

							 23 physical aggression; (e) lower the human dignity, worth, and civil

							 24 status of women and damage mutual respect between the sexes;

							 25 (f) contribute significantly to restricting women in particular from

							 26 full exercise of citizenship and participation in the life of the

							 27 community; and (g) undermine women's equal exercise of rights

							 28 to speech and action guaranteed to all citizens under the laws and

							 29 constitution of the commonwealth.
 1 SECTION 2. The 
General Laws are hereby amended by
 2 inserting after chapter 151E the 
following chapter:
  3 CHAPTER 151F.
 4 PROHIBITION OF 
CERTAIN SEX DISCRIMINATION.
  5 Section 1. As used in this chapter, the term "pornography"

								 6 shall mean the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women

								 7 through pictures or words, including by electronic or other data

								 8 retrieval systems, and shall further include the presentation of

								 9 women's body parts, including but not limited to, vaginas, breasts

								 10 or buttocks, such that women are reduced to such parts or the

								 11 presentation of women:

								 12 (a) as dehumanized sexual objects, things or commodities;

								 13 (b) as sexual objects who enjoy humiliation or pain;

								 14 (c) as sexual objects experiencing sexual pleasure in rape, incest

								 15 or other sexual assault;

								 16 (d) as sexual objects tied up or cut up or mutilated, bruised or

								 17 physically hurt;

								 18 (e) in postures or positions of sexual submission, servility or

								 19 display;

								 20 (f) being penetrated by objects or animals; or

								 21 (g) in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, injury, torture,

								 22 shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised or hurt in a context

								 23 that makes these conditions sexual.

								 24 The use of men, children or transsexuals in the place of women

								 25 shall also be deemed to be pornography for purposes of this

								 26 definition.

								 27 Section 2.(a). It shall be sex discrimination to coerce, intimidate

								 28 or fraudulently induce any person into performing for

								 29 pornography. The injury incurred hereunder may occur upon any

								 30 appearance or sale of any product resulting from such

								 31 performance. The maker, seller, exhibitor or distributor of said

								 32 pornography may be liable for damages and subject to an

								 33 injunction to prohibit or eliminate such product from the public

								 34 view. For purposes of this subsection proof of the following facts

								 35 shall not, singly or in combination, disprove coercion:

								 36 (1) the person is a woman or a girl;

								 37 (2) the person is or has been a prostitute;

								 38 (3) the person has attained the age of majority;

								 39 (4) the person is connected by blood or marriage to anyone

								 40 involved in or related to the making of the pornography;

								 41 (5) the person has previously had, or been thought to have had,

								 42 sexual relations with anyone, including anyone involved in or 

								 43 related to the making of the pornography;

								 44 (6) the person has previously posed for sexually explicit pictures

								 45 with or for anyone, including anyone involved in or related to the

								 46 making of the pornography;

								 47 (7) anyone else, including a spouse or other relative, has given

								 48 permission on the person's behalf;

								 49 (8) the person actually consented to a use of a performance that

								 50 is then changed into pornography;

								 51 (9) the person knew that the purpose of the acts or events in

								 52 question was to make pornography;

								 53 (10) the person showed no resistance or appeared to cooperate

								 54 actively in the photographic sessions or events that produced the 

								 55 pornography;

								 56 (11) the person signed a contract, or made statements affirming 

								 57 a willingness to cooperate in the production of the pornography; 

								 58 (12) no physical force, threats, or weapons were used in the 

								 59 making of the pornography; or

								 60 (13) the person was paid or otherwise compensated.

								 61 (b) It shall be sex discrimination to force pornography on a 

								 62 person in any place of employment, education, home, or any

								 63 public place. Complaints may be brought only against the

								 64 perpetrator of the force or the entity or institution responsible for 

								 65 the force.

								 66 (c) It shall be sex discrimination to assault, physically attack, 

								 67 or injure any person in a way that is directly caused by specific 

								 68 pornography. Complaints may be brought against the perpetrator

								 69 of the assault or attack, or against the maker, distributor, seller, 

								 70 or exhibitor of the specific pornography.

								 71 (d) It shall be sex discrimination to defame any person through 

								 72 the unauthorized use in pornography of their proper name, image, 

								 73 or recognizable personal likeness. For purposes of this subsection, 

								 74 public figures shall be treated as private persons. Authorization 

								 75 once given may be revoked in writing any time prior to any

								 76 publication.

								 77 (e) It shall be sex discrimination to produce, sell, exhibit, or 

								 78 distribute pornography, including through private clubs. This

								 79 subsection applies only to pornography made using live or dead

								 80 human beings or animals. Isolated parts shall not be the sole basis

								 81 for complaints under this subsection.

								 82 City, state, and federally funded public libraries or private and

								 83 public university and college libraries in which pornography is

								 84 available for study, including on open shelves but excluding

								 85 special display presentations, shall not be construed to be

								 86 trafficking in pornography.

								 87 Any woman may bring a complaint hereunder as a woman

								 88 acting against the subordination of women. Any man, child, or

								 89 transsexual who alleges injury by pornography in the way women

								 90 are injured by it may also complain.

								 9l Section 3. It shall not be a defense to a complaint brought under

								 92 this chapter that the respondent did not know or intend that the

								 93 materials at issue were pornography or sex discrimination.

								 94 No damages or compensation for losses shall be recoverable 

								 95 under subsection (e) of section two, or other than against the 

								 96 perpetrator of the assault or attack under subsection (c) of section

								 97 two, unless the defendant knew or had reason to know that the

								 98 materials were pornography.

								 99 Section 4. Any person who has a cause of action under this

								100 chapter, or their estate, may complain directly to a court of

								101 competent jurisdiction for relief.

								102 Any person who has a cause of action under this chapter, or

								103 their estate, may seek nominal, compensatory, punitive damages

								104 without limitation, including for loss, pain, suffering, reduced

								105 enjoyment of life, and special damages, as well as for reasonable

								106 costs, including attorneys' fees and costs of investigation.

								107 In claims under subsection (e) of section two, or other than

								108 against the perpetrator of the assault or attack under subsection

								109 (c) of section two, no damages or compensation for losses shall

								110 be recoverable against a maker for pornography made, against

								111 a distributor for pornography distributed, against a seller for

								112 pornography sold, or against an exhibitor for pornography

								113 exhibited, prior to the effective date of this chapter.

								114 Any person who violates this law may be enjoined except that:

								115 (a) In actions under subsection (e) of section two, and other

								116 than against the perpetrator of the assault or attack under

								117 subsection (c) of section two, no temporary or permanent

								118 injunction shall issue prior to a final judicial determination that

								119 the challenged activities constitute a violation of this law.

								120 (b) No temporary or permanent injunction shall extend beyond

								121 such pornography that, having been described with reasonable

								122 specificity by said order, is determined to be validly proscribed

								123 under this chapter.

								124 Section 5. The availability of relief under this chapter is not

								125 intended to be exclusive and shall not preclude, or be precluded

								126 by, the seeking of any other relief, whether civil or criminal.

								127 Section 6. Complaints pursuant to this chapter shall be brought

								128 within six years of the accrual of the cause of action or from when

								129 the complainant reaches the age of majority, whichever is later.