200 Protest Film Screening, Citing Sexism and Violence

About 200 students protested the showing of "Deep Throat" outside the Quincy House dining hall yesterday night, charging that the film promotes the exploitation and degradation of women.

The protesters, beginning at about 7:15 p.m., marched in a circle in the Quincy courtyard repeating "Freedom of the press is not freedom to molest," "Boycott 'Deep Throat,'" and other chants.

The protest, organized by the ad hoc committee against "Deep Throat," delayed the start of the movie by a half-hour. Protesters handed out leaflets and tried to dissuade students from attending the movie.

A statement released by the committee after the arrest of two students for showing "Deep Throat" said the protesters do not advocate censorship. "What we ask is that our peers not promote this depiction of violence against women for profit. As fellow students, we have no power to enforce censorship nor do we seek it," the statement says.

After speaking before the movie audience, Kristen L. Manos '80 and Alan M. Dershowitz, professor of Law, spoke to about 50 lingering protesters gathered outside the dining hall entrance.

Manos said the organizers of the protest were not in favor of legal action against the Quincy House Film Society, and had not filed the legal complaints that led to the students' arrests. The group had organized only an informational picket and a boycott of the movie, she added.

Dershowitz told the students the protesters should be wary of calling the state in to silence speakers they disagree with, because the state traditionally uses such power indiscriminately. He warned that the government could use such power to prevent distribution of information about abortions and birth control.

While about 150 people viewed "Deep Throat" upstairs in the Quincy House Dining Hall, about 75 students in the Junior Common Room viewed a slide show on pornography and discussed the implications of showing the film.

Approximately 100 students gathered in the Quincy Junior Common Room after the arrests to view the "Women Against Pornography" slide show and to discuss the issues surrounding the film and social attitudes about sex. The discussion lasted until midnight.

The women who sponsored the slide program said during the discussion they were not responsible for the legal actions against the Quincy House Film Society. Nancy L. Rose '80 said that feminist students will apeear at the Third District Courthouse in East Cambridge this morning to read a statement in support of Hagen and Stork.