Editing Judith Reisman (section)

==Mapplethorpe exhibition obscenity trial==

During the 1990 [[obscenity]] trial of [[Dennis Barrie]], then director of the [[Contemporary Arts Center]] in [[Cincinnati]], for displaying controversial photographs by [[Robert Mapplethorpe]], Reisman was called as the only [[expert witness]] for the prosecution.<ref name="Vindicator"/> In the previous year, Reisman had authored an editorial in ''[[The Washington Times]]'' entitled "Promoting Child Abuse as Art"<ref>{{cite book|title=Growing Up Postmodern: Neoliberalism and the War on the Young| last=Strickland| first=Ronald| year=2002| publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-0-7425-1651-9|page=136|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxsj7-aTN9IC&pg=PA136|access-date=1 January 2011}} quotes Reisman from "Promoting Child Abuse as Art" in the 7 July 1989 edition of [[The Washington Times]].</ref> which "accused Mapplethorpe of being both a Nazi and a child molester".<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Bolton|first1=Robert|year=1989|title=The cultural contradictions of conservatism| journal=[[New Art Examiner]]|volume=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEBUAAAAMAAJ&q=Reisman|access-date=1 January 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/12903?page=entire|title=The Taboos of Touch|first=Debbie|last=Nathan|date=18 April 2002|work=[[AlterNet]]|access-date=1 January 2011|author-link=Debbie Nathan}}</ref> The defense argued that she was not qualified as an art expert, but the judge allowed her to testify as a rebuttal witness.<ref name="Vindicator"/> Among her credentials as a media specialist she listed: "preparation of educational videotapes and slide presentations for the [[Smithsonian Institution]] as well as having worked for ''[[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]]'' magazine, created audio-visual segments for television's ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]'' show, and did research for Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]]'s commission on pornography and for the conservative [[American Family Association]]."<ref name="Vindicator">
{{cite news
|title=Prosecution expert degrades 'art' photos
|agency=Associated Press
|newspaper=[[The Vindicator]]
|date=5 October 1990
|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=istJAAAAIBAJ&pg=2947,1338559 |access-date=15 November 2010
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 |first        = Kim
 |last         = Masters
 |date         = 1990-10-06
 |title        = Art Gallery Not Guilty of Obscenity;Cincinnati Jury Clears Mapplethorpe Exhibitors of All Charges
 |newspaper    = [[The Washington Post]]
 |url          = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72622053.html?dids=72622053:72622053&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+06%2C+1990&author=Kim+Masters&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Art+Gallery+Not+Guilty+of+Obscenity%3BCincinnati+Jury+Clears+Mapplethorpe+Exhibitors+of+All+Charges&pqatl=google
 |access-date  = 2017-07-06
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121104133141/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72622053.html?dids=72622053:72622053&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+06,+1990&author=Kim+Masters&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Art+Gallery+Not+Guilty+of+Obscenity%3BCincinnati+Jury+Clears+Mapplethorpe+Exhibitors+of+All+Charges&pqatl=google
 |archive-date = 2012-11-04
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> During her testimony, Reisman did not discuss the sexually explicit content of Mapplethorpe's work, but rather she argued that the five photographs were not [[works of art]] because they either did not display a [[human face]], or, in the case of ''Self-Portrait'', the face "... displayed no discernible emotion" and absent [[emotion]], the placement of the photographs in a [[museum]] implied that the activities displayed were appropriate.<ref name="nyt-1990-10-05"/><ref name="meyer"/> During [[cross-examination]] by the defense on her views of homosexuality, Reisman testified that "anal [[sodomy]] is traumatically dysfunctional and is definitely associated with [[AIDS]]."<ref name="meyer">
{{cite book
|title=Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art
|publisher=Beacon Press
|isbn=0-8070-7935-9
|year=2002
|first=Richard
|last=Meyer
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pGCre5iI1PIC&q=Reisman%2C+Judith&pg=PP1
|pages=216–218
}}</ref> She also claimed that the pictures of nude children legitimized pedophilia.<ref name="nyt-1990-10-05">
{{cite news
|title=Witness in Obscenity Trial Calls Explicit Photographs 'Destructive'
|first=Isabel
|last=Wilkerson
|date=1990-10-05
|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30611FC385F0C768CDDA90994D8494D81
|work=The New York Times
}}</ref> The defense emphasized that Reisman's experience with art was limited to her work as a [[songwriter]].<ref name="nyt-1990-10-05"/>

Barrie and the center were [[acquitted]] of all charges by the [[jury]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Dennis Barrie looks back on his Cincinnati obscenity trial 20 years after his acquittal |first=Steven |last=Litt |url=http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/10/dennis_barrie_looks_back_on_hi.html |newspaper=[[The Plain Dealer]] |date=5 October 2010 |access-date=19 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026123419/http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/10/dennis_barrie_looks_back_on_hi.html |archive-date=2010-10-26 |url-status=live }}</ref>