s suffered by women due to pornography: Disquiet caused by the existence of such material is not simply the product of its offensiveness, however, but stems from the very real harm which it causes. [E]motional damage caused by words may be of grave psychological and social consequence. [They] can constitute a serious attack on persons belonging to a racial or religious group, and in this regard the Cohen Committee noted that these persons are humiliated and degraded (p. 214). Referring then to a prominent liberal theorist, Dickson C.J. said: In my opinion, a response of humiliation and degradation from an individual targeted by hate propaganda is to be expected. A person's sense of human dignity and belonging to the community at large is closely linked to the concern and respect accorded the groups to which he or she belongs (see Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty", in Four Essays on Liberty (1969), p. 118, at p. 155). Let us call the harm to a particular woman which is suffered as a result of trafficking in pornography a quasi-social harm. It is distinguished from a social harm in that the victim conceived as a member of a victimized class, but any action to redress this harm is brought solely on her own behalf for the harm personally suffered. Unlike the actions in the criminal cases previously cited, claims here are not on behalf of a group or on behalf of society as a whole, but are on behalf of an individual who has suffered as a member of a class. The modified ordinance I propose seeks to redress quasi-social harms. One may question whether this (as distinct from addressing social harm) is a tenable legal proposition or not. I suggest that it is, at least in Ontario, given our established legal categories and means of redress. The Ontario H...
