Begun in February 1984 as the Pornography Resource Center, the organization responded to the growing perception of the relationship between pornography and violence against women, which had been highlighted by groups such as Take Back the Night, Women Against Violence Against Women, and the Neighborhood Pornography Task Force. It was also motivated by the controversy surrounding the passage and subsequent veto of an anti-pornography ordinance by the Minneapolis City Council (1983-1984) and by a course on pornography taught by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon at the University of Minnesota Law School (1983). In December 1985 the name was changed to Organizing Against Pornography: A Resource Center for Education and Action.
To identify and publicize the issue of pornography and violence against women the organization provided information on types of pornography, victims' needs, self-examination of individual attitudes towards pornography, and training workers. To accomplish these ends the organization provided speakers, slide shows, published materials, demonstrations, and other publicity aimed at all groups, but particularly teenagers and men.
From the guide to the Organizational records., 1975-1990., (Minnesota Historical Society)
