Forum Newsfront

a survey of events related to issues raised by "the playboy philosophy"

Crackdown on Hardcore?

Washington, D. C.--By deadlocking four to four (with Justice William O. Douglas abstaining), the U. S. Supreme Court has affirmed a Maryland supreme-court ruling that the film "I Am Curious (Yellow)" is obscene--which augurs ill for the future of sex movies. Although the decision sets no binding legal precedent, it indicates that at least four Justices do not agree with the Court's previous broad interpretation of the "redeeming social value" doctrine under which films far more sexually explicit and far less substantive than "Curious" have been protected from prosecution. Consequently, legal observers believe many of these films (and publications) will not survive Court tests in the future. Even though Justice Douglas can be expected to vote with the liberals (if he votes at all), experts assume that one or more of the Justices will move to the conservative side in more blatant cases. A crucial test may come if the Court rules on "The Illustrated Presidential Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography," whose publisher and distributor have been indicted on Federal obscenity charges in Dallas and San Diego. "The Illustrated Report" is a purportedly complete version of the actual Government report, spiced with hundreds of photographs and drawings depicting virtually every type of conventional and deviate sexual activity. Dr. Morris Lipton, a member of the commission, which recommended an end to censorship, briefly analyzed the illustrated edition at a meeting of the American Psychopathological Association. "It is a travesty of our serious efforts," he said, "but illustrates vividly and erotically the kinds of materials with which the commission was concerned," as well as the meaninglessness of the redeeming-social-value standard for assessing pornography.

Jack the Spanker

Evanston, Illinois--A fast-talking young man with no credentials inveigled 13 Northwestern University coeds into letting him spank them during three sessions in a hotel room for what he claimed was a psychological research project. After each session, the group discussed personal reactions, some of the spankees saying they were excited, others merely complaining that it hurt, while the spanker himself proclaimed, "I like to spank girls whenever I get the chance." However, no one thought to blow the whistle until the spanker's checks (he promised each girl $15 per session) began to bounce. Then the university security office and the state's attorney's office stepped in. Pressing no charges, because the young women had participated voluntarily, the authorities merely ordered the man to pay up. The Chicago Daily News quipped that the results of the research were "lost to posterity," while the Chicago Tribune seemed to share the sentiments of some unnamed "officials" that the "13 gullible coeds should be paddled by their parents."

More are Merrier

Figures compiled by two sociologists indicate that the sexual revolution has continued to move from words to deeds during the past ten years. Dr. Carlfred B. Broderick of Pennsylvania State University surveyed 200 newlyweds and found that 75 percent had had sex with each other before marriage and 30 percent of the women were pregnant on their wedding day. Declaring this a dramatic increase over a decade, Broderick attributed it to women's greater willingness to accept premarital sex as morally permissible. Professor Harold T. Christensen of Purdue University reported that at a Western university influenced by the Mormon culture, the percentage of women who had premarital intercourse increased from 10 percent in 1958 to 32 percent in 1968; at a Midwestern university, the increase over the ten years was from 21 to 34 percent; and at a university in Denmark (where, said Christensen, young people may be moving toward casual sex and away from sex with commitment), the increase was from 60 to 97 percent. The figures for men did not change in America during the decade, Christensen said, remaining at 37 percent in the West and 50 percent in the Midwest; but the indefatigable Danish men leaped from 63 to 94 percent. The sociologist added that in all cases, fewer people in the 1968 study felt that they had broken their own moral code when they engaged in sex, and he implied that narrowing the gap between an individual's standards and his behavior has the beneficial effect of reducing guilt feelings. "This is not to say that lowering standards is preferable to stricter control of behavior," he said. "Value-behavior discrepancy has undesirable effects, but the question of how best to reduce this discrepancy is for the policy maker, not the scientist."

Three-Year Marriages

Annapolis, Maryland--Two women members of the Maryland legislature have introduced a bill that would revolutionize marriage: Instead of a permanent legal relationship to be dissolved only by divorce, it would be a three-year contract with option to renew. The bill is sponsored by delegates Lena Lee and Hildagardeis Boswell. Said delegate Boswell, "I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't be shackled to people whom you don't love. I'm also a firm believer in trying to adjust yourself as easily to marriage as possible and, if it doesn't work out, getting out as amicably as you can."

Presto! Change-o!

Therapists around the country using a variety of techniques are claiming success in helping many of their homosexual patients make a heterosexual adjustment. Pessimism about the possibility of making such a change has long prevailed among mental-health professionals; in 1935, Freud wrote, "We cannot promise to achieve it." Eight years ago, however, a team of psychoanalysts headed by Dr. Irving Bieber announced that about one fourth of 106 patients had shifted to heterosexuality. More recently, Dr. Lawrence J. Hatterer published a book titled "Changing Homosexuality in the Male," in which he claims that about one third of 200 patients made a heterosexual adjustment after being treated with a combination of psychoanalytic and behavior-therapy techniques. Dr. Samuel Hadden reports that about a third of homosexual males are able to make the shift after treatment in group therapy. Dr. Joseph Wolpe has reported an "impression" that about 75 percent of patients treated exclusively with behavior-therapy methods become heterosexually oriented. All the therapists emphasized that successful sexual reorientation depends heavily on an individual's strong desire to change.

Meanwhile, a debate is building in the medical community (and was reflected in April's "Playboy Panel: Homosexuality") over whether homosexuality should be considered a pathological condition or simply another kind of sexual behavior. Dr. Judd Marmor, writing in the newsletter of the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, states, "If we recognize ... that neither homosexual nor heterosexual sex-object choice in human beings is innate or instinctual but that both represent 'learned behavior,' then we must conclude that there is nothing inherently sick or unnatural about life experiences that predispose an individual to prefer homosexual sex objects except insofar as this preference represents a socially condemned form of behavior in our culture."

Not a Climax in a Carload

London--If sex can sell cigarettes, perhaps it can also sell nonsmoking--so reasons the Royal College of Physicians. Because the grim warnings about cancer and heart disease have failed to cut down appreciably on the number of British smokers, the new emphasis in England's anti-cigarette campaigns will be: the girl nobody wants because her hair smells of tobacco, the man who repels women because of his brown teeth, the hint that smoking decreases sexual stamina. If people won't stop smoking to save their health, the British medical men hope, maybe they'll do so to save their sex lives.

National Pot Picture

Washington, D. C.--A nonprofit corporation has been formed and registered as a lobby to work toward liberalizing the country's pot laws. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), headed by attorney Keith Stroup and launched with a Playboy Foundation grant, will sponsor and promote reform legislation and court actions at both state and Federal levels to remove penalties for possession and use of grass. According to Stroup, NORML "does not advocate marijuana nor deny the need for further research to determine any possible long-range effects, but we are certain that present prohibitory laws do vastly greater harm to society and individuals than the drug they seek to proscribe."

Elsewhere:

• Representative Michael Ross of Washington and assemblyman Franz Leichter of New York have introduced bills to legalize and regulate the sale and use of marijuana in their respective states. Both bills would subject pot to essentially the same controls that apply to alcoholic beverages.

• In Illinois, state representative Leland H. Rayson has introduced a bill to remove marijuana, from the narcotics category and eliminate penalties for possession of small amounts by people 18 or older (see Rayson's letter in the April "Playboy Forum").

• In California, a group calling itself the Proposition of Today (POT) Committee has launched a campaign to legalize marijuana by voter-initiative petition that would add a state constitutional-amendment proposal to the 1972 ballot; the proposal resembles the amendment that repealed Prohibition.

The most publicized recent attack on marijuana came from the newly elected president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Wesley Hall of Reno, who said in a speech that a forthcoming A.M.A. study would prove marijuana causes birth defects and premature loss of sex drive. A.M.A. officials told Playboy they had no knowledge of such a report; they guessed that Dr. Hall was speculating and that the newsmen were exaggerating.