During the Bicentennial Year we've all just survived, there may not have been much more sexual activity than usual, but there was more noise made about it—particularly when it came to the preferences and peccadilloes of people in the public eye. Congressmen putting mistresses—some of whom couldn't find the On-Off switch of an electric typewriter—on the payroll? Right-wing fire-and-brimstone breathers being exposed as A.C./D.C.? The Vice-President of the United States saying "Fuck you" with his finger—while his boss was trying to make his political opponent look like a moral degenerate because he had allowed the relatively inoffensive word screw to pass his lips? Did he think the public couldn't figure out just what those deleted expletives were in his ex-boss's highly edited tape transcripts? No wonder people turned away from news of politics and immersed themselves in, for example, soap operas. There, at least, there was little pussyfooting around the subject. Abortions, prostitution, homosexuality, impotence, V.D.—no topic was taboo. And at the movies, audiences were treated to the spectacle of a 12-year-old, Jodie Foster, portraying with considerable aplomb a teeny-bopper hooker. While all this was going on, the nation's judicial system, seemingly with its collective head in the sand, managed to convict an actor and two magazine executives on grounds of obscenity—in towns where the film had not been shown nor the publication offered for sale. Somehow, the Swedes don't seem to get so hot and bothered about this sort of thing. Latest word from Stockholm is that serious consideration is being given to legislation to legalize, among other things, incest. That may take a while. In the meantime, here's a brief look at the ups and downs of the sexual revolution, circa 1976.
Feet of Clay
Tempted
Temptresses
Sex in the Market Place
Love, or Reasonable Facsimile, for Sale
Media Madness
All the News that Fits, Somebody Prints
Mary Worth
Saunders and Ernst
Culture Vulture
Song & Dance
Artistic License
No Biz Like Showbiz
Kiss &Tellers
Newsmakers
Out of the Closet
Folks in Trouble
Skin's In
Screen Players
Steaming Up the Tube
Heavy Breathing at the Movies
