Society's periodic schizophrenia about sex--is it good clean fun or something to be hushed up?--really busted loose in 1980. Sexual imagery in advertising virtually took over the commercial breaks on America's television screens, with suggestive poses and slogans promoting everything from lingerie to that hitherto prosaic wardrobe staple, the pair of blue jeans. Simultaneously, the hucksters of born-again Christianity were striving to politicize the faithful, launching "morality" crusades that were basically antisex. And while housewives, secretaries and even grandmothers shed their inhibitions watching men shed their clothes in ever-increasing numbers of male strip joints across the country, platoons of their grimmer sisters staged protests decrying any display of female nudity. "Exploitation," cried Women Against Pornography. "Terrific," chorused the male strippers' audiences, responding in joyous abandon to the lure of beefcake on the hoof.
If, as seems likely, the battle for the hearts and minds of the public is to be waged largely on the television screen, the celebrators may win out over the sourpusses. At least there's a lot more going on on the small screen these days. The proliferation of cable TV has brought R-rated movies into the home, and hard-core films are widely available on cassette; one study, in fact, claims that more than half of all video cassettes sold are X-rated.
Perhaps the whole year can best be summed up by the pilgrim's progress of the Reverend Ted McIlvenna, a San Francisco-based Methodist minister who since 1969 has been making sex-education films for use in counseling. Last February, the United Methodist Church Board of Discipleship pulled the prayer rug out from under McIlvenna's materials, finding them unsuitable for denominational use; undeterred, he had films put on cassette and in November began marketing them through Exodus Communications, an affiliate of the National Sex Forum, which he directs. "Sexuality," reasons McIlvenna, "is a gift from God." He's just using a new medium for the message.
Truth in Advertising
Newsmakers
Fallen Angle
Damsels in Distress
Artistic Inventions
Think Punk
Ladies [& Gents] of the Evening
Beach Buffs
Carnal Contests
Take-it-off Turnabout
Steamy Screen
Live Libido
Sex in the Living Room
