“There has not been a sex murder in the history of our department in which the killer was not an avid reader of pornographic magazines.” (Detroit police inspector Herbert Case)
PORNOGRAPHY is the portrayal of behaviour designed to cause sexual excitement. The word comes from the Greek pornográphos, which literally means ‘harlot writing’ or ‘the writing of prostitutes.’ Books, magazines, advertising or films that appeal to a base sexual appetite are considered pornographic.
Some argue that pornography should be outlawed, since it is associated with immorality. Others consider any restrictions an infringement of personal freedom.
In the United States, as elsewhere, there has been much confusion over the matter. Earl Warren, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, once said: “In all my years of service on the Supreme Court, the subject of obscenity and how to deal with it has given me the most difficulty.”
How widespread has the tide of pornography become? In the United States, Cincinnati lawyer Charles Keating, Jr., stated: “The spread of pornography has reached epidemic proportions in our country.”
Writing in McCall’s magazine, Myra Mannes declared: “We have, in short, now reached a state in our society when anything goes, where all is permitted, and where no limits are placed on the appetites of the individual, on the gratification of their desires and fantasies.”
There has also been a huge increase in pornographic films, plays and sex shows. These feature nudity, suggested or actual fornication, lesbianism, homosexuality and violence or masochism..