Pornography

Report Outline
Agitation for Controls
Evolving Legal Concepts
‘High-Tech’ Pornography
Special Focus

Agitation for Controls

Coming Report by Attorney General's Panel

Only a few years ago pornographic materials appeared on the verge of overcoming a long tradition of legal restraints and entering the mainstream of American culture. Main Street, it seemed at times, would soon resemble Times Square, where magazines and films depicting a bewildering variety of sexual activities are openly available. Pornographic films, once viewed mostly by the furtive patrons of seedy theaters, began showing up on videotape in millions of living rooms.

But a reaction against the explosive growth of the pornography business has set in. Things have gone too far, too fast for many people—liberals as well as conservatives. Pornography is becoming increasingly violent and more difficult to avoid, critics say. In addition, pornography is seen as a major source of income for organized crime, which allegedly controls a substantial portion of the industry. A variety of groups, from the Reagan administration to conservative and feminist organizations, argue that it is time to look at the way existing laws protect—or do not protect—the public from materials they consider harmful or immoral.

An important part of that re-examination is the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, appointed by Justice Department chief Edwin Meese III last year to study the “problem” of pornography. The commission is scheduled by early July to issue a report, which could be the foundation for new legal attacks on pornography. The report will be the first comprehensive federal investigation of pornography since 1970, when a presidential commission recommended repeal of existing obscenity laws.