(4) "If Playboy's approach to sex
is sound, then perhaps we are guilty of simply placing too much emphasis
on it. …Playboy…is edited solely for the young
urban male, who naturally has a little more interest
in sex and pretty girls than does a general or family
audience. We try to edit Playboy with the adult directness of a
good foreign
film, the spice and fun of a Broadway show.”
(5) " Actually, the monthly conversation that
we hold with our readers is similar to one men have
always had among themselves—in both content and emphasis—and
have not been noticeably corrupted by. In fact, if the secret
psyche of the typical young adult male could be probed,
we suspect that we probably err in the direction
of less emphasis on sex than the average, rather
than more. What the very existence of Playboy means is that there
is a publication in which young men's attitudes towards
life and love can be publicly aired. And a perusal of any average
issue will assure the concerned, we think, that there isn't nearly
the preoccupation with sex in Playboy that one might assume by listening
to the typical critic.”
(6) “A concern for the
country's children has often been used as an excuse for
censorship in the past—certain words, ideas, pictures, stories
or subjects might have a negative effect upon a
young, impressionable mind— might turn our children into a
community of juvenile delinquents—or so the
thinking went. And there was no less an authority than J. Edgar Hoover
supplying suitable statements about the multimillion-dollar pornography
business in the U.S. and its effect upon the nation's youth.
Unfortunately, J. Edgar has always been something of a
nut on the subject of sex, and while his words carry the impact
of his important position as head of the FBI, he is not an expert on the
subject—is not in fact, even acquainted with some of the most fundamental
research in the area. Hoover’s statements notwithstanding, there is no
multimillion-dollar pornography business in the U.S. Pornography
has never become a well-organized national or even regional operation simply
because, unlike gambling and dope, there simply isn't enough profit in
it to make it worthwhile.
Moreover, experts in the field of human behavior have never been
able to find any causal relationship between reading
habits and delinquency and do not believe that any exists—except
that delinquents are apt to read fewer books and magazines of all kinds than
their non-delinquent brothers. In the most thorough studies of crime, delinquency
and their causes, reading habits have not even been included
as a possible factor because of the recognition by experts that no correlation
exists. But some citizens like to believe statements like Hoover's because
they take part of the blame off the real, primary culprit—the home
environment for which the citizen himself is responsible.”
Continue—Playboy
