Section A

Report

of

CHARLES H KEATING, Jr.,

Commissioner

COMMISSION ON OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY

September 30, 1970

REPORT OF

COMMISSIONER CHARLES H KEATING, JR.
COMMISSION ON OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY

Introduction

"The Congress finds that the traffic in obscenity

and pornography is a matter of national concern. "

This opening statement of Public Law 90-100 creating the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography is ample evidence that our nation is imperiled by a poison which is all-pervasive. Pornography is not new. But for centuries its invidious effects upon individuals and upon nations has been held in reasonable control by law.

There is good reason for such law, as Reo M. Christenson in an article "Censorship of Pornography? Yes" (The Progressive, September, 1970) writes:

...Sex and Culture by former Oxford Professor J. D.
Unwin, whose massive studies in eighty primitive and
civilized societies reveal a distinct correlation between

increasing sexual freedom and social decline. The more
sexually permissive a society becomes, Unwin says,
the less creative energy it exhibits and the slower its
movement toward rationality, philosophical speculation,
and advanced civilization.

Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin agrees with Unwin
that sexual restraints promote cultural progress; in The
American Sexual Revolution he contends that immoral
and anti-social behavior increased with cultural permis-
siveness toward the erotic sub-arts. In an article in
The New York Times magazine entitled "Why I Dislike
Western Civilization, " May 10, 1964, Arnold Toynbee
argued that a culture which postpones rather than

Because of the excellence of this article, I have appended it in full as Exhibit "A" to my Report.

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stimulates sexual experience in young adults is a
culture most prone to progress.

In another article in The New York Times magazine,
Bruno Bettelheim, the noted psychoanalyst, recently
observed: "If a society does not taboo sex, children will
grow up in relative sex freedom. But so far, history
has shown that such a society cannot create culture or
civilization, it remains primitive." Sorokin asserts
"... there is no example of a community which has
retained its high position on the cultural scale after less
rigorous sexual customs have replaced more restricting
ones."

In slightly less than two centuries of existence, the United States
has developed from a frontier nation to a position of predominance in the
world in commerce and industry, as well as in the arts and sciences.
It is no mere coincidence that this period of unparalleled progress was
one in which the rule of law prevailed. The fact that we enjoyed a
"Government of Laws and not of Men" provided the intellectual and
cultural climate in which the American could develop his talents and the
resources of his country to their respective peaks. Throughout our history,
we have been successful in adapting and shaping our laws to meet the
changing circumstances of the times. Our law has been a living thing,

a constant companion which has served us well as our nation came into its maturity. Our tradition and, in fact, our genius has been the adaptation of our laws to meet the challenges of the times. To renounce law as a solution is to abandon our heritage.

Against the general background of the history of nations and against the specific background of the history of the United States, it is apparent the laws prohibiting obscenity and pornography have played an important

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role in the creativity and excellence of our system and our society--these

laws have played an important part in our people coming so far and achieving

so much.

Accordingly, it seems incredible to this writer that the majority

of the Presidential Commission appointed under Public Law 90-100 opts for a "Danish solution to the problem of pornography; namely, to remove the controls--to repeal the law.

The shocking and anarchistic recommendation of the majority is difficult to comprehend. It may help to enumerate the Federal laws and State statutes which the majority of this Commission--in spite of the lessons of history, in spite of the will of the overwhelming majority of the people of this nation, and in spite of the circumstances of our times -specifically recommend to be repealed; namely:

18 United States Code, Sections 1461, 1462, 1464, 1465;

19 United States Code, Section 1305;

39 United States Code, Section 4006. s;

Ala. Code, Ch. 64A, Section 374 (4):

Alaska Stats., Title 11, Section 11.40. 160;

Ariz. Rev. Stats., Title 13, Section 13-532;

Ark. Stats., Vol. 4, Ch. 27, Sections 41-2702, 2703, 2704;

Calif. West's Ann. Code, Ch. 75, Section 311. 2;

Colo. Rev. Stats., Vol. 3, Sections 40-9-16, -17, -18;

Conn. Gen. Stats. Ann. Vol. 28, Title 53, Section 53-243;
Del. Code Ann., Vol. 7, Title 11, Section 711;

Fla. Stats. Ann., Vol. 22A, Section 847.011;

Ga. Code Ann., Title 26, Section 26-2101;

Hawaii Rev. Laws, Ch. 267, Section 267-8;

Ida. Gen. Laws, Vol. 4, Ch. 15, Section 18-1507 and
18-4101 (3), (4), and (5):

Ill. Hurd Ann. Stats., CH. 38, Section 11-20:

Ind. Stats. Ann., Vol. 4, Ch. 6, Section 9-601 (2085) Fifth,

and Section 9-604 (2088) (b): Ch. 28, Section 10-2803; Iowa Code Ann., Vol. 55, Section 725. 3, .5, .6;