tion programs in the schools. It has also engendered sensitivities which have made it very difficult to conduct empirical research to evaluate the consequences of sex education. Such opposition has also, however, forced the advocates of sex education in the schools to assess their programs more critically and to recognize the need for more empirical research data about the consequences of these programs as well as the need for education of parents and the general public.

It is increasingly apparent that parents, as well as children, are in need of adequate information about sexuality. Education of parents may help to bridge the communication gap between them and their children and thereby reduce some of the burden of sex education on other institutions.

Institutions other than the school are now recognizing the need for more adequate sex education and are beginning to assume responsibilities in this area. This is particularly true of religious institutions. A number of national religious organizations have begun to discuss sexuality seriously and several are active in producing and disseminating sex education materials.

At the present time, the amount, and frequently the quality, of sex education available to young people is limited. However, to the extent that interest in erotica on the part of young people is motivated by natural curiosity and the desire to know more about sex, sex education would appear to be potentially powerful in reducing this interest and thereby decreasing the possibility of exposure to misinformation or information outside of its proper context. Sex education programs also offer the opportunity for parents, school, and church to cooperate in helping to form within the individual a set of positive values and attitudes toward sexuality.

Organized citizen action groups can be a positive force in dealing with obscenity and pornography, though limited empirical information now exists regarding the structure and methods of operation of groups organized around such issues. The studies which do exist of such groups point up both their strengths and weaknesses.

The hypothesis has been offered that citizen action groups tend to arise when the formal and informal sanction systems that have previously inhibited traffic in explicit sexual materials no longer effectively operate. A further hypothesis has been offered which suggests that the actions of these groups and the motives of their members may be interpreted as an attempt to reinforce and reinstate value systems and behavioral standards which are perceived to be disintegrating. Because a number of people will no longer voluntarily subscribe to these systems and conform to these standards under the pressure of informal sanctions, an attempt is made to arouse the community to a reaffirmation of values and standards in this area and to formalize them with new external sanction systems, usually in the form of new laws or prosecutions under existing laws. An intensive analysis of two citizen action groups supports these hypotheses.

A national survey of prosecuting attorneys revealed that citizen action. groups organized to deal with obscenity and pornography were much more often. reported to exist in large cities and in communities where the traffic in porno

graphy was generally perceived to be a serious problem rather than in smaller cities or in communities where pornography was not at that time so perceived.

Prosecuting attorneys are quite divided in their opinions of the helpfulness to law enforcement of citizen action groups. A slight majority feels that these groups are helpful, but a very large minority feels that they are not of much help. The important factor determining whether they are helpful or not appears to be whether the group is representative of the total community and not whether pornography is perceived as a problem in the community. The more representative of the total community the group is, the more likely it is to be considered helpful. About one quarter of the prosecuting attorneys report that the citizen action group in their community is very representative of their community's opinions, somewhat more than half of the prosecutors report that it is fairly representative, and about 20% report that it is not very representative.

These law enforcement officials report that citizen action groups can be helpful to them by locating and reporting obscenity law violators, communicating to merchants about the nonacceptability of certain kinds of materials in the local community, and alerting the community to the problem. However, they also report that these groups tend to hinder law enforcement by not knowing what the law is, by pressing for action that is unwarranted, and by overzealousness in attempting to impose their own standards on the total community.

Members of citizen action groups tend to feel that there is widespread community support for their position, whether this is true or not. Those individuals who want the most restrictions on the availability of these materials, even when they are a minority, tend to think that most others in the community want the same degree of restriction.

Evaluating the effectiveness of citizen action groups organized against pornography is relatively difficult because their goals tend to be amorphous and ill-defined. An intensive study of two such groups that were evaluated as successful by their members indicated that their practical effect on the availability of erotica in their respective communities had been quite minimal. This research suggests that citizen action groups may be more successful as symbols than as effective tools. It is important to the participants to demonstrate belief in and support for an enduring set of basic values in the face of threatened change.

In summary, citizen action groups more frequently arise in communities where informal sanction systems and voluntary compliance are no longer effective in controlling the flow of explicit sexual materials. They can seriously interfere with the availability of legitimate materials in a community by generating an overly repressive atmosphere and by using harrassment in seeking to implement their goals. However, they can be effective if they genuinely reflect the opinion of the community and if they pursue specific, positive, well-defined, constructive goals.

Most of the mass communication media attempt some sort of self-regulation. This is usually voluntary and overtly aimed at protecting consumers; often, it is designed to ward off external threats of control or censorship. The usual vehicle

for self-regulation in the mass communication media is a voluntary code such as the Comic Magazine Code or the National Broadcasting Code. These usually specify the kinds of content that should not be included in that medium's operation. Particular concern is focused on the potential offensiveness of certain kinds of content and on protecting children and adolescents from possible harmful effects of exposure to themes and treatments of themes considered suitable only for adult consumption.

COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY

The comic book industry has maintained a code since 1954 specifying standards that must be met by each issue of each member publication. All material produced by each member must be submitted for review prior to publication. Any material that treats of obscenity, nudity, horror, and excessive violence is not acceptable for publication. One hundred seventy-nine comic publishers (90% of the industry) are members of the Comic Magazine Association and adhere to the industry code. Very few complaints have come to public notice during the past decade concerning the sexual content of children's comic books. The CMA has been commended for its vigilance in effective self-regulation by several national organizations concerned with the protection of children. During the past year or so several publications have appeared which treat explicit sexual themes in a comic book format. These are somewhat reminiscent of the "eight pagers" of the 1920s and 1930s. They are circulated clandestinely and are not available in the same racks as children's comic magazines. This situation illustrates one of the weaknesses of voluntary industry self-regulation; it is powerless to control noncompliance by nonmembers.

RADIO AND TELEVISION

The National Association of Broadcasters has long maintained radio and television codes as guidelines and standards against which all member stations are advised to review their programming and broadcasting practices. Circumspection is advised in dealing with adult themes. Profanity, obscenity, sexual material, and vulgarity are forbidden. Both codes stress that the broadcaster should develop programs which foster and promote the commonly accepted moral, social and ethical standards and ideals characteristic of American life. Both radio and television operate in a commercial system which causes them to be extremely responsive to what they interpret to be community sentiment regarding program content. The size of the audience is a crucial factor in determining advertising revenue and often determines whether a program remains on the air. The resulting quality of many programs illustrates the weaknesses inherent in such an approach.

MOTION PICTURES

The motion picture industry instituted a new attempt at self-regulation in November, 1968, when the motion picture rating system went into operation. This rating system was designed to inform potential consumers of the content of films and to inform parents as to the suitability of rated films for viewing by children and adolescents. It also incorporates some voluntary restrictions by

theaters regarding admittance of children and adolescents to certain films. The rating system is comprised of four categories of films, two without age restrictions and two with age restrictions on admissions. The explicitness of sexual content in a film and the amount and kinds of violence shown determine the rating that any particular film receives.

The movie rating system appears to be well known to the public, especially to that part of the public most frequently attending the movies. It also appears to be used a great deal by the public. A substantial majority of parents with children at home report using the ratings to select movies for their children. Formal observations of patrons at restricted movies reveal that very few underage persons attempt to enter these theaters. During the first 10 months of the rating system's existence, roughly 80% of the film features released were rated. Most of those that were not rated were minor films having limited distribution. Approximately 93% of the exhibitions of feature films advertised in newspapers in 40 cities throughout the United States in the summer of 1969 were accounted for by rated films. The movie rating system does not function with maximum efficiency, however. A study of newspaper advertising for movies revealed that the display of rating information was defective in almost half of the advertisements.

Comparisons of the industry's ratings of its movies with ratings given the same movies by other groups indicate that the industry ratings are not completely agreeable to everyone. This is not surprising, however, for not all of the nonindustry ratings are consistent with each other. Newspaper movie critics agreed with 70% of the industry's ratings and when they disagreed tended to think that the industry's ratings were too restrictive rather than too permissive. A comparison of industry ratings with the ratings of several other agencies revealed agreement in three-quarters of the cases, with the industry more permissive in approximately one-quarter of the cases. The greatest discrepancy in ratings was between the industry and the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures. The greatest degree of agreement with industry ratings was found with two municipal rating agencies, which by nature should be more representative of the wide range of viewpoints in society.

The weakest element in the rating procedure is probably the local enforcement of age restrictions for admission. Enforcement varies from theater to theater and tends to be least strict at drive-in theaters. Enforcement tends to be firm at "X" rated movies and at theaters which regularly show "adult" films.

The Commission has not been able to ascertain what impact, if any, this preventive form of self-regulation has had on creativity and innovation in the several forms of mass media considered here. It is very possible that selfregulation, often reinforced by pressures from a vigilant minority, not only sets up rules and internal procedures for deleting or blunting material deemed offensive, but also inhibits experimentation with new ideas, dampens response to social change, and limits the sources of cultural variety. Any final assessment of selfregulation must include a consideration of such possible consequences as a cost to be weighed against any advantages to be gained from the regulation of sensitive

materials.