House Select Committee On Current Pornographic Materials
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The House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials, commonly known as the Gathings Committee, was a
select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...
of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
which was active in 1952 and 1953. Representative
Ezekiel C. Gathings Ezekiel Candler "Took" Gathings (November 10, 1903 – May 2, 1979) was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas, representing Arkansas' First Congressional District from 1939 to 1969. A segregationist conservative, Gathings was an ally of Strom T ...
,
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
from
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, was its chairman, appointed by
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Sam Rayburn Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961) was an American politician who served as the 43rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a three-time House speaker, former House majority leader, two-time ...
. H. Ralph Burton was the committee's
general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
. Representative Gathings was troubled by the contents of the pulp literature,
paperback book A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...
s and
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s he saw on local newsstands, in particular Tereska Torres' 1950 bestseller ''
Women's Barracks ''Women's Barracks: The Frank Autobiography of a French Girl Soldier'' is a classic work of lesbian pulp fiction by French writer Tereska Torrès published in 1950. Historians credit it as the first US paperback-original bestseller, as the firs ...
'' and its cover, worried that they would stimulate young people to commit
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
. The committee formed in reaction to the book's popularity and used it as an example of how paperback books "promoted moral degeneracy". Gaithings launched a Congressional investigation into the paperback book industry, becoming so
zealous The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First J ...
that he earned the mockery of some
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
s. In addition to ''Women's Barracks'', other books investigated by the committee were ''
The Tormented ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'', ''
Spring Fire ''Spring Fire'', is a 1952 paperback novel written by Marijane Meaker, under the pseudonym "Vin Packer". It is the first lesbian paperback novel, and the beginning of the lesbian pulp fiction genre; it also addresses issues of conformity in 1950 ...
'', '' Unmoral'', '' Forbidden'', ''
Artist's Model An art model poses, often nude, for visual artists as part of the creative process, providing a reference for the human body in a work of art. As an occupation, modeling requires the often strenuous ' physical work' of holding poses for the requ ...
'', and ''
The Wayward Bus ''The Wayward Bus'' is a novel by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1947. The novel's epigraph is a passage from 15th-century English play ''Everyman (15th-century play), Everyman'', with its archaic English intact; the quotation refe ...
''. The Committee began its investigation in 1952 and issued its report in 1953. The report alleged that 100 million
obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
comic books were sold in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
each month, that one in ten American men read
girlie magazine This is a list of magazines primarily marketed to men. The list has been split into subcategories according to the target audience of the magazines. This list includes mostly mainstream magazines as well as adult ones. Not included here are autom ...
s, and that these were problems calling for
censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
on the Federal level. The chief result of the report was to turn Gathings into a
laughing stock ''Laughing Stock'' is the fifth and final studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1991. Following their previous release '' Spirit of Eden'' (1988), bassist Paul Webb left the group, which reduced Talk Talk to the duo of singer/mul ...
. Torres' book was not banned nationwide in the US because the publisher, Fawcett Gold Medal, agreed to add a narrator who commented disapprovingly on the characters' behavior so as to "teach moral lessons" about the "problem" of lesbianism. The publicity from the government investigation prompted the book's second edition.


References


Further reading

*"No Witch Hunt," ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' (7 July 1952): 80; *W. W. Wade, "Libraries and Intellectual Freedom," in ''
Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...
1954 Yearbook'' (New York: Collier, 1954), p. 334. *James Stuart Olson, "Gathings Committee", in ''Historical Dictionary of the 1950s'', (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000; ), p
109
*
David Hajdu David Hajdu (; born March 1955) is an American columnist, author and professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was the music critic for ''The New Republic'' for 12 years and is music editor at ''The Nation''. Biography ...
, "The ten-cent plague"
bookforum.com
accessed July 15, 2010 *United States House of Representatives,
Report of the Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials
', 82d. Congress, House Report No. 2510 (Government Printing Office, serial 11578, December 31, 1952) *U.S. Congress, House, Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials,
Investigation of Literature Allegedly Containing Objectionable Material: Hearings before the Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials
', December 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 1952,
82nd Congress The 82nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1 ...
, 2nd session. {{Authority control Current Pornographic Materials Sex crimes in the United States Censorship in the United States American pornography 1952 establishments in Washington, D.C. 1953 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.