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thedrifter
09-09-07, 06:23 PM
Anti-porn groups decry exchange sale policy
By Karen Jowers - kjowers@militarytimes.com
Posted : September 17, 2007

Upset that the Pentagon allows military exchanges to sell adult magazines such as Penthouse, Celebrity Skin, Playboy’s Vixens and others, more than 40 anti-pornography groups plan to appeal to the Pentagon inspector general.

“The question of selling pornography in military exchanges has been decided by Congress, and the Department of Defense cannot change the law,” said Patrick Trueman, special counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian public interest law firm that is one of the signatories to a May 4 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials said concerns about “adult sophisticate” materials represent a small portion of complaints to AAFES.

Last year, 27 comments — less than 0.2 percent of the 16,344 comments AAFES received — expressed dissatisfaction with the material, spokesman Judd Anstey said. One customer asked for an expanded assortment.

Penthouse returned to military exchanges this summer after a 10-year hiatus forced when a Pentagon review board banned it as sexually explicit. But the anti-porn groups weren’t spurred by Penthouse alone; other magazines such as Playboy, were not originally banned but are still on the groups’ target list.

Based on a Pentagon rule in late 2006 that allowed banned material to be reviewed every five years, Penthouse was reviewed this spring and reinstated, along with Playgirl and Ultra for Men. Hustler was reviewed again, along with 14 other publications that were deemed to be sexually explicit and will remain banned.

But there has been no change in the law or the Pentagon board’s definitions of “sexually explicit.”

Rather, the change was in the magazine, Penthouse Publisher Diane Silberstein said. New owners who took over in 2004 have worked to recreate Penthouse based on the magazine’s “original DNA” at its launch in 1969.

They hired two research firms, which collected data showing that although men do want to see young women in their entirety, they want more glamour shots, Penthouse representatives said.

“Men are attracted to the magazine by beautiful women ... and stay because they want to read the articles,” she said. They didn’t revamp the magazine in an effort specifically to get it back into military exchanges, she said, but simply “created the best magazine for the marketplace.”

However, she noted, Penthouse “has had a long relationship with the military.” The magazine wrote about issues confronting veterans after the Vietnam War, such as Agent Orange exposure.

“We’re also doing a number of articles to support returning vets” of the current wars, she said, to include an in-depth article on debt in the military.

“Penthouse is thrilled to be back on military bases,” she said. By July, it was back in more than 500 exchange outlets worldwide, including in the Afghanistan and Iraq combat zones. Sales figures are not available yet.

Penthouse was one of more than 200 publications banned in the late 1990s by the newly formed Resale Activities Board of Review as a result of the 1996 Military Honor and Decency Act, which prohibits the sale of “sexually explicit material,” to include audio recordings, films, videos or periodicals, in military resale outlets.

Sexually explicit material is defined as having “as a dominant theme the depiction or description of nudity, including sexual or excretory activities or organs, in a lascivious way.”

The law does not affect troops’ ability to buy adult material in stores outside installations or to purchase subscriptions.

In response to the groups’ complaints, Leslye Arsht, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy, wrote that the board reviewed Celebrity Skin, Penthouse, Perfect 10, Playboy, Playboy’s College Girls, Playboy’s Lingerie, Nude, Nude Playmates and Playmates in Bed — “and determined that, based solely on the totality of each magazine’s content, they were not sexually explicit.”

As such, their sale in exchanges “is permissible,” Arsht wrote in a letter to the groups last month.

At press time, defense officials had no comment on how many magazines and other materials have been reviewed since defense officials decided late last year that publishers could request a new review once they had been banned for five years.

The board’s interpretation makes “no sense,” Trueman said. The Alliance Defense Fund and the other groups contend that Playboy, Penthouse, Perfect 10, and a host of other publications and videos sold in the exchanges are prohibited.

“Who reviews the review board? I wonder if there are any military wives on this review board,” he said. “You hear people say, ‘I only buy it for the articles,’ but who believes that?”How could a person with any ... common sense say these are not sexually explicit?” he asked. “The Department of Defense feels awkward about taking porn away from service members.”

Ellie

erased
09-09-07, 06:39 PM
How much time are these people spending in exchanges that it directly affects them? Are you so ashamed of human nudity that you don't think anyone should be able to view it? If you don't want to see it, who cares? Don't look at it. If the Marines (and other servicemembers) want to be able to buy this stuff on base, they should be able to.

"I wonder if there are any military wives on this review board"

Holy crap. What does that have to do with anything? My wife has exactly zero say in what I find to be socially and morally acceptable. She (like many Marine wives) spends next to no time in the exchange and should have next to no say in what kind of magazines they carry.

That being said, good post, TheDrifter.

thedrifter
09-09-07, 06:46 PM
What bothers me is the material is ALWAYS in Plastic Wrap that You can't read them till You are out the store....

So what is the real problem....;)

I have no problem with both husbands reading the articles....;) :D

I sometime do...and buy them for their research...

Ellie

Phantom Blooper
09-09-07, 07:04 PM
I find these anti-groups position decrying and deplorable....these magazines show some very good positions and thats my professional opinion.

Some people have nothing better to do but to protest something! So I'm jumpin' on the bandwagon and soapbox I'm protesting them!:beer:

:evilgrin:

ZSKI
09-09-07, 09:13 PM
Taking away our porn is like taking away our cigarettes. There would be alot of ****ed of marines

thedrifter
09-17-07, 03:28 PM
Board reviewing racy magazines remains anonymous
DoD won’t reveal names of those on panel
By Karen Jowers - kjowers@militarytimes.com
Posted : September 24, 2007

Defense officials won’t reveal the names of the members of the board that reviews sexually explicit materials for sale in military exchanges, nor will they say exactly how many people currently serve on it.

But in its nine years of existence, the board has included active, reserve and retired service members; military spouses; members of dual-military couples; and Defense Department civilian employees, said Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, who added that the current roster includes both men and women.

According to the Defense Department instruction governing the operations of what is formally known as the Resale Activities Board of Review, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness is responsible for appointing the members, who include senior representatives from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the Navy Exchange Service Command and the Marine Corps Exchange Service.

A senior representative from each of the military departments also can be appointed if the branch of service designates someone.

Officials declined to allow interviews with any of the board members. Even an interview granted on the condition of anonymity “has the potential to compromise the identity of board members and their deliberative processes,” Melnyk said.

The board is in the news because more than 40 anti-pornography groups plan to appeal to the Pentagon Inspector General because they are upset that the Pentagon allows the military exchanges to sell adult magazines such as Penthouse and Celebrity Skin, said Patrick Trueman, special counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian public interest law firm.

The groups signed a May 4 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates protesting the sale of a number of magazines, some of which were recently reinstated after having been banned for a number of years. The most recognizable title is Penthouse.

“The board’s interpretations make no sense,” Trueman said.

The groups contend the board is not following the requirements of the original 1996 Military Honor and Decency Act, which banned the sale of “sexually explicit” materials on military bases.

Trueman said the names of all board members should be made public, along with information about their backgrounds.

Defense officials declined to elaborate on the board’s decision-making process, though Melnyk did go so far as to say that when its members carry out their reviewing duties, they vote by secret ballot on whether to ban or allow specific titles.

Of the Pentagon’s secrecy about most of the board’s workings, Melnyk said, “We have to strike a balance. The department is committed to upholding both the Military Honor and Decency Act and publishers’ and readers’ First Amendment protections, which the men and women of the United States armed forces defend every day.”

He said board members are “very disciplined in adhering to the definitions in the [Defense Department] instructions as to what constitutes ‘sexually explicit.’”

Members also “have counsel available for consultation, if needed,” he said.

Since the announcement late last year that the Pentagon would allow banned material to be reviewed every five years, the board has reviewed 15 items submitted for reconsideration, Melynk said.

Only two previously banned titles — Penthouse and Playgirl — were approved for sale in the exchanges once again, based on recent revisions to their format and content, he said.

Since the board was first established in 1998 to implement the 1996 law, it has reviewed 473 titles and determined that 319, or 67 percent, were sexually explicit.

Some 304 periodicals and 169 video and audio titles have been reviewed, with 263 periodicals and 56 audio and video titles being banned from sale.

Not surprisingly, the board’s busiest period of activity was in 1998, when it was first formed and had to review all adult materials then being sold in exchanges. It now meets on an “as-needed” basis when there are new materials to be reviewed, Melnyk said.

After the law was passed, it was contested in court by the former publishers of Penthouse, but was upheld by the Supreme Court. The law does not affect troops’ ability to buy adult material in stores outside installations or to purchase subscriptions.

Ellie

SkilletsUSMC
09-17-07, 05:08 PM
Only two previously banned titles — Penthouse and Playgirl — were approved for sale in the exchanges once again, based on recent revisions to their format and content, he said.

:scared: :sick:

3077India
09-17-07, 05:53 PM
If these Anti-Porn Groups don't like porn, I have some advice for them - DON'T LOOK AT IT, but don't infringe upon the rights of those who do want to look at it. Just because they don't want to look at it or, by its presence, be tempted:nerd: by it, doesn't mean they should do what they can to keep those who want it from having access to it.

erased
09-17-07, 07:25 PM
I'm shocked that there are actually 40+ anti-porn groups out there. I wonder if these people are ashamed of their own nude reflection in the mirror.

Nudity is unnatural. If God wanted us to be naked, we'd be born... oh... nevermind.