The Meese Report (named for

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980� ...

), officially the ''Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography'', is the result of an investigation into

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

ordered by

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. It was published in July 1986 and contains 1,960 pages. The following people composed the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (commonly called the Meese Commission): * Henry E. Hudson,

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

* Diane D. Cusack * Park Elliott Dietz *

James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelicalism, evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the m ...

* Father Bruce Ritter * Frederick Schauer * Deanne Tilton-Durfee * Judith V. Becker * Ellen Levine * Edward J. Garcia * Tex Lezar * Alan E. Sears The report is divided into five parts and 35 chapters and details most aspects of the pornography industry, including the history of pornography and the extent of

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

protections. The report also documents what the committee found to be the harmful effects of pornography and connections between pornographers and

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

. The report was criticized by many inside and outside the pornography industry, calling it biased, not credible, and inaccurate. The report along with revised prosecution tactics under Attorney General Meese was effective in reducing pornography markets in some jurisdictions prior to the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. The "Meese Report" was preceded by the report of presidents

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

's and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which was published in 1970 and recommended loosening the legal restrictions on pornography.

''Playboy v. Meese''

Prior to the Report's release, Meese Commission chairman Alan Sears sent letters on Commission letterhead to the heads of 23 convenience store chains and other companies, declaring that the Commission would find that they were distributors of pornography and threatening that they would be listed as such in the final ''Report''. In fact, the list of purported distributors had been identified by Donald Wildmon, the head of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

advocacy organization that later became the

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. The letters triggered several companies to remove such common

softcore pornography Softcore pornography or softcore porn is commercial still photography, film, imagery, or even audio that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic or intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of sexual p ...

magazines as ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' and '' Penthouse'' from store shelves. The

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to ...

, the Council for Periodical Distributors Associations, the Magazine Publishers of America, and the publishers of ''Playboy'' and ''Penthouse'' sued, arguing that the letters constituted

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

and were forbidden under the

. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed, leading it to admonish the Commission, order it to withdraw the letter, and forbid it to issue any list of retailers in the report.

References

{{reflist

External links

Full text via Hathi Trust Digital LibraryThe Obscene, Disgusting, and Vile Meese Commission Report
by Pat Califia, an essay criticizing The Meese Report
Politics and Pornography: A Comparison of the Findings of the President's Commission and the Meese Commission and the Resulting Response
by David M. Edwards

first published in the Proletarian Revolution No. 27 (Winter 1987) by the League for the Revolutionary Party (New York City).

by Edwin McDowell (October 21, 1986)

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

.
Group lashes out at 'censorship' movement
by Brian Fuller, UPI Archives, July 14, 1986. United States pornography law 1986 in the United States 1986 documents Reports of the United States government Presidency of Ronald Reagan

''Playboy v. Meese''

See also

References

External links