RELEASE OF BOOK

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31023, 31 March 1966, Page 11

RELEASE OF BOOK

Church Paper Critical The recent release by the Indecent Publications Tribunal of “The Perfumed Garden” for unrestricted sale is condemned by the Anglican newspaper “Church and People” in an editorial article. The decision gives grounds for wondering whether what has so far seemed enlightened liberality is not in fact ivorytower intellectualism, the article says. “We would ask if the tribunal remembers how the Act defines indecency. Frank treatment of sex is not in itself indecent, and “The Perfumed Garden’ could be accepted as a literary curiosity or as a manual on sexual enjoyment without necessarily being regarded as obscene were it not that the Act defines an indecent work as one ‘. . . describing, depicting, expressing or otherwise dealing with matters of sex, horror, crime, cruelty, or violence in a manner that is injurious to the public good.’

“In our view free sale of “The Perfumed Garden’ is inj jurious to the public good for the following three reasons: it would arouse the sexual passions of young people who have no legitimate means of finding release, and could well lead them into sexual adventures; it divorces sexual enjoyment from all other personal relationships, setting it up as something to be pursued for itself alone; it could lead young brides and grooms to attempt exotic experimentation at a time in the marriage when adjustment to a new way of life calls 'or moderation and gentleness. “Of he tribunal members only Professor Gordon saw any danger in making this book freely available. No-one else agreed with him. We suggest they read the Indecent Publications Act,” the article says.