Playboy and Penthouse magazines are among 48 adult-themed
magazines that will no longer be available at army and air force
exchanges. A total of 291 publications will be removed from shelves in
these stores.
According to The Telegraph, Morality in Media, an
anti-pornography group, considers this “a great victory,” against sexual
exploitation in the military. However, store operators say removing
adult magazines is a result of dropping sales, not pressure from
anti-pornography activists.
Oddly, the decision to not carry adult magazines came right after
the Department of Defense released a letter saying that Penthouse,
Playboy, and other sex-themed magazines were allowed to be sold in the
stores, as they were not “sexually explicit.”
Chris Ward, a spokesman for the Army and Air Force Exchange
Service, said that this decision will allow more room for products that
sell more quickly than adult magazines. He said that sales of adult
magazines have declined 86% since 1998.
Mortality in Media spokesperson Iris Somberg said, “We had
military families calling us after seeing porn on the shelves. The
exchanges are supposed to be a safe place for families to go do their
shopping.”
The change will not completely ban adult magazines from bases, as
military personnel can still purchase magazines elsewhere and bring
them onto base. Additionally, access to online pornography will not be
impacted.
Despite the limits of the policy change, Somberg feels that not
selling the sex-themed magazines in the exchanges is step in the right
direction. He claims that having these adult magazines in military
stores contributes to the culture of sexual exploitation and assault,
high profile problems that the military has been trying to address for
years. “The joint chiefs of staff said we need to change the culture.
One way to do that is to not have this material sold on base.”
With these bans in place, where will our troops go for porn? Source
