YVONNE DE CARLO
Yvonne De Carlo died a few days ago. Her death reminded me of the huge changes that have occurred in American and western culture since my youth. My youth took place in the 1940s in San Francisco.
In that era getting a picture of a naked lady was rare. A boyhood friend told me he found a nudist magazine which he managed to keep hidden for years. I was never so lucky.
Porn? A couple of times I saw these little eight page, black and white, comic books that showed cartoon characters ‘getting it on.’ They had to be passed on and returned to the owner. That was the limit of porn, although I had heard stories that more existed somewhere.
Archie comic books were popular because you could see the outline of Betty’s and Veronica’s bodies through their clothing. Wild, huh? The movie magazines always had the sexiest pictures. I got a picture of Doris Day in a tight swim suit. I kept it a long time.
But the best was Yvonne De Carlo. She was the most daring. There was one picture in which she appeared to be nude under a sheer nightgown. That was a keeper.
I mention all this because if you hadn’t lived it you probably wouldn’t believe it. The differences today are absolutely enormous. To think that such changes in the availability of soft and hard core porn will not have an effect on everyday life is delusional. I am not preaching anything. I take no position that this is good or bad. What I do say is that these enormous changes are being ignored as possible cause and effect of other changes in western lifestyle.
I wrote a piece called Sex in America last November in which I describe how researchers into diminishing testosterone in men did not even think about the increased availability of porn as a cause. They confessed to being clueless.
Here’s an article from the Denver Post about how Americans spend more time with the computer that their spouses.
Here’s a study about lower birth rates.
Here’s a story from the N Y Times about more women living without husbands than with.
It’s all pretty interesting. I wonder if there’s any connection.
In that era getting a picture of a naked lady was rare. A boyhood friend told me he found a nudist magazine which he managed to keep hidden for years. I was never so lucky.
Porn? A couple of times I saw these little eight page, black and white, comic books that showed cartoon characters ‘getting it on.’ They had to be passed on and returned to the owner. That was the limit of porn, although I had heard stories that more existed somewhere.
Archie comic books were popular because you could see the outline of Betty’s and Veronica’s bodies through their clothing. Wild, huh? The movie magazines always had the sexiest pictures. I got a picture of Doris Day in a tight swim suit. I kept it a long time.
But the best was Yvonne De Carlo. She was the most daring. There was one picture in which she appeared to be nude under a sheer nightgown. That was a keeper.
I mention all this because if you hadn’t lived it you probably wouldn’t believe it. The differences today are absolutely enormous. To think that such changes in the availability of soft and hard core porn will not have an effect on everyday life is delusional. I am not preaching anything. I take no position that this is good or bad. What I do say is that these enormous changes are being ignored as possible cause and effect of other changes in western lifestyle.
I wrote a piece called Sex in America last November in which I describe how researchers into diminishing testosterone in men did not even think about the increased availability of porn as a cause. They confessed to being clueless.
Here’s an article from the Denver Post about how Americans spend more time with the computer that their spouses.
Here’s a study about lower birth rates.
Here’s a story from the N Y Times about more women living without husbands than with.
It’s all pretty interesting. I wonder if there’s any connection.
posted by Walter Guest at 5:17 PM
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