 |
| This logo almost manages to be obscene. |
NOTE: This article continues my coverage of Ed Wood's When the Topic is Sex (BearManor Media, 2021).
The article: "The Movement." Originally published in Savage (Gallery/Pendulum), vol. 2, no. 2, June/July 1973. Credited to "Dick Trent."
Excerpt: "Some love does cause a measure of pain, in fact most true love does have that measure of pain. But once more the pain must turn to pleasure. How can one tell a dark cloud if there had never been a light cloud to measure that depth by? How can one tell real pleasure if there had not been pain or displeasure?"
 |
| A respectable-looking '70s sex book. |
Reflections: Generally, in the 1960s and 1970s, when people spoke about joining a "movement," they meant some social or political cause. Civil rights became a movement, for instance. Antiwar protesting became one, too, as did feminism, gay rights, and environmentalism. The term could also be applied to religion, as in the "Jesus movement" of charismatic Christianity.
It's unclear exactly what Ed Wood meant by the title of his 1973 article "The Movement," since the term is used only in the headline and then never again. What I can tell you for sure is that this story has little to do with politics or religion. Instead, the article seems to be about the willingness of young people to explore the wonderful world of sex, ignoring the warnings and prejudices of previous generations. America's youngsters just aren't satisfied with boring, missionary position sex. They want to try out different combinations and fetishes. The closest thing the article has to a thesis statement is: "Thus the sexual revolution was borne by the young who were strong willed enough to want to know . . . and were strong willed enough to do something about it."
Bob Blackburn has helpfully organized When the Topic is Sex into themed chapters, and he's placed "The Movement" into the section about sadomasochism. That's fair enough. S&M definitely gets some play here. As in previous articles, Ed assures us that the "pleasure from pain" fetish is quite common and normal. Sure, it can be taken too far, but there's no reason why it can't be part of a healthy sex life. Daring us to cast the first stone, Ed asks, "Who of us in the deep throes of the sexual act hasn't bitten the nipple of a lusty breast a bit too hard and caused the girl to squeal . . . ?" But "The Movement" is bigger than mere nipple-biting, so Eddie describes various things to try at home, including peeing on each other or riding your lover around like a horse.
For this article, Ed Wood quotes liberally from a book called The Sex-Life Letters (1972) by Dr. Harold Greenwald and his wife, Ruth Greenwald. It's a collection of letters from real people about their actual sexual lives. Now here is a book that has lived a double life of its own. Greenwald (1910-1999) was an eminent psychotherapist who was known for his expertise on the psychology of prostitutes. Consequently, there is an edition of The Sex-Life Letters from Crown Publishers that make it look like any other mainstream, respectable book about sex on the market in 1972.
But The Sex-Life Letters was rereleased the next year and branded "A Penthouse Book," referring to Bob Guccione's raunchy adult magazine. There's even a version that boldly declares it to be "from the pages of Forum." This was the Penthouse spinoff infamous for publishing letters from readers about their own alleged sexual experiences. These letters, dubious though they might have been, eventually proved popular enough to merit a spinoff of their own called Penthouse Letters. Maybe the respectable version of the Greenwalds' book didn't sell well enough, hence the rebranding.
Next: "The Housewife Lesbian" (1973)