Stimulus Response?

This is the cover of a 1930s pinup magazine. Sweet. Demure. Not the kind of thing you might expect to find in today's adult entertainment world. Yet there is something on the cover of this magazine that is much more radical - way more out there - than anything you'd probably find at your adult book store today. It's so subtle you could miss it. Mick Farren at Adult Video News nearly missed it when he happened upon some Cupids' Capers covers. It's a little blue eagle under the S in Capers. What is it? Take a look:

The blue eagle was a symbol of the National Recovery Administration and its presence on a product was supposed to signify compliance with the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. According to Farren's AVN article:

The NRA blue eagle (in fact a stylized thunderbird) became the trusted logo of the New Deal all across the country. Stores displayed it on their doors and in their front windows to show they supported Roosevelt and his efforts to save the nation. Manufacturers began using the blue eagle on their products and packaging. It became a powerful symbol of the trust and loyalty that FDR enjoyed among American workers in the hungry 1930s, and created the impression that everyone, on all levels of society, was united in a common purpose as they crawled out from the economic wreckage. Even the publishers of Cupid’s Capers were pitching in and doing their soft-porn bit for the national recovery, if only by keeping the working stiff happy.

I cannot imagine the kind of unity today developing around any government program. But lets say it began to. Let's say a sort of fragile but growing sense of solidarity was building up around a smart set of plans to address our current crisis. And let's say that solidarity was demonstrated by the adoption of a government-designed symbol like the blue eagel above. I imagine that the moment copies of Hustler or Penthouse or Vivid Videos appeared with the logo on it that solidarity would crumble. The absexual conservatives would give impassioned speeches branding supporters of the program with labels like pervert and pedophile. The liberals who supported the program from the start would scapegoat the sex industry and blame them for tearing apart the nascent sense of unity. And no doubt it would never come to pass because the adult industry would remain out of the fray in the first place, recognizing that it's chances to survive and be profitable are maximized by playing by the rules and keeping out of public debates. Which is a shame really because just reinforces the notion that the only way to speak publicly about sex is in negative ways, emphasizing conflict and danger instead of pleasure and exploration.

We have a lot to learn by examining history, including archival girlie magazines. Anyone up for a trip to the library?

Cupid's Caper cover found on Ebay.

NRA Blue Eagel found on Wikipedia.

A tip of the hat to Debbie Nathan for alerting me to the AVN article.