The
Government vs Erotica
The Siege of Adam & Eve
By: Philip D. Harvey
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Page Count: 296pp
Size: 9.3 x 6.3
Notes: Hardcover
Date Published: 2001
Available from: Amazon.com,and
your favorite local bookseller.
What can you do when government prosecutors,
in their zeal to impose their own moral agenda, attempt to crush
your First Amendment rights, trampling a host of other constitutional
rights in the process? If your name is Phil Harvey, you fight back.
The Government vs. Erotica is the true story of on company that fought
- and won - over our governemtn's efforts to silence its freedom
of expression. The outcome of that battle affects the constitutionally
protected rights of all of us.
From Publishers Weekly
Harvey traces the various prosecutions (beginning in 1986) of his
company, Adam & Eve, which started as a mail-order supplier
of condoms, then branched into the distribution of adult films
and sexual paraphernalia. This expansion may have been a mistake,
since Adam & Eve was headquartered in North Carolina, and the
Supreme Court had established that a jury must apply contemporary
community standards when determining whether an item was obscene.
Fortunately, Harvey obtained excellent legal help and ultimately
prevailed, though at great cost. Although presented from the defendant's
point of view, the account of the political and legal landscape
behind these prosecutions is fair. Harvey's defense of the sexually
explicit material sold by Adam & Eve is equally spirited, but
somewhat less convincing. He contends that sexually explicit material
as long as it is consensual and nonviolent is harmless, even salubrious,
but even Harvey clearly senses the limitations of the sexually
explicit. When the jury is asked to watch six hours of adult films,
he concedes, "I am acutely embarrassed in this context, with
the jurors forced to watch all this material in our presence and
in the company of each other." Equally facile is the condemnation
of world religions: "Organized religion has caused more
mischief in the world than it has done good." Despite these
shortcomings, Harvey writes engagingly and provides an excellent
anecdotal way to get a handle on the ongoing pornography debate.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Readers concerned about free speech will enjoy this surprisingly
involving tale of the Reagan administration's effort to shut down
a North Carolina "adult" mail-order firm. Harvey started
his mail-order business, in part, to fund nonprofit work in international
family planning; over the years, it added erotic material in response
to customer interest. In 1986, 37 law enforcement officials, including
postal inspectors from several states, raided the company and interrogated
all employees. In 1987, the firm was acquitted in Alamance County
(NC), but the Department of Justice's National Obscenity Enforcement
Unit still threatened federal prosecution in North Carolina and
Utah (and later Alabama). But Harvey's company filed suit against
the DOJ, and learned its problems were part of "Operation
Postporn," an effort to drive major "adult" mail-order
companies out of business by targeting them for prosecution in
multiple jurisdictions. DOJ lawyers knew most of the material these
businesses were selling didn't violate the Supreme Court's obscenity
standards, but they happily destroyed several firms by threatening
long prison sentences--until Harvey turned the tables. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Excerpt:
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