testified before us and from those who did not.

We have relied

heavily on these, in part because they represent the views of those who could not testify before us, and in part because they frequently explored issues in much greater depth than would be possible in a brief period of oral testimony.

The written submissions

we received constitute but a

miniscule fraction of all that has been written about pornography. While it would not be accurate to say that each of us has read all or even a majority of the available literature, we have of course felt free to go beyond the written submissions and consult that which has been published on the subject, and much of what is contained in this report is a product of the fact that many thoughtful people have been contemplating the topic of pornography for a long time. To ignore this body of knowledge would be folly, and we have instead chosen to rely on more information rather than less. We could not have responsibly conducted our inquiry without spending a considerable period of time examining the materials that constitute the subject of this entire endeavor. Engaging in this part of our task has been no more edifying for us than it is for those judges who have the constitutional duty to review materials found at trial to be

legally obscene.2 Obviously, however, it was an essential part

2 "[W]e are tied to the 'absurd business of perusing and viewing the miserable stuff that pours into the Court . .' Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. Dallas, 390 U.S., at 707 (separate opinion of Harlan, J.). While the material may have varying degrees of social importance, it is hardly a source of edification to the members of this Court who are compelled to view it before passing

of our job, and many witnesses provided to us for examination during our hearings and deliberations samples of motion pictures, video tapes, magazines, books, slides, photographs, and other media containing sexually explicit material in all of its varied forms. In addition, when in Houston we visited three different establishments specializing in this material, and in that way were able to supplement the oral and written testimony with our own observations of the general environment in which materials of this variety are frequently sold.

In addition to our public hearings, we have also had public working sessions devoted to discussing the subject, our views on it, and possible findings, conclusions, and recommendations. These working sessions occupied part of our time when we were in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, and in addition we met solely for these purposes in Scottsdale, Arizona, from February 26 to March 1, 1986, and in Washington, D.C., from April 29 to May 2, 1986. As we look back on these sessions, there is little doubt that we have all felt the constraints of deliberating in public. It can hardly be disputed that the exploration of tentative ideas is more difficult when public exposure treats the tentative as final, and the question as a challenge. Still, we feel that we have explored a wide range of points of view, and an equally wide range of vantage points from which to look at the problem of pornography.

As with any inquiry, more could be done

on its obscenity." Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 92-93(1973)

Brennan, J., dissenting).

if there were more time, but we are all satisfied with the depth and breadth of the inquiries in which we have engaged. When faced with shortages of time, we have chosen to say here less then we might have been able to say had we had more time for our pale of work, but we are convinced that saying no more than our inquiries and deliberations justify is vastly preferable to paying for time shortages in the currency of quality or the currency of accuracy. Thus, given the many constraints we operated under, we believe this Report adequately reflects both those constraints and the thoroughness with which we have attempted to fulfill our mandate. Finally, we owe thanks to all those who have assisted us in

our work. Although in another part of this Report we express our
gratitude more specifically, we
we wish here to note our
appreciation to an extraordinarily diligent staff, to numerous
public officials and private citizens who have spent much of
their Own time and their own money to provide us with
information, and especially to a large number of witnesses who
appeared before us at great sacrifice and often at the expense of
having to endure great personal anguish. To all of these people
and others, we give our thanks, and we willingly acknowledge that
we could not have completed our mission without them.

Our

and sta

1.3 The 1970 Commission on Obscenity and Pornography mission and our product will inevitably be compared with the work of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which was created in 1967, staffed in 1968, and which reported in 1970. Some of the differences between the two enterprises relate to

SE

structural aspects of the inquiry.

The 1970 Commission had a

budget of $2,000,000 and two years to complete its task. We had

only one year, and a budget of $500,000.

Taking into account the

the 1970 Commission had a

changing value of the dollar, 3
budget nearly sixteen times as large as ours, yet held only two
public hearings. We do not regret having provided the
opportunity for such an extensive expression of opinion, but it
has even further depleted the extremely limited resources
available to us.
In addition to differences in time,

budget, and staffing, there are of course differences in perspective. Although the work of the 1970 Commission has provided much important information for us, all of us have taken issue with at least some aspects of the earlier Commission's approach, and all of us have taken issue with at least some of the earlier Commission's conclusions. We have tried to explain our differences throughout this Report, but it would be a mistake to conclude that we saw our mission as reactive to the work of others sixteen years earlier. In sixteen years the world has seen enormous technological changes that have affected the transmission of sounds, words, and images. Few aspects of contemporary American society have not been affected by cable television, satellite communication, video tape recording, the computer, and competition in the telecommunications industry. It

ate

3
Taking 1967, the date of creation of the 1970
Commission, as the base year, the dollar at the end
of 1984, five months before this Commission commenced
work, was worth $0.31.

would be surprising to discover that these technological developments have had no effect on the production, distribution, and availability of pornography, and we have not been surprised. These technological developments have themselves caused such significant changes in the practices relating to the distribution of pornography that the analysis of sixteen years ago is starkly obsolete. Nor have the changes been solely

technological.

In sixteen years there have been numerous changes

in the social, political, legal, cultural, and religious portrait of the United States, and many of these changes have undeniably involved both sexuality and the public portrayal of sexuality. With reference to the question of pornography, therefore, there can be no doubt that we confront a different world than that confronted by the 1970 Commission.

Perhaps most significantly, however, studying an issue that was last studied in the form of a national commission sixteen years ago seems remarkably sensible even apart from the social and technological changes that relate in particular to the issue of pornography. Little in modern life can be held constant, and it would be strikingly aberrational if the conclusions of one commission could be taken as having resolved an issue for all time. The world changes, research about the world changes, and our views about how we wish to deal with that world change. Only in a static society would it be unwise to reexamine periodically the conclusions of sixteen years earlier, and we do not live in a static society. As we in 1986 reexamine what was done in 1970,