18 NOVEMBER
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
2617

The content of these two books is clearly indecent and
the tribunal can see no redeeming feature in them.

Dated this 18th day of October 1976.

LAURENCE M. GREIG, Chairman.

(Reference No. 19/2/27)

No. 871

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and
in the matter of an application by Norman George Sturt,
acting on behalf of Hutchinson Publishing Group Ltd., for
a decision in respect of the publication The Illustrated Manual
of Sex Therapy, by Helen Singer Kaplan M.D. Ph.D., published
by Souvenir Press Ltd., of London.

BEFORE THE INDECENT PUBLICATIONS TRIBUNAL

Messrs L. M. Greig (Chairman), D. M. Wylie, I. R. Cross,
and Miss W. M. Rolleston.

Hearing: 19 July 1976.

Appearances: No appearances.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

Helen Singer Kaplan, the author of this manual, is Clinical
Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell University College
of Medicine. As might be expected, therefore, this manual
is the work of a professional for the benefit of others in
her profession and of persons experiencing sexual problems.
The language is the language of the disciplines of medicine
and psychiatry, and as a result the book is unlikely to have
wide popular appeal.

Following a general review of the nature and the causes
of sexual dysfunction, Dr Kaplan isolates six of the more
common types of dysfunction and then describes in detail
the various treatments which she has used. In each case,
the treatment includes specific erotic tasks and exercises to
be carried out by the patients. These are illustrated by line
drawings which are presented in a sensitive and restrained
manner.

The tribunal is of the opinion that this book represents
a serious attempt to disseminate knowledge on the subject
of the treatment of sexual problems and can see no reason
to restrict its circulation.

The tribunal classifies this book as not indecent.

Dated this 18th day of October 1976.

LAURENCE M. GREIG, Chairman.

(Reference No. 19/2/23)

No. 872

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN in the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and
in the matter of a reference by the Magistrates Court, Wellington,
for a decision in respect of the publication A History
of Underground Comics, by Mark James Estren, published
by Straight Arrow Books, of San Francisco.

BEFORE THE INDECENT PUBLICATIONS TRIBUNAL

Messrs L. M. Greig (Chairman), D. M. Wylie, I. R. Cross,
and Mrs L. Edmond.

Hearing: 16 August 1976.

Appearances: Mr P. E. Leloir for Comptroller of Customs;
Mr A. Taylor for Huyser Bookshop Ltd.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

This is a copiously illustrated account of the development
of the so-called “underground” comic in the United
States. Although it deals principally with the 1960’s and
early 1970’s the origins are traced back to before the war.

It is a serious treatment which has developed from a master’s
thesis in journalism at Columbia University; it explores its
subject in many aspects. Although there is an inevitable
degree of emphasis on sex and violence (reflecting the pattern
of many of the comics dealt with) there is no attempt
to indulge them for their own sake.

The submission by the Customs Department relied principally
on the fact that many of the illustrations in the book
had appeared in comics which have been ruled indecent
by the Tribunal. Whatever may have been the cumulative
effect of such illustrations in their original context they are
here taken out of that context and presented on their own,
often as a single drawing, not even part of a small sequence.
They are no longer a “picture-story book likely to be read
by children” but illustrations in a work which is discussing
them in a serious manner, exploring their origins, their place
in American society, and their role as a new form of graphic
act of some cultural significance. Statements from a variety
of sources both in the United States and in New Zealand
were produced by the importer concerned in this case to
support such a view of the work.

Although s. 11 (3) of the Act has required us to find
many of the comics dealt with in this book indecent, it must
now be dealt with on its own merits.

We do not consider, after taking into account the criteria
in s. 11 (1) of the Act, that availability of the book would
be injurious to the public good. We therefore find The History
of Underground Comics to be not indecent.

Dated this 18th day of October 1976.

LAURENCE M. GREIG, Chairman.

(Reference No. 19/2/24)

No. 873

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and
in the matter of an application by Norman George Sturt,
acting on behalf of Hutchinson Publishing Group Ltd., for
a decision in respect of the publication My Secret Garden
(Women’s Sexual Fantasies), compiled by Nancy Friday,
published by Virago Ltd., in association with Quartet Books
Ltd., of London.

BEFORE THE INDECENT PUBLICATIONS TRIBUNAL

Messrs L. M. Greig (Chairman), D. M. Wylie, I. R. Cross,
and Miss W. M. Rolleston.

Hearing: 19 July 1976.

Appearances: No appearances.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

My Secret Garden describes the intimate fantasies that
sexually arouse women. The author began by publishing a
series of advertisements in British and American newspapers
requesting material for such a study. From the “flood of
letters” which followed she selected four hundred examples
for closer study. These became personal statements, written
or recorded, and are reproduced verbatim with a brief introduction
and commentary for each.

Published first in 1973 in America, the book became a
best seller. It is written in order to help women to achieve
greater understanding of themselves, and uses sexual confessions
for a serious social and psychological purpose. Women’s
feelings have been forced inwards through fear and prudery,
asserts the author-editor, and this situation has led to gross
distortions in the image women have of themselves and project
on to others.

The tribunal regards this as an honestly conceived sociological
study; it therefore classifies it as not indecent.

Dated this 9th day of November 1976.

LAURENCE M. GREIG, Chairman.

(Reference No. 19/2/23)

New Zealand Post Office—Schedule of Building Contracts of $20,000 or More in Value

Name of Work Successful Tenderer Amount of Tender Accepted $

Sherwood new post office building Colson Builders Ltd. 86,476
(P.O.H.Q. 3/1203) W. J. SEWELL, Director-General.