Absolutely fascinating current affairs programme from 1972 looking at advice columnists - Dr Stephen Black talks to Marjorie Proops of the Daily Mirror, Evelyn Home of Woman, Claire Rayner of Petticoat and Jane Firbank of Forum, who between them "deal with more than 100,000 letters a year". Most of these columnists have multiple assistants helping them and offices full of reference books and folders containing pamphlets and newspaper cuttings to do with physical and mental health, sexual problems, etc etc.
Dr Black puts some sticky questions to the ladies about responsibility and authority (do they have any training?). They reply earnestly, self-deprecatingly, but ultimately persuasively about their role in relieving anxiety and loneliness, especially for readers who don't live in cities with counselling services readily available.
Probably the most interesting for me was Jane Birbank of Forum, in part because of how astute her comments about sexual misery and sexual ignorance were, but also because it reminded me of the very existence of Forum, "the journal of human relations" aka "the international journal of human relations".
Despite the lofty title and the journal-style format, Forum was a publication put out by Penthouse, an extension of Bob Guccione's porn empire. So you might be forgiven for suspecting that this "journal" was actually a reversion to the days when prurient reading matter would mask its salacious nature by pretending to be simply in the business of being "informative" - even posing as an expose that all righteous-minded folk should read to keep abreast of the wrong-minded.
But looking at the contents pages below, there seems to a fair amount of material that is intended to be enlightening and therapeutic: articles about erotic optimization, body knowledge, marital health, the need for legal reform, for a changing of attitudes and opening of minds. The great post-Sixties drift towards permissiveness and relaxation of the super-ego.
So Forum was equal parts erotica and sexology (not exactly sexy). It was of course also a commercially shrewd move into the burgeoning market of self-help literature, books and periodicals dedicated to personal growth and spiritualized sensuality / sensualized spirituality. C.f. The Joy of Sex. But also not so far from Our Bodies, Ourselves.
I don't remember ever opening a copy but I knew of its existence and could probably have benefited from the information.
One thing, though - there is something rather unsexy about the lugubrious color palette: all those dingy purples, mulberries, ochres, musty oranges and mossy greens. Kind of similar to the Biba fabric palette.
The drawings are not very aphrodisiacal either.
When they went to glossy photographs on the cover, though, it was even more off-putting
"Is Your MP Good in Bed?"
When I was 13, I nicked a copy of Forum from the top shelf of the newsagent round the corner from my school. Knowing no better, I thought I was going to get pix, so imagine my disappointment etc. I do remember one story, about a bloke who was unexpectedly getting turned on when doing a painting and decorating job with his mate (tops off on a hot day, close proximity to him, that sort of thing). So, as you say, quite broadminded and not just the usual focus on T&A.
ReplyDeleteThis theme of 'where's the pix?' disappointment comes up frequently!
DeleteWMD fabricator Alastair Campbell wrote for Forum. Maybe that's where he got the idea of sexing up documents.
ReplyDelete