Show Me!: Difference between revisions

Show Me! is a controversial sex education book by photographer Will McBride. It appeared in 1974 in German under the title Zeig Mal!, written with psychiatrist Helga Fleischhauer-Hardt for children and their parents. It was translated into English a year later and was widely available in bookstores on both sides of the Atlantic for many years. In Germany, the book was followed in 1990 by a second edition that included, among other additions, a discussion of the AIDS epidemic.

While many parents appreciated Show Me! for its frank depiction of pre-adolescents discovering and exploring their sexuality, others were scandalized, calling it child pornography. In 1975 and 1976, obscenity charges were brought against the publisher by prosecutors in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Toronto, Canada. In all four cases, the judges ruled as a matter of law that the title was not obscene.

However, starting in 1977, some states began to criminalize the distribution of even non-obscene "child pornography". New York, home of the publisher, St. Martin's Press, criminalized the distribution of non-obscene "child pornography" in 1977, but the publisher promptly went to court and obtained an injunction against the State. The court granted the injunction because the First Amendment was interpreted to permit the banning of only obscene material. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in 1982, New York v. Ferber[1], which allowed the government to constitutionally ban the knowing distribution of even non-obscene "child pornography". St. Martin's Press then pulled the book, stating their belief that the book was not pornographic, but they could no longer afford the legal expenses to defend the book. (Since the book had lost some First Amendment protection, its enemies would have likely renewed and expanded their court challenges). Used copies remain freely available, though at inflated prices.

A recent review by Dr. Russell A. Rohde claims that the book, "appropriately delves into the issues of breast feeding, adolescence, pubertal changes, menses, sexual anatomies, pregnancy, masturbation, contraception, sexual behavioral disturbances and venereal disease. [...] I am not aware of any book comparable to this illustrated primer that fills the needs of sexual education so well."

D. F. Janssen, in Growing Up Sexually. Volume II: The Sexual Curriculum: The Manufacture and Performance of Pre-Adult Sexualities (Oct., 2002) [2], places it at one extreme of a late 20th c. visual and textual revolution that enabled parents to illustrate information that up to that time had been transmitted orally. He sees the work as subversive not for its "too frank" portrayal of childhood sexuality but for the primacy that image takes over text. In his eyes, the work "comes out of a culture with a long history of pathologising so-addressed primal scenes," a history that became manifest in particular with regard to the works of Will McBride.

Show Me! received mixed reviews from the mass media when it was first published. The Los Angeles Times on 3/9/1975 called the photographs "beautiful. . .graceful, charming, and elegant," yet accurately predicted that the book "may start (an) uproar." The 5/4/1975 Washington Post, on the other hand, described the photographs as "beautiful, assaultive, grotesque, and seductive," and concluded that Show Me! was only suited for "avant garde" parents. Reviewer Linda Wolfe, in the 7/13/1975 New York Times, called the book a "child-abusive joke." The 13-year-old daughter of Chicago Tribune reviewer Carol Kleiman perhaps summed it up best:

I'm too old for it myself. The last part, tho, with no pictures, looks interesting to read. The book is good for little kids because they don't know what society terms "dirty" yet. You know, Mom, it's parents I'm worried about. They're not ready yet.

In July 2006, Judge John K. Reilly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania cleared Richard Whittman Barker of pornography charges for possessing a copy of Show Me! State troopers had found the book while searching Mr. Barker's home.

1. 1974: Zeig mal. Ein Bilderbuch für Kinder und Eltern Foreword by Helmut Kentler. Wuppertal
2. 1975: Show Me!: A Picture Book of Sex for Children and Parents St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-72275-3
3. 1990: Zeig mal. Ein Bilderbuch für Kinder und Eltern (2nd. ed.) 195 p. Wuppertal: Hammer. ISBN 3-87294-301-4
4. 1995: Zeig Mal Mehr (5 ed.). 176 p. Beltz. ISBN 3-407-85106-5

• Seattle Public Library banned books list
• Amazon book page
• New York Times article discussing the withdrawal of this book
• St. Martin's Press, Inc. v. Carey, 440 F.Supp. 1196 (SDNY, 1977)
• "Is America Ready?" Los Angeles Times article 3/9/1975
• "Kiss the Stork Goodbye," Washington Post 5/4/1975 review
• "The birds and the bees were never like this," New York Times 7/13/1975 review
• "New sex ed: All kids ever wanted to know...and how!" Chicago Tribune 7/5/1975 review
• "Retiree cleared of pornography charges for a 30-year-old book," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 7/26/2006