A Pentagon panel decided this week that the sale of popular skin magazines Playboy and Penthouse can continue on US military bases, ruling that their contents are not "sexually explicit."
The decision came after a challenge from various concerned citizens charging that by selling the porn publications, the military was in violation of a decade-old US law.
The 1996 "Military Honor and Decency Act," passed by Congress in 1996, prohibits the sale of "sexually-explicit material," including any film or magazine "which depicts or describes nudity -- including sexual or excretory activities or organs -- in a lascivious way."
But individuals and groups active in anti-pornography and anti-sexual exploitation efforts complained in a letter that such off-color reading materials are freely sold at US military installations.
In their letter, dated May 4, 2007, they complained about "pornography's destructive impact" on military marriages and families.
US undersecretary of Defense Leslye Arsht wrote this week in a letter that after a careful review of the materials, a Pentagon committee has ruled that there is nothing sexually-explicit about publications like "Nude Playmates" and "Celebrity Skin."
"The sale of these magazines on DoD (Department of Defense) property is permissible," the review board ruled.
However, the panel determined that a handful of magazines and videos -- including such titles as "Wet" and "Blonde and Beyond" -- would be banned from Pentagon shelves in the future.
Arsht added that the Pentagon panel would undertake an "expeditious review" of other X-rated materials, including publications like "Playboy's Vixen," "Curves," and "XXX."
