European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 columns the stars and stripes tuesday july 29,1986 sexual views changing again by Russell Baker new York a Long Lime ago i had a Friend More candid than most. I like my sex dirty he Usedalo say. That was a vile confession at that time which was the late 1940s. Since most americans then assumed dial All sex was dirty my Friend was saying thai love s Normal squalor was not enough for him. I could Only guess at what orgies of Foulness it too to please him. Gentlemen Divitt Exchange details of their Camal doings though outrageous lying about them was socially of in Barracks situations where everybody knew you were just making i up. Lair or. Kinsey was born Jhun masters and John son and suddenly something appalling had happened sen had been cleaned up. Generations of parents and grandparents most of whom had Learned to live contentedly with the shame of their depraved appetites were now scorned by Chil Dren and grandchildren. It was the clean sex Era. People appeared on radio even on television where you could Sec Ihm shame Lessly fail to Blush while they talked about. Good lord can you believe they re talking about orgasms and masturbation and sodomy right Mere on the Tell before you be even finished breakfast Here is a terrible thing about the modern world with its incredible rate of change unless you Deyoung in Middle age you have to unlearn almost everything you Learned in youth. It s even worse if you live to be old. Haying in Learned in Middle age everything you Learned in youth you now have to realize it was a mistake to unlearn All that Youthful knowledge because what you Learned in youth has again become Correct. I am speaking of course of the government s drive to Pul the Good old fashioned dirtiness Back into sex. This has usually been accomplished from Puritan times by making sex synonymous with sin. Only satan could insinuate that sinning is preferable to making War. Hence we Are supposed to be disgusted by pictures of humans in sexual embrace and outraged if such spectacles become available to children. Watching Arnbo make War however is so respectable that the president May announce that he enjoyed it thoroughly and nobody minds much if the kids too Lap up the Gate. The idea of sen As sin is on the March in washing ton. A recent supreme court opinion on states rights for insurer goes out of its Way to put the Boot int homosexuals. The latest commission on pornography has Jusi reversed the findings of the. 1970 commission on pornography which held that pornography did t have much effect socially speaking. The new commission says in does and blames porn for contributing to violence. Reports like this engineered by uie government to undo the Seji ii clean attitude indicate the wind direction in Washington just As clearly As the administration s plan to pack the supreme court with judges who will undo the Las generation s rules on abortion civil rights and police and presidential Powers. Hie message is that another age of dirty sex is on the horizon. As one bred to the last such age i can Comfort those who have known Only the Era of clean healthy wholesome Oul in the open Good for you sex. Knowing that you re violating Georgia slate Law canard extra spice to an amorous occasion As can the delicious fear that it is sinful foul and  for pornography unfit Ridden in can be merely tedious to be enjoyable it must always be forbidden. Having survived the dirty sex Era and the clean sex Era i believe americans need not fear an Onset of dirty sex. A sense of engaging in sex both squalid and criminal is not Only entirely american but also More exciting than doing something that s healthy. For healthy activities there Are jogging and dieting. Writers must know audience by James Kilpatrick if there is a first commandment for writers who write for publications it is this know thine audience. If we would communicate effectively we ought to have a Clear idea of the education the vocabulary and the taste of the readers for whom we Are writing. These Are matters of judgment and often such judgment Calls Are close. If we underestimate our read ers level of comprehension we insult them with Babytalk. If we err in the other direction we write Over their Heads. And if we slip into questionable taste we May get into serious trouble. Some Mon left ago i heard from a Maiden in distress in South Carolina. She had just been fired from her first newspaper Job. How come she Hod been As signed to review the movie cocoon which has to do with a couple of elderly gentlemen who swim in miraculous Pool and find their virility restored la her review my Young Friend described toe old Fellows As a couple of old a and Here she used a word thai has been pan of the English language a vulgar part to be sure Al least since Chaucer wrote the Miller s  the word denotes flatulence. In Counge. Her sorority Sisters used the word All the time. In her inno Cence she supposed that everyone uses the word All the time. But she was unaware that you do not use the word Al any. Time in a family newspaper in South Carolina. Chaucer knew his audience the did not know Hen. And Farewell my Lovely. Recently i visited with reporters and editor of the Rocky Mountain Newt a Scripps Howard newspaper in Denver. They have a strict Rule not one word of profanity gels Inlo print without the specific approval of the managing editor. The Rule goes for such oaths As Damn and hell when the use of a taboo word is inescapable for example when president Carter twice promised publicly to whup senator Kennedy s ass an exception is made. Otherwise All is Pristine. The Denver Post i was told has a much More Liberal Rule. The two papers have made different judgments of the tolerance or the sophistication of their readers. What about vocabulary Back in february Hough ton Mifflin published Margaret Atwood s novel the handmaid s  Newsweek s reviewer spoke of the dystopia she has  a reviewer for the Mcclatchy news service misspelled the word but 00 matter. He described Atwood s dystopian Republic  How Many readers know the meaning of dystopian hold up your hands. Five out of 100, the word Dales Only from 1950 an imaginary place that is depressingly wretched. Some months ago the Miami Herald carried a 72 Poitie four column Bead dad Eland is Doyen of  Harry White of Hollywood Fla. Asked a Perti nent question How Many people know what Doyen Means the More pertinent question How Many of the Herald s -150,000 readers know what Doyen Means ten percent Twenty percent eighty percent i have no idea. The problem is Complex 1 just described that head line As a 72-Point headline. How Many of my readers know what is meant by "72-poim"? i Don t know. I could have written Inch High but Type sizes Are measured not in inches bul in Points. Twelve Points make a Pica or an pm. Should we use the exact word which May not be Clear or a precise word that May mystify How often should we Challenge our readers to turn to their dictionaries and look up a word what Price clarity Good writers debate that ques Tion All night. A i Myrul pm san atm r today s crossword by it Cene Sheffer across 39 word with downbeat or 1 smartly dressed2 spend it in venice3 jewish month4 Dennis the it con fronted president s office7 local pub b Rumor Wing like Sjef either los Avoir scarfs false 54 ram mate h captains network Hook Ivalde sort Tion omit t4 mine. Hubert