Vintage health magazine attacks competitors for 'pornographic' images

Though Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial offered a knowing wink to male readers who viewed the models within its pages as much more than just a picture of robust health, not all of his contemporaries approved of the sexualization of muscular men. 

One prime example can be found in the 1950s periodical, Strength and Health, whose editor, Harry Paschall, believed other male physique magazines offered only the illusion of piety, instead offering nothing more than 'pornographic' images.

The bodybuilding world's deeply entrenched homophobia of the 1950s can be found in other publications, but none were so blatant as Paschall's Strength and World. We've unearthed a column from one of the early volumes of the biweekly magazine -- it's quite obvious that Paschall makes several, thinly veiled references to magazines like Physique Pictorial itself. We're thankful that society has come such a long way since its publication, but there is always more work to be done. 

The menace of homosexual magazines is more serious than ever before, and the cause of clean physical culture is threatened by peddlers of pornography. Above are a few typical examples of the so-called Body Beautiful magazines aimed at the profitable homosexual trade. Such publications have infiltrated the bodybuilding field in recent years, contributing to juvenile delinquency and debauchery.

A few days ago, we received a letter from a police officer in New Jersey who complained that he could not buy Strength and Health in his town because all so-called “muscle magazines” were barred from the newsstands through action of local people working in cooperation with The League of Decency, a Catholic Organization with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

The officer was perturbed over the situation because he felt that Strength and Health offered wholesome advice and a healthful hobby for young boys through weightlifting and weight-training. He thought the League of Decency was hurting its own purpose by barring an influence for good in the community. We agree with him, but we can also understand the attitude of the League for it is quite natural to consider all the apples in a barrel bad if those on the top are rotten. We have written the League officials asking them to carefully read our magazine and decide for themselves if there is objectionable material in our pages.

If you will walk into your neighborhood newsdealer’s you can see for yourself the type of magazine that is causing censorship. In the past several years a flood of undersized booklets featuring the male physique in all stages of nudity have appeared. We show a few of these, picked at random, in the accompanying photograph. [note: the ones above are not the exact same issues as in the S&H article – TMF] Under the guise of wholesome physical culture, these dirty little books are aimed directly at a very profitable market, the homosexual or “fairy” trade. They are on the stands for one reason only – to make a profit. Circulation figures show they do just that, because they outsell the regular physical culture journals, and are so cheap to print, that the profit is obvious.

While their circulation figures are impressive, another factor enters into their large apparent sale. They are so small they can easily be slipped into a pocket by youngsters who frequent the magazine racks, and thus carried out without payment at all. Of course this does not bother either the publisher or the distributor, since the dealer must pay for the magazine whether he actually sells it or not. How much the average store which deals in magazines loses on this type of publication is uncertain, but in our judgment, the type of person who reads such trash is very apt to be dishonest enough to steal anything in sight.

These magazines pretend to offer physical training advice, but they haven’t the space to do so. They are simply intended to attract the attention of lovers of the male physique, and unfortunately, this includes a sizable number of misguided young bodybuilders whose intentions are good. The fact that they are aimed at the homo trade seems to escape these readers. Even the fact that they feature advertising by photographers known to cater to the “swish” trade, seems to leave the more normal bodybuilders unimpressed. We have even heard men high in the ranks of weightlifting and weight-training condone these publications by saying they are harmless, and that all publicity is good publicity. Many young fellows who do not know the score actually submit photographs to these publications in the hope they will get publicity for their fine physiques.

There is a large group of so called bodybuilders in the country who simply close their eyes whenever this homo racket is mentioned. They seem to think that if they keep their eyes and their minds closed, the slimy creature will go away. But it won’t. When a venomous reptile comes into your house you have to crush it or take the chance of being poisoned.

When the situation has reached a point where we cannot sell a clean magazine because of these dirty publications, we think something should be done about it. Other publishers continue to take this filthy money, and to cater to the immoral perverts who make these indecent pictures. Whenever you see a magazine that carries even ONE photographer’s advertisement featuring male photos, you know you are dealing with people without moral principles of any sort. These are the people who are killing a clean and wholesome sport.

What can we do about it ? One thing sure – we are not going to suffer in silence. We suggest, for one thing, that the AAU bar from competition in any athletic event any person whose photo has appeared in one of these trashy magazines. It is these so-called bodybuilders who have encouraged this disgraceful situation by offering their photographs for use in stimulating a vicious trade. Some of these young men have cause to be proud of their bodies, because, in many cases, they built them from weakness to superb strength and health. But they certainly cannot understand the true facts — that these pictures are now being exposed to the droolings of homosexuals, and that their appearance in these books encourages other young and innocent boys to do likewise.

The police officer who wrote us about this situation tells about the efforts of the Boys Clubs and PAL (Police Athletic Association) to rescue underprivileged boys from the temptations of the slums, and he points out that weightlifting in such clubs have proven to be a splendid antidote against evil influences that contribute to juvenile delinquency. Yet the magazine stand in most communities stand free and open with this type of literature. Some time ago, the Comic Book Industry was forced to clean up the dirt in their publications. When are we going to do this in the field of physical training ?

What respect can anyone have for a man or boy caught with one of these books in his hands ? And why should Strength and Health suffer for the crimes of others ?