This is a sample chapter from MIM's porn-fighting primer, How to Win The War in Your Community. To order the complete 48-page copy, go to our Ordering Publications page for more information.


The United States Justice Department drove the mail porn industry virtually out of business between 1988 and the end of the Bush administration in 1992.

Unfortunately, complaints about mail porn are again coming to Morality in Media on a regular basis, and we are therefore publishing this article so that you will know what to do to protect yourself, your family and your community from obscenity in the mails. But first a little background on the problem.

On July 1, 1988, the United States Justice Department and U.S. Postal Service announced that criminal charges had been brought in eight states against 20 persons and 14 corporations for using the mails to advertise and distribute obscene material in violation of the Federal obscene mails statute [18 U.S.C. 1461].

The July 1 release also said that "Project Postporn" was begun following "thousands of complaints" received by the Postal Service regarding advertisements for "Hard-core videos, films and magazines" and that many of the ads contained photos from the materials advertised.

"Project Postporn" continued during the Bush years, and by the end of the Bush administration, use of the mails to send or advertise obscenity had virtually come to a halt.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, then candidate Bill Clinton stated in a letter that if he were elected, he would make "aggressive enforcement" of the Federal Obscenity Laws by the Justice Department a "priority in a Clinton-Gore administration."

In 1993, President Clinton also twice expressed his concern about mail porn. In a November 5 Presidential message, issued in conjunction with National Pornography Awareness Week, he stated:

"Pornography is a difficult problem in our nation.... Many Americans receive unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements through the United States mail."

And, in an October 13 letter to a New York citizen, the President stated:

"Many individuals are being sent unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements through the United States mail. The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section at the Justice Department will continue to actively enforce the obscene mailing statutes around the country."

If you receive an unsolicited "sexually oriented ad," you should take the offending material to your local Post Office and ask them to initiate an investigation for possible violations of the Federal Obscene Mail Law (18 U.S.C. 1461), which prohibits both the sending of obscene matter and ads for obscene matter.

Say also that you would like to know what the results of the investigation are, and that you will contact them again about the matter. Don't accept any nonsense from your local Post Office about such materials being "legal" or "protected by the First Amendment." Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, and there is no way for the Postal Inspectors to determine if the advertised matter is obscene until they order and view it.

You can also take a copy of the offending matter to your U.S. Attorney, who must work with the Postal Inspectors in enforcing the Federal Obscene Mails Law.

Take it also to your local state prosecutor, because, in a 1957 case, Roth v. United States, the Supreme Court said that California could enforce its State Obscenity Law against a Los Angeles-based "mail-order" business.

When you go to the Post Office, you can also fill out Postal Form 2150, which orders a particular sender of a "pandering advertisement" to send no further mailings of such material to the addressee. The term "pandering advertisement" is defined as an "advertisement which offers for sale matter which the addressee in his or her sole discretion believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative."

When you go to the Post Office, you can also fill out Postal Form 2201 which will add your name to the list of persons who do not want to receive "sexually oriented advertisements"— defined to mean "any advertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing."

If you are concerned about your children being exposed to sexually oriented advertising, or if you are offended by receiving such advertising in the mail, the U.S. Postal Service has a form (Form 1500) which allows you to protect yourself and your children.

Form 1500 has two parts. If you receive an advertisement in the mail that you believe to be "erotically arousing or sexually provocative," Form 1500 allows you to obtain a Prohibitory Order against the mailer under the Pandering Advertisments statute (39 USC 3008). Second, you can add your name, and the names of your minor children, to the Postal Service's list of persons who do not want to receive sexually oriented advertising. This is in accordance with the Sexually Oriented Advertisements statute (39 USC 3010). "Sexually oriented advertisements" are defined to mean "any advertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing." "Pandering advertisements" are defined as "advertisements which offers for sale matter which the addressee in his or her sole discretion believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative."

The law goes on to say that "Material otherwise within the definition of this subsection shall be deemed to not constitute a 'sexually oriented advertisement' if it constitutes only a small and insignificant part of the whole of a single catalogue, book, periodical, or other work the remainder of which is not primarily devoted to sexual matters."

39 U.S.C. 3010 also requires that the legend "Sexually Oriented Ad" appear either on the exterior envelope of a mailing piece or a sealed interior envelope which contains the sexual material. If no such legend appears, you should point this out to your local Post Office, and ask them to begin proceedings against the mailer.

Lastly, you can send a brief letter of complaint to the following address:

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section;
U.S. Justice Department, Criminal Division
1001 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20530.

Make sure you include the name and address of the mailer and the address of the Post Office where you made the complaint. You can also say that President Clinton has expressed deep concern about the effect of mail porn on children and law-abiding citizens and wants the Obscene Mails Statute enforced against violators. Please feel free to contact us (via e-mail) if you have further questions.

Reprinted from the Morality in Media Newsletter
September/October 1995

Top of This Page

Obscenity Enforcement Page

Copyright © 2001, Morality in Media, Inc. All Rights reserved.
Site developed and maintained by L'AMb Artistic Enterprises, Inc.