
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 27, 1995                   TAG: 9509270029
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`SHOWGIRLS' TO COSMO

ONE OF the most talked about new movies - ``Showgirls'' - is a film primarily about sex. It is not, as its co-producer and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas said on ``Larry King Live'' last week, a film with a ``religious and spiritual message,'' unless one views such things the way some ancient Romans did when they conducted orgies before pagan gods and goddesses.

Most mainstream religions aren't about promiscuous sex, and producers of mostly religious films don't find it necessary to urge children to falsify IDs and sneak in to see them, as Eszterhas suggests teen-agers 16 and under do to circumvent the film's NC-17 rating.

``Showgirls'' is a porno flick that is being shown in mainstream theaters in decent neighborhoods. It is an attempt by Hollywood (in this case, MGM-United Artists) to break the final barrier holding back the indecency that now cascades over our culture like a giant tidal wave.

But the film does not exist in isolation.

A quick peek at a magazine rack's September offerings finds the usual ``men's'' magazines, such as Playboy and Penthouse. And it shows the women's magazines are huffing and puffing to stay abreast.

Cosmopolitan offers ``11 Secrets of World Class Lovers'' and ``You're Sexier as You Grow Older, Can He Keep Up?'' Glamour has ``How to Really Talk to a Man About Sex'' and ``Smart, Sexy Clothes.'' Mademoiselle carries ``A Sexy Body, a Great Lover ... '' and an article about ``sexy hair.'' New Woman offers ``10 Tips on Having an Affair.'' Redbook prints ``7 Secrets of Great Sex.'' McCall's chips in for the aging set, ``Remember Sex? Help for Couples Who Don't Make Love.'' And even the once deliciously old-fashioned Ladies' Home Journal gets into the act with ``Teach Him Tonight: Love Lessons You'll Love to Give.''

Can anyone get through an entire day without lap dancing and other orgiastic behavior? Not in media land.

Can this invasion and occupation be stopped?

Last month, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., former Education Secretary William Bennett and C. Dolores Tucker, head of the National Political Congress of Black Women, held a town meeting in Wilton, Conn., to try. About 200 parents and grandparents turned out to discuss sex and violence on television and in raunchy rap music.

Their purpose was to meet in the neighborhood where some entertainment executives live to pressure them into reducing the level of poison they are pumping into the lives of morally defenseless children and newly pubescent teen-agers. Lieberman told me, ``We're trying to force corporations and boards of directors into responsibility, to shame them and hold them accountable for the impact they are having on our kids and society.''

Asked if ratings alone weren't sufficient protection, Lieberman replied, ``If you rate garbage, it's still garbage.''

Those parents and grandparents concerned about the media's molestation of children must seriously face what people like the makers of ``Showgirls'' are trying to do to them. They should turn up the heat on movie executives for whom profit is all that matters. Such purveyors must be shamed and told that they cannot get away with morally raping our children and strip-mining our land of its remaining virtue.

If ``Showgirls'' is a financial success, Hollywood will make similar films. Do you want it to stop? Show more support for legislators like Sen. Lieberman, who calls garbage by its right name. Show more opposition to people like Joe Eszterhas, who ought to keep his porno flicks in the bad neighborhoods.

- Los Angeles Times Syndicate

by CNB