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Media Contacts

Jennifer Bass
Kinsey Institute
jbass@indiana.edu
812-855-7686

Eric Bartheld
IU Libraries
ebarthel@indiana.edu
812-856-4817

Last modified: Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sex and presidential politics meet at The Kinsey Institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 18, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Just in time for the upcoming elections, The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University offers a glimpse of presidential politics from adult and underground media sources.

Featuring magazines, tabloids, newspapers and newsletters from the latter half of the 20th century, this exhibit reveals a sometimes-humorous perspective on the elections that is not often covered by the mainstream media.

With a circulation of roughly 6 million or 7 million adult subscribers, magazines such as Penthouse, Playboy, Playgirl, Hustler and Screw appealed to their readers as potential voters around the presidential election months. These adult media publishers contributed to electoral politics through headlines, editorials, political satires, interviews, covers and cartoons.

This exhibit of adult materials highlights primary source materials in The Kinsey Institute library and art collection. The materials help scholars and researchers explore all factors and forces that shape U.S. electoral politics.

"Sex and Presidential Politics" is part of the Indiana University Libraries' "Politics and Presidents: A Month-Long Celebration of Archives and Special Collections." For more information about this series, visit https://www.indiana.edu/~libevent/08.pdf.

The Kinsey exhibit runs from Sept. 26 to Jan. 23 at The Kinsey Institute in Morrison Hall on the Bloomington campus, with a reception from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26. The reception is sponsored by Indiana University Libraries.

Exhibit hours are weekdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.