No Nudes Is...

Brazil's prim, puritanical military government, which last January banned certain erotic drawings by Pablo Picasso as obscene, has moved ahead with its campaign to keep the country pure and clean. In a tough new press-censorship decree, it banned 60 foreign and domestic magazines--including Playboy, Penthouse, Lui and, curiously, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel--because they offended "morality and proper behavior" by exploiting erotic themes. The decree also provided that all magazines circulating in Brazil must henceforth submit copies to police censors to determine whether they conform to government standards. If the journals are not approved, the distribution of all future issues will be held up for inspection by the smut hounds.

The new law comes on the heels of a general crackdown on political comment within Brazil. Two weeks ago, police stopped the presses of Opinino, a liberal magazine that has frequently been critical of the military rulers. Censors have also been assigned to monitor the operations of newspapers that dared to defy the government's ban on speculation about the presidential succession. Considering the fact that nubile maidens on Rio's beaches regularly display almost as much epidermis as do Penthouse pets, many Brazilians thought the campaign against girlie magazines a bit quixotic. What was the purpose? an inquisitive reporter asked a police spokesman. His straight-faced answer: "The artistic nude is going to be abolished."

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