If the illustration's from a soft-porn magazine of the era, it's rather jejune to fault it for treating the subject as an excuse for a naughty giggle. I might also suggest that having their privates measured was probably not the worst abuse these young men were subjected to while incarcerated.
It's also rather tedious to continually wag one's finger at the past for not living up to our momentary ever-so-enlightened moral superiority. What "scientific" investigations are being conducted now, on people and animals, that are going to be viewed with horror and gawping astonishment in the future? I can think of quite a few that I'm revolted by right now.
I've read and know of these studies as several relatives and acquaintances worked in both prisons and mental health facilities. Also remember that there were numerous biometric studies done of nude college-age students (including a young Bill Clinton); of both sexes at the time.
BTW, that illustration comes from an early issue of the seminal (no pun intended) gay publication Physique Pictorial by a popular pulp magazine illustrator of the time who specialized in lighthearted risque gay drawings.
If the illustration's from a soft-porn magazine of the era, it's rather jejune to fault it for treating the subject as an excuse for a naughty giggle. I might also suggest that having their privates measured was probably not the worst abuse these young men were subjected to while incarcerated.
It's also rather tedious to continually wag one's finger at the past for not living up to our momentary ever-so-enlightened moral superiority. What "scientific" investigations are being conducted now, on people and animals, that are going to be viewed with horror and gawping astonishment in the future? I can think of quite a few that I'm revolted by right now.
I've read and know of these studies as several relatives and acquaintances worked in both prisons and mental health facilities. Also remember that there were numerous biometric studies done of nude college-age students (including a young Bill Clinton); of both sexes at the time.
BTW, that illustration comes from an early issue of the seminal (no pun intended) gay publication Physique Pictorial by a popular pulp magazine illustrator of the time who specialized in lighthearted risque gay drawings.