Sometimes the act of waging war seems more like a geopolitical dick-measuring contest as opposed to an act of national self-interest (looking at you Putin). It is appropriate then that throughout the 20th century dicks, boobs and other erotic imagery made its way onto the field of battle as psychological shrapnel. Grab your lotion and AK-47 for the shady and often hypocritical world of wartime pornography propaganda.   

Jacking with the mind of an enemy is as ancient as war itself. It was World War II, however, in which all sides wielded porno as a psychological weapon. German-made anti-American leaflets threatened: “The Yanks are putting up their tents in merry old England!” Complete with kinky illustrations, it was meant to divide the Allies, but in response, the Brits spread pornographic images of Hitler choking his own circumcised penis insinuating that he was a self-hating Jew.
 
During the Cold War, the forces of capitalism and communism once again armed themselves with and against the power of sexual imagery. In the 1950’s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarty accused pornography of creating socialists and “sexual perverts.” The 1961 film, “Perversion for Profit, “echoed the paranoia arguing that commie peddled porno: “weakens our resistance to the communist masters of deceit.” Similarly, in the USSR, porn was seen as a capitalist, anti-feminist threat and was made illegal. Regardless, pornography thrived in both societies proving that nuclear missiles weren’t’ the only things being erected across borders. 

Ironically, as American society decried so-called pinko perversion, the U.S. government utilized it to undermine leftist regimes. In North Vietnam, U.S. personnel posted provocative images of big-boobed women around enemy territory to distract the communist NVA soldiers. The CIA also got in on the action when it attempted to discredit Indonesia's commie cozy President Sukarno. The plan involved filming a porn star having sex with an actor in a Sukarno mask and leaking the footage. Details are sketchy on how it was made, but the film was never distributed. Either way, keep it classy CIA.

While it’s easy to dismiss these events as boners of the past, the parallels to our modern world where misinformation, politics and sex permeate society is pretty obvious. So before we wag our sticky fingers at the Post-War generation’s prude yet ironically provocative behavior, just remember the wisdom of porn; fluffing and faking are no substitute for the real deal.

Learn Something: 
Tales of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson were so popular in the early 1900’s that Sherlock Holmes stories replaced the bible in some hotel rooms.