More people might know about George Alexander Legman if he hadn't been forced to leave puritanical America in 1953. Who is Legman?
He invented the Vibrator. He created the slogan "MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!" He was Alfred Kinsey's book buyer.
Gershon also published the first significant work to question why we think violence is OK, particularly that directed at women…but that sexual freedom is not. You will not hear Legman's name come up in the campaign this year, or any year I guess…Violence toward women being pretty common, but Legman's name hardly rolling off our tongues. Why? Maybe because the US Postal Service thought the book, which he was not able to find a publisher for so he did it himself, was indecent, vulgar and obscene. Legman was run out of the country for writing a book about violence towards women.
No excuses folks…Gershon Legman should have been ON a US postage stamp a decade ago, not arrested by them…but no. "Make Love, Not War" being somewhat out of vogue in a country with our defense budget after all.
His death in 1999 went unnoticed while we were all paying attention to the acquittal of Bill Clinton for doing something which was none of our business. Our national obsession with what happens with the door closed drove the man who wrote about it to France. A "crime" done nearly as often as speeding.
Are you ashamed you didn't know who George "Gershon" Legman was? I was years ago, and set out to correct my lack of knowledge, and my life has been much richer for it. This country, for all it's supposed "freedom" has a pretty bad track record when it comes to appreciating those who use it, and even more for those who think out loud or put any well-researched thoughts on paper.
Legman is best known for his "Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An analysis of Sexual Humor" but "known" is a misnomer. He is unknown.
What phrase comes up often when searching Gershon Legman? OUT OF PRINT. There are a few sparse entries, including a book with the title "Oragentitalism" which seldom comes up in conversation, but then "suck my XXX" is probably uttered more often per day in this country than, oh…I dunno…"excuse me, but I think I had the right of way."
When Legman published the book, nearly every copy was confiscated by authorities, many of whom had committed the crime and just as many more wished they had.
Most accounts call Legman a "folklorist" as though his contributions have more to do with recordings of banjo players back in the hills than relevance to our daily lives. Can you say hypocrisy?
"Gershon? Be a kind fellow and get me a few hundred different Tijuana bibles, will you?"
Read more about Gershon Legman HERE at his wiki entry.
Other books and affordable $5.99 Ebooks by Jim Linderman are HERE at Blurb.com
