"I’m just a doctor. I can’t tell you what the remedy is. i can only say that in my opinion this is a public heath problem. I think it ought to be possible to determine once and for all what is in these comic books and I think it ought to be possible to keep the children under fifteen from seeing them displayed to them and preventing that these are directly sold to children (sic). In other words I think something should be done so that children can’t see them and get them. If a father — you see, I believe in freedom — if a father wants to go to a store and say “I have a little boy of seven who doesn’t know how to rob — how to rape a girl, he doesn’t know how to rob a store, please sell me one of your comic books” the man should sell him one. But I don’t think the boy should be able to go see this rape on the cover and buy the comic book. I think that is where, from a public health point of view, something might be done."
—
Dr. Fredric Wertham, to the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency
April 22, 1954
(via satellitesam)
