Saga - 2015, Qupperneq 42

dreifingu kláms á Íslandi á 19. öld og fyrri hluta 20. aldar en gera má
ráð fyrir því að klámfengið efni á borð við ljósmyndirnar í klám-
myndamálinu hafi oftar borist til landsins, til dæmis með náms-
mönnum, þótt það hafi ekki orðið að umræðuefni á opinberum vett-
vangi. Málsskjölin í klámmyndamálinu eru einstakar heimildir í
íslensku samhengi. Þau veita mikilvæga innsýn í mögulegar dreif-
ingarleiðir klámfengins efnis á Íslandi um miðja 20. öld en gefa jafn-
framt færi á að skyggnast bak við opinbera umræðu um klám, sem
byggði oftast á siðferðislegri fordæmingu og einkenndist í tilfelli
klámmyndamálsins einnig af pólitískum klofningi kalda stríðsins.
Abstract
kr i s t ín s vava tómasdótt i r
PORNOGRAPHy AND THe COLD WAR
In the spring of 1949, Icelandic papers reported male youths in Reykjavík to be
circulating pornographic photographs, purported to have been taken at keflavík
Airport and to depict Icelandic girls with foreign airport employees. In 1946, an
agreement which provided the USA with airport facilities was bitterly contested
and there were serious riots in Reykjavík when Iceland became a founding mem-
ber of NATO in 1949. This period was thus characterised by heated debate on
Western military cooperation, with opponents often intimating a wide range of
immoral behaviour at the airport, including wild drinking and sexual orgies. In
reality, Icelandic society was appalled by the sexual relations that had continued
between Icelandic women and foreign troops following the war years. Such rela-
tions were seen as threats to Iceland’s independence and culture as well as to its
sense of nationality, impelling the authorities to seek to disprove the airport accu-
sations. An investigation of the origins of the pornographic pictures was soon ini-
tiated, with results showing that the photos were indeed being passed among
young males in the capital, but had stemmed from the USA and been brought to
Iceland by Icelandic students of aircraft mechanics. These pictures subsequently
became associated with reports of pornographic photography at keflavík Airport.
In the aftermath, three men were convicted of offences against Article 210 of the
Icelandic Penal Code, which prohibits the production and distribution of porno -
graphy; in fact, this was Iceland’s first legal case on such grounds.
Tracking the smut pictures from the West Coast of the USA to Reykjavík and
noting the definition of hard-core pornography that was being formulated over-
seas around the mid-twentieth century, this article tells how the photographs
were circulated among young men in the capital city. The photos are shown to
intertwine with the Cold War struggle in Icelandic politics and with the sexual
nationalism that was surfacing in the fight against military cooperation with the
kristín svava tómasdóttir40
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