that pornography was a form of free speech and
should be protected under the First Amendment.
Throughout the 1980’s, the Supreme Court consis-
tently ruled that indecent material—unlike obscene
material—must be made available to adults, but laws
could be passed to regulate pornography as a way to
keep it out of the hands of children and away from
neighborhoods, churches, and schools.
Further Reading
Cornell, Drucilla, ed.Feminism and Pornography. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000. This collec-
tion of essays explores the wide range of issues
about pornography from a variety of viewpoints.
Harrison, Maureen, and Steve Gilbert, eds.Obscenity
and Pornography Decisions of the United States Su-
preme Court. Carlsbad, Calif.: Excellent Books,
- Overview of major obscenity and pornogra-
phy decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, ex-
plained in nonlegal language for the general
reader.
MacKinnon, Catherine. Only Words. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. Written by
one of the nation’s foremost proponents of femi-
nist legal theory, this book is a collection of essays
that are strongly opposed to pornography and its
protection under the First Amendment.
Slade, Joe W.Pornography in America: A Reference
Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2000.
Comprehensive history of pornography in the
United States that includes biographies of por-
nography’s supporters and opponents. It also is
available in an electronic format.
Strossen, Nadine.Defending Pornography: Free Speech,
Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights.New York:
New York University Press, 2000. The president
of the American Civil Liberties Union and self-
proclaimed defender of pornography argues that
free speech has always been a strong weapon to
fight sex discrimination and refutes the position
of antipornography feminists that all pornogra-
phy is inherently degrading to women.
Eddith A. Dashiell
See also Domestic violence; Dworkin, Andrea;
Feminism; Flynt, Larry; Koop, C. Everett; Meese,
Edwin, III; Parental advisory stickers; PG-13 rating;
Sexual harassment; Swaggart, Jimmy; Women’s
rights.
Post office shootings
The Event Several mass shootings in post offices
related to job anxietiesIn the 1980’s, violence in post offices seemed to illustrate the
new stressful relationship between employees and supervi-
sors, as well as increased job demands for postal workers.
After a mass shooting in 1986, violent eruptions in post of-
fices were nationally reported and scrutinized.Congress assumed in 1971 that the newly organized
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would pay for itself by- In 1973, the USPS lost $13 million. It lost $438
million in 1974 and $1.2 billion in 1975. Stamps
cost 6 cents in 1971 but 13 cents by 1977, despite
55,000 fewer postal workers. In 1977 Congress voted
a billion dollars to keep the USPS solvent. Worker
productivity was low. Mail volume declined due to
competition from United Parcel Service (UPS) and
private mail carriers. There was talk of ending Satur-
day mail delivery. The Carter administration and
Congress increased the work expectations of USPS
employees, and USPS job pressures grew.
Post Office Angst in the 1980’s In 1980, a New Or-
leans postal worker named Curtis Collins killed his
supervisor with a .30 caliber carbine. Amid the me-
dia scrutiny of the incident, Hugh Bates, president
of the National Association of Postmasters, said
threats of violence were common in post offices
across the nation. Bates said that two postmasters in
Alabama had been killed in the last ten years. In Au-
gust, 1986, Patrick Sherrill, a part-time letter carrier
in Edmond, Oklahoma, walked into his post office
and murdered thirteen persons, then killed himself.
An ex-Marine and member of the National Guard,
Sherrill had been repeatedly censured by superiors
for bad job performance and may have been close to
being fired. He was verbally reprimanded the day be-
fore the shootings. Sherrill brought three pistols to
work and killed whoever he saw, chasing some vic-
tims down. Sherrill was a loner, described as “weird”
and “angry” by fellow workers. He was fascinated by
guns and peeped into neighbors’ windows at night.
He was unhappy in Edmond and twice passed tests to
be transferred, but these tests had not been acted
upon.
Two weeks after the Sherrill killings, six Dallas-
area postal workers were suspended and ordered
to undergo psychiatric evaluations after they made774 Post office shootings The Eighties in America