Quite Contrary

In a society where crime and violence is on the increase, the tide appears to be turning in favour of the previously unfashionable Whitehouse credo that the permissive society is bad for the moral health of the nation. For 30 years Mary Whitehouse has been campaigning to "clean up Britain", arguing that gratuitous sex, bad language and violence should not be allowed to pervade our screens, airwaves and newspapers. In the 1960s, she set up the National Viewers and Listeners Association which she still runs from her home in Essex. Her supporters and fame grew as she travelled across the globe taking her message to Australia, Japan and Canada. She had her successes: prosecuting "Gay News" under the previously defunct Blasphemy Act for publishing a homo-erotic poem about Christ, and campaigning for a Broadcasting Standards Council, which was finally set up under Lord Rees-Mogg in 1991. But she became a figure of fun, even of loathing, regularly finding herself pelted with abuse and rotten eggs as she participated in debates at universities up and down the country.
Pink Floyd wrote a song about her and, more recently, "The Mary White Experience" appeared on TV, a paean to everything that would horrify her. Now, in her autobiography, Mary Whitehouse gives her own account of those times, and of the bitter frustrations and disappointments, the harrowing criticism, the unending barrage of jokes at her expense, and the grit, humour and determination which kept her going. Not just an intimate look at the woman behind the blue rinse and fiery riposte, this book is also a collection of her firmly-held convictions and arguments regarding the "decline" of the social fabric of society.