Map: Pearl Clutchers in Hot Spring County

Is the film Night of the Living Dead too racy for daytime television? What about double entendres about “spotted dick” pudding? Or a travel documentary about Paris featuring burlesque dancers and a museum with nude paintings? These were just some of the federal obscenity complaints that made Hot Spring County, Arkansas, the most prudish place in America.

The most infamous job of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to punish obscenity on the airwaves, and it’s always relied on public feedback to do so. In the 1970s, a complaint about George Carlin’s “seven dirty words you can’t say on television” routine led to a Supreme Court ruling allowing the FCC to regulate “obscene, indecent, and profane” content on the airwaves.

New technologies have made this power less relevant, since cable news and online streaming fall outside the FCC’s jurisdiction. They’ve also made it easier to see who’s complaining. For a decade, the FCC has published the time stamp and ZIP code of each individual obscenity complaint online.

By far, Hot Spring County was the most complaint-dense place in the continental United States, with over 51 complaints per 10,000 residents over the past decade. The runner-up, Yankton County, South Dakota, had only 21 complaints per 10,000 residents. Rounding out the top three was Lake County, Indiana, just outside of Chicago, with six complaints per 10,000 residents.

Outside the mainland, Puerto Ricans also make a lot of complaints to the FCC. The capital city of San Juan sent 824 complaints over the past decade—an average of 25 complaints per 10,000 residents. Of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipios, 29 had more than six complaints per 10,000 residents.

Places with fewer than 40 complaints are excluded from the calculation. Because the actual content of the complaints isn’t available online, Reason filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Hot Spring County residents’ messages to the FCC.

Many of the complaints were the expected gripes about cursing in rap songs and violent action movies. A few of them were stranger. Complainants were disgusted by an episode of The X-Files showing a psychiatric patient throwing “dookie,” a documentary showing an animal dissection, and a razor commercial that showed women “behind tiny bushes trimming them into the runway/heart shapes that girls trim their pubic hair aka bushes into.”

FCC officials may have gotten tired of hearing from the good people of Hot Spring County. At least, that’s what the person complaining about the Paris travel show thought: “Yes this is a regular broadcast channel—NOT A CABLE CHANNEL—for the FCC reviewer that inevitably deems every channel cable so they don’t have to deal with it! Ugh!”

Top 100 U.S. counties for FCC complaints per 100,000 residents:

Ranking	County Name	Complaints Per 100,000 Residents
1	Hot Spring County, Arkansas	514
2	San Juan Municipio, Puerto Rico	252
3	Yankton County, South Dakota	211
4	Bayamón Municipio, Puerto Rico	191
5	Cayey Municipio, Puerto Rico	183
6	Guaynabo Municipio, Puerto Rico	175
7	Woodson County, Kansas	160
8	Boise County, Idaho	157
9	San Juan County, Colorado	155
10	Piatt County, Illinois	152
11	Wheeler County, Oregon	141
12	Trujillo Alto Municipio, Puerto Rico	135
13	Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska	135
14	Throckmorton County, Texas	133
15	Lyman County, South Dakota	131
16	Hormigueros Municipio, Puerto Rico	127
17	Rooks County, Kansas	120
18	Gurabo Municipio, Puerto Rico	107
19	Carolina Municipio, Puerto Rico	106
20	Douglas County, Missouri	105
21	Armstrong County, Texas	103
22	Caguas Municipio, Puerto Rico	99
23	Esmeralda County, Nevada	97
24	Mayagüez Municipio, Puerto Rico	93
25	Dorado Municipio, Puerto Rico	82
26	Quebradillas Municipio, Puerto Rico	82
27	Trinity County, California	80
28	McIntosh County, North Dakota	79
29	Juncos Municipio, Puerto Rico	78
30	Aguadilla Municipio, Puerto Rico	78
31	Taos County, New Mexico	76
32	Cabo Rojo Municipio, Puerto Rico	75
33	Briscoe County, Texas	74
34	Ciales Municipio, Puerto Rico	74
35	Humacao Municipio, Puerto Rico	74
36	Williamsburg city, Virginia	73
37	Quay County, New Mexico	73
38	Toa Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico	71
39	Saunders County, Nebraska	70
40	Campbell County, South Dakota	69
41	Isabela Municipio, Puerto Rico	68
42	Orocovis Municipio, Puerto Rico	68
43	Perkins County, South Dakota	67
44	Lane County, Kansas	66
45	San Germán Municipio, Puerto Rico	65
46	Barranquitas Municipio, Puerto Rico	64
47	Furnas County, Nebraska	64
48	Lake County, Indiana	63
49	Lajas Municipio, Puerto Rico	63
50	Toa Alta Municipio, Puerto Rico	62
51	Moca Municipio, Puerto Rico	62
52	Ponce Municipio, Puerto Rico	61
53	Yauco Municipio, Puerto Rico	61
54	Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico	61
55	Lares Municipio, Puerto Rico	60
56	Aguas Buenas Municipio, Puerto Rico	59
57	Aguada Municipio, Puerto Rico	59
58	Yabucoa Municipio, Puerto Rico	58
59	Monona County, Iowa	58
60	Sheridan County, Nebraska	58
61	Vega Alta Municipio, Puerto Rico	57
62	Nance County, Nebraska	57
63	Cook County, Minnesota	56
64	McCone County, Montana	55
65	Arecibo Municipio, Puerto Rico	54
66	Piute County, Utah	53
67	Aibonito Municipio, Puerto Rico	53
68	Añasco Municipio, Puerto Rico	53
69	Cidra Municipio, Puerto Rico	51
70	Las Piedras Municipio, Puerto Rico	51
71	Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska	51
72	Worth County, Missouri	50
73	Manatí Municipio, Puerto Rico	50
74	Perry County, Pennsylvania	50
75	Mitchell County, Kansas	50
76	Prairie County, Arkansas	49
77	Canóvanas Municipio, Puerto Rico	49
78	Corozal Municipio, Puerto Rico	49
79	Juana Díaz Municipio, Puerto Rico	48
80	Potter County, Pennsylvania	48
81	Clay County, Texas	48
82	Luzerne County, Pennsylvania	48
83	Keweenaw County, Michigan	48
84	LaMoure County, North Dakota	47
85	Osceola County, Michigan	47
86	Robertson County, Kentucky	47
87	Carbon County, Wyoming	46
88	Chugach Census Area, Alaska	46
89	Sierra County, New Mexico	46
90	Peñuelas Municipio, Puerto Rico	45
91	Adjuntas Municipio, Puerto Rico	45
92	Tensas Parish, Louisiana	45
93	Hamilton County, New York	45
94	Fredericksburg city, Virginia	45
95	Guayanilla Municipio, Puerto Rico	44
96	San Lorenzo Municipio, Puerto Rico	44
97	Rincón Municipio, Puerto Rico	43
98	Cataño Municipio, Puerto Rico	42
99	Santa Isabel Municipio, Puerto Rico	42
100	Grand County, Utah	41

Source: FCC Open Data; U.S. Census 2020

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Source: https://reason.com/2024/11/17/pearl-clutchers-in-hot-spring-county/