Editing Hays Code (section)

==Pre-Code: "Don’ts" and "Be Carefuls", as proposed in 1927==
In a resolution passed on June 29, 1927, the MPPDA codified lists of "don'ts" and "be carefuls" into what they colloquially called their "Magna Charta".<ref name="donts">{{Cite web |date=June 29, 1927 |title=Record #365 |url=https://mppda.flinders.edu.au/records/365 |access-date=July 14, 2020 |website=MPPDA Digital Archive}}</ref> Many of these would later become key points in the Code.<ref name="Hollywood">Lewis (2000), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4OBepfVJOeEC&pg=PA301 pp. 301–302]</ref>

===Don'ts===
"Those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated":<ref name="donts" />

{{blockquote|
# Pointed profanity{{--}}by either title or lip{{--}}this includes the words God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd, and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled;
# Any licentious or suggestive nudity{{--}}in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;
# The illegal traffic in drugs;
# Any inference of sex perversion;
# [[Sexual slavery#White slavery|White slavery]];
# [[Miscegenation]];
# [[sexual health|Sex hygiene]] and venereal diseases;
# Scenes of actual childbirth{{--}}in fact or in silhouette;
# Children's sex organs;
# Ridicule of the [[clergy]];
# Willful offense to any nation, race or creed; 
}}

===Be Carefuls===
"Special care [must] be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized":<ref name="donts" />

{{blockquote|
# The use of the Flag;
# International Relations (avoid picturizing in an unfavorable light another country's religion, history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry);
# Religion and religious ceremonies;
# [[Arson]];
# The use of firearms;
# Theft, robbery, [[safe-cracking]], and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, et cetera (having in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the moron);
# Brutality and possible gruesomeness;
# Technique of committing murder by whatever method;
# Methods of smuggling;
# [[torture|Third-Degree methods]];
# Actual [[hanging]]s or [[electric chair|electrocution]]s as legal punishment for crime;
# Sympathy for criminals;
# Attitude toward public characters and institutions;
# [[Sedition]];
# Apparent cruelty to children and animals;
# [[Livestock branding|Branding]] of people or animals;
# The sale of women, or of a woman [[prostitution|selling her virtue]];
# Rape or attempted rape;
# [[wedding night|First-night]] scenes;
# Man and woman in bed together;
# Deliberate seduction of girls;
# The institution of marriage;
# Surgical operations;
# The use of drugs;
# Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;
# Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a "[[villain|heavy]]".
}}