Pornography

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Pornography is sex-related material – like a movie or picture – designed to sexually arouse the person looking at it. Whether you’ve ever actually owned it or looked at it, just about everyone has heard of things like pornographic movies and “porno magazines,” which typically show men and women in the nude. Not all pornography is illegal, and that’s why you may see some of these materials for sale in various retail outlets. Pornography is a way for some adults to express themselves, make a living or find entertainment. These people are free to buy it and own it, businesses are free to make, publish and sell it and adults are free to participate in it in exchange for a paycheck. Pornography loses its First Amendment protections, however, when it becomes obscene or it involves children. At this point, federal and state laws make it illegal to make, sell, own and even look at some of this material. Anyone violating these laws may be fined, sent to jail or both.

The basic test used to determine if something is obscene asks:

- Whether the average person, applying today’s community standards, would find that the work,
taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient or sexual interest
- Whether the work shows or describes, in a clearly offensive way, sexual conduct, as defined
by the laws of the state where the materials are located
- Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value

In simple terms, it’s not obscenity unless is shows “hard core” sexual conduct that’s clearly and plainly offensive (also called “patently” offensive). There’s no national standard or rule about what’s obscene and what’s not. It’s up to you and other members of your community to determine that. What you and your neighbors consider obscene may not be so to people in another state or city.

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Pornography