Obscenity Law

The scales of justice decide appropriateness and morality.

Description

Obscenity laws are regulations that can be used to determine whether subject matter is inappropriate and whether it should be removed or subject to strict circulation rules. Obscenity Laws have led to many works of literature being confiscated, burned, or banned in certain regions of the world. These laws were established through three different Supreme Court cases that determined certain topics, like pornography, are not protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The term "obscene" is nuanced. Each person has a different opinion on what is considered obscene. For the most part, obscene is defined as something disturbing, extremely graphic, or violent. Courts decide whether a book can be banned under the Obscenity Laws, so that the decision can vary depending on the jury's personal opinions or the community's investment in the literature. While the Miller Test serves as a basic guideline, it is applied within the current community standards, so the status of the literature can change with the community.

Standards

One community will have different values compared to a neighboring area. This is why literature can be banned in one nation and welcomed openly in another. Typically, there are four regions with community standards: Urban, Conservative, Rural, and Liberal. These are the most common kinds of communities, but an area can fall outside these categories or decide against their norms.

An urban area will focus on artistic and cultural diversity, allowing more acceptance for explicit content. Conservative areas are restrictive and focus on moral and social norms. Rural communities lean on the conservative side, with an emphasis on social norms and traditional values. A liberal community will focus on artistic expression and personal freedoms, making it more permissive towards explicit content.

Cases

The Roth v. United States case of 1957 led to the Roth test, which was the predecessor of the Miller Test. The Roth test established that a work was obscene if its dominant theme correlated to prurient interest, and if the contemporary community agreed on it. Prurient interest would be any work with an inappropriate or excessive amount of sexual content. The community had the final say on whether something passed or failed the Roth Test.

The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Miller v. California was a turning point for deciding whether or not a piece of literature should be banned. The Courts created the Miller Test to act as a framework for detecting obscenity in literature. This test looks at the literature as a whole and decides if the book has prurient interest, has offensive sexual conduct, and if it lacks scientific, artistic, literary, or political value. This framework creates guidelines for courts and communities to follow when deeming literature too obscene to be publicly distributed. It is still used in the U.S. today.

Complications with these laws

The law is in place to uphold a community's values while not violating the First Amendment right to free speech and expression. While there are guidelines for this law, community standards determine whether to label literature as obscene. Community standards change constantly, which in turn would alter what literature is banned in an area. Travelers and people ordering literature online would need to ensure that their area allows them to bring literature into it. You can live in a town that allows that book to be sold and distributed, but the next town over might have it banned altogether. The Internet has become a large challenge for the Obscenity Law since it cannot be regulated so easily. Obscene material is spread constantly online, with the government struggling to track who is spreading this information and stop them.

Pros of the Obscenity Law

The Obscenity Law protects vulnerable groups like children from being exposed to inappropriate material that could affect their physical and mental well-being. Having strict rules about what can and cannot be published based on the community is a way to uphold the morals and values of that community. A community can change its mind about whether or not a piece of literature is considered obscene, depending on the evolution of the community and its values. This law acts as a deterrent to inappropriate behavior and the distribution of lewd material.

Cons of the Obscenity Law

Since the community can decide whether literature falls under the obscene category, many books or pieces of literature can be wrongly banned due to prejudice against the themes or the author of the literature. Having just one inappropriate scene could condemn a piece of literature. When a book is categorized as obscene, there are roadblocks placed to make the book impossible to find, unless you are of age. By banning material talking about sexual things, it promotes the stigma that these are things to be ashamed of and never discussed. If parents are not able to discuss things like contraception and abortion with their children using literature, it can cause their kids to be uninformed about the world.