Sex and the law: obscenity

[mongo]

Obscenity laws vary by state (some do not have them), but in most states you can be arrested for selling ANY movie with explicit sexual conduct.
It is then up to a jury to decide if the movie is "obscene" using the following test:

(1) the proscribed material must depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way,
(2) the conduct must be specifically described in the law, and
(3) the work must, taken as a whole, lack serious value and must appeal to a prurient interest in sex.
What is patently offensive is to be determined by applying community values, but any jury decision in these cases is subject to independent constitutional review.

BTW - it is not illegal to own any movie that isn't child porn. It is just illegal to sell them. Most jurisdictions don't go after us smut peddlers because it is too expensive, and a conviction is not guaranteed.

So, what do you think is obscene (I will leave child porn out of this because it is illegal under other statutes)

and - Thanks! It's my first poll.

[Guy Fawkes]

1. errrr.... doesn't this count as a sex thread?

[troublemaker]

2. This is about civil liberties, and is appropriate

[mongo]

3. I would say it was a valid political question

One that affects me every day. I did my best to put things in a non-offensive way...

[troublemaker]

4. Mongo, is this your paraphrase of The Miller test, or

is the language from something? (I ask because prurience should be part of the first test, not part of the third. It makes a difference because the first two are community standards based, but the third test is a national reasonable man standard)

[mongo]

6. It was a paraphrase I got from a quick google search

I don't even know the site. But you are right.

[Endangered Specie]

5. They better not pick me as a Juror for a obscenity trial

If the condom don't fit, you must acquit

[mongo]

7. I would so want you as a juror

As well as most anyone here on DU. There isn't much that I won't put on my shelves (we concentrate on a 14.95 price point, so I don't buy movies by title) but I don't put anything up that looks like it has a rape scene or blood.

But you never can tell what is going to be in a 4-hour compilation. And I do sell movies that depict rough sex, and sometimes the teen movies depict the actress as under 18 - which I hate.

I can't know what's in the 1700 movies I have on the floor, and I don't watch a whole lot of porn. We got in this business primarily to sell sex toys. Unfortunately, movies are my bread 'n butter.

[Endangered Specie]

8. Anyone who sells vice is on my + side...

not just because I like it *snort*

But even more because I hate the taboo and Victorian uptight crap in this country. </soapbox>

[politicat]

9. Other. there are things that are far more obscene than porn and everyone's

dressed.

But I can't get on a jury thanks to educational background and the fact that I am an opinionated wench.

It would take a lot for me to vote something obscene because I've read the reports on sexuality and most people are far more adventurous than they admit.

I think it's the videotaping and making money off the tapes that actually bothers people more than the acts themselves. There's a strong streak of "keep it to yourself" in our common culture.

Pcat

[Blayde Starrfyre]

10. Fisting.

Just not cool.

[mongo]

11. One shameless kick for the day shift

Happy Friday cubicle farmers!

[sherrem]

12. I consider

anything obscene when I can't see it or speak of it in front of my children. Thats just me. I think these laws are way too broad, and the jury "test" especially.

I have never seen a porn, its not really something I've ever been inclined to do, but I would never try to tell someone else they couldn't see one (or a particular one) based on my opinion.

If I were sitting on a jury in a case in this regard, I would probably not consider any of the scenarios obscene because typically these movies are viewed by adults.

I do have a question though. Providing one of the above actions is considered obscene, would they take into account the flow of business and your profit? Assuming you have good business and are gaining a substantial income from the sale of such movies, I would think, indicates that the community is in fact, even if passively, accepting of the types of movies being sold.

[mongo]

13. Actually how successful you are counts against you

at least on the Federal level. They have some complex formula for determining your sentence, and how much business you do is taken into account. The more successful you are, the longer the sentence, and greater the fines.

The thing that I would like to see taken into account is cable TV. There is pay-per-view porn on most cable systems, and it is not "soft-core" anymore. So, if have a company that was given a franchise by a city or county that shows "hard-core" porn, isn't that a reflection of community values? As far as I know, no one has ever tried this argument.

[sherrem]

14. Wow

Thats really stupid. You'd think the amount of business you receive (locally)is at least in some way relative to the community's values.