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Pornography

Pornography is very widely controversial no matter were you go. Only in the past couple of years has porn been more accepted. To understand what all the controversy is about you have to recognize the many landmark court cases over the difference between obscenity and pornography. But first I would like to define each. Obscenity, as defined in Webster's dictionary, means the state or quality of being obscene; impurity; lewdness. Pornography means literature which prostitutes a figure; obscene writing. Just by the closeness of there definitions you can tell why it's so controversial.



COURT CASES

The first federal law against obscenity was passed as a part of the Tariff Act of 1842. This Tariff made it illegal to bring or import "indecent and obscene" material into this country. Another law passed in the nineteenth century was the Comstock Law. It was passed in 1873 and it prohibited the mailing of obscene material. These laws are the first to passed dealing with obscene material.

In 1957 the court begins to formulate more concrete standards then those in the past. In Roth v. United States the court sustained a conviction punishing the mailing of "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" materials. The Court's rejection of the claim that obscene materials were protected by the First Amendment was the key of having the decision held.



Memoirs v. Massachusetts was the next case dealing with obscenity, nine years later in 1966. The major decision that came out of this case was that the courts definition of obscenity is that the material is "utterly without redeeming social value."

Miller v. California is a major landmark case dealing with weather certain material is obscene, therefore not protected under the First Amendment. A test was established that would tell if a work is obscene. It contained three parts, the first being "whether the work appealed to prurient interests." This means it shouldn't be solely intended to be sexually arousing to an...