Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Is this Pornography?

A recent post by SpotNaked asks this question with only one photo, one similar to the picture below.


What is pornography? "Pornography is the depiction of sexual behavior that is intended to arouse sexual excitement in its audience."

What is obscene? Obscenity has a three pronged definition, and as I understand it, all three have to be present in order to declare something obscene:
a) would an average person, applying community standards, find the material morbid, shameful, and an unhealthy interest in sex;
b) does it depict or describe certain sexual acts as defined by law in a patently offensive way;
c) would a reasonable person find the material lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

I don't want to give a long report about constitutional rights or legal definitions. But I do know people who would consider this photo pornographic and who also consider public nudity indecent and obscene. The human body in this context is neither.

2 comments: