[thechat] King Preaches Abstinence to Parading Maidens

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Sat Sep 14 05:14:01 CDT 2002


On Thu, 12 Sep 2002, deke  wrote:

> > But then what do you mean by porn?
>
> > I guess in my mind, porn is defined by deviance of some level.  But what
> > is deviance?
>
> The Supremes, who have had to define porn in order to deal with laws
> against it, say that porn is sexually prurient material. Pruritis is a
> medical term for "itching".  In other words, if it is sexually
> stimulating material, it's porn, and if there is non-stimulating
> nudity, it's not.
>
> Of course, for some people, there has to be *some* deviance in order to
> provide sexual stimulation, but what is deviance?
>
> I think the common definition of deviance is "something *I* wouldn't
> do".

Which is why the US courts have consistently failed to provide an
objective definition of obscenity, ie one better than "I know it when I
see it"

Cheers
Martin

---------------------------
"Names, once they are in common use, quickly
 become mere sounds, their etymology being
 buried, like so many of the earth's marvels,
 beneath the dust of habit." - Salman Rushdie




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