ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses links between philosophy, morality, law, and pornography and how society protects or criminalizes speech based on morality. Though some philosophies formidably argue about pornography, normative views tend to govern the criminal justice system’s treatment of speech and pornographic depictions. Regulation of morality vacillates in context, but traditional understandings of morality are often inextricable from society’s perceptions of normality. In the United States, First Amendment free speech rights prevent federal and state governments from criminalizing depictions of sex organs, sexual behavior, and sexuality. However, First Amendment free speech rights are not limitless. Some forms of speech are so offensive or harmful that society and the government are unwilling to protect them, which means that they may be banned. Various kinds of speech may be defined and treated differently under the law based on how offensive mainstream society perceives certain speech to be. Erotica, pornography, obscenity, child pornography, hard-core pornography, and other depictions are discussed in this chapter as speech. Producing, displaying, transmitting, selling, and possessing sexual depictions involve different speech acts. Sometimes various speech acts are treated more harshly than others, but at other times, various speech acts receive similar treatment under the law. Some laws criminalize certain offensive or harmful speech directly, but other laws weigh different factors. Factors may include subject matter, time and place, and audience. Law also controls which drawings, sounds, photos, videos, sculptures, or any other kinds of depictions may be produced and shared in public or private.
