Pornography: Encyclopedia II - Pornography - Legal status

Pornography - Legal status

The legal status of pornography varies widely. Most countries allow at least some form of pornography. In some countries, softcore pornography is considered tame enough to be sold in general stores or to be shown on TV. Hardcore pornography, on the other hand, is usually regulated. Child pornography is illegal in almost all countries, and most countries have restrictions on pornography involving violence or animals.

Some people, including pornography producer Larry Flynt and the writer Salman Rushdie, have argued that pornography is vital to freedom and that a free and civilized society should be judged by its willingness to accept pornography.

Most countries attempt to restrict minors' access to hardcore materials, limiting availability to adult bookstores, mail-order, via television channels that parents can restrict, among other means. There is usually an age minimum for entrance of pornographic stores, or the materials are displayed partly covered or not displayed at all. More generally, disseminating pornography to a minor is often illegal. Many of these efforts have been rendered moot by the wide availability of Internet pornography.

There are recurring urban legends of snuff movies, in which murders are filmed for pornographic purposes. Extensive work by law enforcement officials to ascertain the truth of these rumors have been unable to find any such works.

• Australia: Regulation has increased somewhat under the Howard government, but remains reasonably widely available. See censorship in Australia. Pornographic material may be bought and hired in Northern Territory and ACT, and may not contain violence, child sexual abuse or demeaning portrayals. The various states have different laws on pornography, but the edited highlights are that there are numerous adult shops in each state and territory, all of which can sell or rent X-rated material. Technically it is illegal to sell X-rated material in Queensland, but it is not illegal to possess X-rated material.
• Austria: "Youth-imperiling" materials or those which violate human dignity may not be displayed or sold to persons under 18 years of age. Nudity is not assumed as such material.
• Brazil: Child pornography is a crime. Regular pornography (not involving bestiality/snuff) is legal. Male actors in local movies must wear condoms in penetration scenes. All actors must be 18 or older. When sold at public places, magazine and DVD covers that depict genitalia must be hidden from public view. Any pornography can only be sold to people 18 or older.
• Canada: Laws vary from province to province, however sale to persons under 18 (varies by province) is generally prohibited. Most materials are sold in adult stores, despite no specific law controlling the distribution. Canada Customs is empowered to stop the importation of materials prohibited under obscenity laws; many gay and lesbian bookstores have charged that this is applied in a discriminatory way to same-sex pornographic materials. Conversely, some over-the-air television stations (particularly Citytv and TQS) have broadcast softcore pornographic films after midnight. Child pornography is illegal, although a controversial recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on privacy rights significantly impacted government efforts to track and confiscate it. See also Censorship in Canada.
• People's Republic of China: Illegal, including softcore publications such as Playboy.
• Colombia: Child pornography prohibited under new constitution. Marketing is very strictly regulated. Most materials are sold on the black market. Bogota has at least 300 places where pornography (hardcore) may be legally obtained.
• Denmark: Ban on pornographic literature was lifted in 1966. In 1969 Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise (hardcore) pornography.
• France: Extremely violent or graphic pornography is considered X-rated, may be shown only in specific theaters, and may not be displayed to minors. Incurs special taxes on revenue (33% for X-rated movies, 50% for pornographic online services). The rating system is controversial; for instance, in 2000, the sexually explicit and violent Baise-moi was initially rated as only "restricted" by the French government, but this classification was overturned by the Conseil d'État ruling on a lawsuit brought by associations supporting Christian and family values.
• Germany: Child pornography is banned, where law defines a child to be a person up to the age of 14. Hard pornography (violence and animal related) may not be produced or distributed; possession is allowed. Hardcore pornography is restricted to buyers of 18 years or older. If a store is accessible to minors, the material must not be on display and may only be sold discreetly and by request. Special parental privilege to show hardcore pornography to their children for educational purposes. The law defines pornography to be hardcore pornography, thus anything else is not restricted.
• Greece: Softcore magazines, calendars, and decks of cards are sold openly at roadside kiosks and tourist shops. Extreme or graphic pornography is generally restricted to adults or X-rated.[Nowadays most kiosks in Athens exhibit hardcore magazines and DVDs.]
• Hong Kong: Illegal if sold or shown to children under 18 of age, or if publicly displayed (except within the confinements of and only visible from inside "a bona fide art gallery or museum"), or if published without being wrapped completely without an "easily noticeable" notice stating that the material may be offensive and may not be distributed to minors.^[5]
• Hungary: Illegal if sold or shown to children under 18 of age. Display of genitals on cover of magazine is prohibited unless obscured.
• Ireland: Illegal until the mid-1990s.
• India : Pornography is illegal and attracts several penal provisions. However, enforcement is extremely lax and pornographic materials are easily available.
• Indonesia : Illegal, however enforcement is extremely lax.
• Japan: Until the mid-1990s display of genitals prohibited, but no taboo regarding sex and violence. Portrayal of sexual activity by teenagers is not strongly regulated. Until recently, Japanese law prohibited the display or depiction of pubic hair, whether in pornographic material or not. Japanese editions of men's magazines such as Playboy had to have any visible signs of pubic hair airbrushed out. This prohibition may explain some visual characteristics of many pornographic manga or anime where pubic hair is absent from nude pictures. On the other side, Lolicon art (anime-like pictures of nude childrens) is legal. Pornographic anime and other pornography are available for all people of all ages with little governmental restriction.
• Malaysia: Illegal, however enforcement is extremely lax.
• Mexico: Illegal if sold or shown to children under 18 or age, yet enforcement is lax.
• Netherlands: Very liberal laws. Sold openly at normal newsstands. Material involving animals recently declared illegal due to new animal-welfare laws.
• Norway: Hardcore material has for long been illegal de jure, but legal in practice, that is, illegal to produce, distribute and sell, but legal to possess. One may e.g. acquire it abroad, on the internet, or via satellite TV. There are also some illegal porn shops, especially in the larger cities. To satisfy legal requirements, editors of erotic magazines, domestic TV channels and cable TV have obscured sexual organs in activity using black rectangles etc. After the Supreme Court on 7 December 2005 unanimously acquitted a former magazine editor for publishing unobscured hardcore pornography in 2002, however, it is understood that printed hardcore pornography is no longer illegal, and it is expected that pornographic magazines will be introduced in general stores. It is not yet clear if the Supreme Court decision will affect film or TV. (NB! It is still illegal to depict illegal sexual activities, i.e. involving children, animals, necrophilia, rape, violence or the use of force.) [6], [7], [8]
• Russia: Production and distribution explicitly prohibited, but State Duma has repeatedly failed to pass laws regulating pornographic materials, leaving status of most material unclear. De jure all pornography is allowed (including child porn), but de facto there are some limitations on where it can be sold, and zoophilia and child pornography are de facto prohibited. Openly sold erotic magazines usually do not display nipples and pubic area on covers. Most material is filmed in Saint-Petersburg where the law defines pornography as materials including rape, bestiality, necrophilia or child pornography, making all other subject matters legal erotica.
• Singapore: Illegal, including softcore publications such as Playboy.
• Slovenia : Illegal if sold or shown to children under 18 of age. Display of genitals on cover of magazine is prohibited unless obscured.
• Sweden: Material involving animals is de-facto legal but subject to animal-welfare laws. May be viewed beginning at age 18, no age limits for magazines.
• Switzerland: Legal, subject to exceptions: sale or display to persons under 16 or to non-consenting audiences is punishable by a fine or up to three years imprisonment. The same penalty is applicable for the possession, sale, import, etc. of child pornography, bestiality, excretions or violent acts. There is an exception for pornography with cultural or scientific merits. See Article 197 of the Penal Code.
• United Kingdom: Hardcore material was illegal until 1999, when trade-barrier difficulties with regards to European Community membership ensured the relatively free movement of such goods for personal importation only. R18-rated videos are only available in licensed sex shops, but hardcore pornographic magazines are available in newsagents in some places. Purely textual pornography has not been prosecuted since the Inside Linda Lovelace trial of 1976. The Home Office plans to introduce legislation to ban violent pornography.
• United States: Hardcore material is legal at the Federal level unless it meets the Miller test of obscenity, which is rare. Child pornography involving depictions of actual children engaged in sex acts or posing is a crime. Prosecution for and tolerance of pornography varies widely from state to state and city to city. Certain materials/acts have been self-regulated out of mainstream porn. Pornographic materials may not be made available to persons under 18 years of age or 21 in some jurisdictions. Some attempts at restricting pornography on the Internet have been struck down by the courts; see: Internet pornography.

The potential ability to create realistic images using computer graphics or digital manipulation has led to some debates of legality. For instance, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down in 2002 the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 that prohibited, among other things, simulated child pornography. The court ruled that it violated the First Amendment to ban material depicting fictional illegal conduct when no such conduct had been involved in production. However, in the UK, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 reached entirely the opposite conclusion, that if an image creates a convincing enough impression, it becomes an indecent pseudo-photograph of a child and is equally prosecutable under the law as an actual photograph.

The Internet has also caused problems with the enforcement of age limits regarding performers. In most countries, women and men under the age of 18 are not allowed to appear in porn films, but in several European countries the age limit is 16, and in the UK it is legal for women as young as 16 to appear topless in mainstream newspapers and magazines. This material often ends up on the Internet and viewed by people in countries where this constitutes child pornography, creating challenges for lawmakers wishing to restrict access to such material.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Legal status", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki