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The Miller Test

The Supreme Court ruling that determined the official definition of obscene content that is not protected by the First Amendment in America was issued in the 1973 case Miller v. California, and the definition that came from it is therefore known as "The Miller Test."   It has three parts:

• An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;

• The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and

• The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

The FCC uses the same guidelines to determine obscenity and partly to determine indecency.  Profanity is different.  Here are the guidelines.

Midterm

Sorry I forgot to mention it in class, but the midterm will not be on Monday; it will be on Friday.  Plus, here's the statement from the congressional summit that I mentioned.

Spring Break Videos

I'd like you to watch three documentaries for this section of the course.  The last one on the list I've already mentioned and linked to, but make sure you watch it in preparation for our discussions after break.  As with that video, the first was produced by PBS's Frontline (greatest show ever).  This one is about pornography, and I must warn you that it is graphic and shocking.  (If you don't find it shocking, then we're worse off than I thought.)  If you choose not to expose yourself to such content, you must contact me for other ways of getting the material. 
The other video, is about rap/hip-hop.  It's about social roles and expectations, especially our notions of masculinity, sexuality, and violence.  I think you'll find it interesting.
Here they are:
American Porn by Frontline (60 min.)
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes produced, written, and directed by Byron Hurt (55 min.)
Digital Nation by Frontline (90 min.)