Wave of Obscenity Prosecutions Leads to Closure and Self-Censorship of SM Websites

Though adult content is, in theory, protected by the First Amendment, only a jury can determine if a work is obscene or not under the subjective set of standards that vary from one community to the next established in the 1973 Supreme Court ruling, Miller v. California.

Text is not inherently more protected than images when it comes to obscenity charges. The erotic fiction website Red Rose Stories is facing obscenity charges after federal agents raided the owner's home on October 3rd, taking computer equipment and diskettes that contained all of their files and site information.

How is someone supposed to know how "the community" feels about your ideas unless you are allowed to express it? The community's offense will always be generated by their own personal issues. I personally find it offensive that these "communities" are unable to control their genital apparatus in the presence of such material. If they are affected so, i think they should submit themselves for psychological testing, because those are the folks who have something wrong with them.

Creators express their desires and world view through whatever method they are able. They do not inflict their world view on others and force conversion of the general populace to that view. It is always merely food for thought... a choice which may exist. The essence of the freedom of expression and the marketplace of ideas hinges on the unrepressed discussion of the public imagination. On the other-hand this "Community Standard" does inflict and subjugate other view points to its own. That is why the "Community Standard" is always a reprehensible one. Your truth is not the only truth out there. Get over yourself and the notion that all worlds revolve around your small one.

Besides... I still think all these obcenity laws are really to keep porn viable.