Defining obscenity legally

Defining obscenity in legal terms is a challenge that has elded lawmakers for decades. In its broadest sense, obscenity is any material that appeals to a prurient interest in sex, nudity, genitatlia or excretion that has no socially redeeming, literary, political, scientific or artistic value when judged by an average person applying community standards.



One problem with this definition is that community standards vary greatly and what might be found obscene in rural Nebraska may be considered a work of art in New York.