Quote: "When did women exchanging bodily fluids and a little light bondage become the most obscene thing in the land?" asks Constance Penley, a University of California at Santa Barbara professor well-known for her classes on pornography.
That question may be answered this week when porn producer John Stagliano's federal obscenity trial enters its second week. Stagliano faces up to 32 years in prison for distributing the adult films Milk Nymphos, Storm Squirters 2: Target Practice, and a promo reel for a trailer for Belladonna's Fetish Fanatic Five via his website for Evil Angel Productions (adults only).
(Full disclosure: Stagliano has been a donor to Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website.)
Emboldened by the Stagliano trial, a group of anti-pornography organizations recently held an event to demand a new "War on Pornography." "We have a war on pornography and we're going to win it," declares Patrick Trueman, a former Department of Justice prosecutor and leader of the War on Pornography Coalition. "The pornographers know exactly what they're doing and they're not going to respond to anything but the stick of the law," adds Donna Rice Hughes, founder of Enough is Enough.
But Reason.tv speaks with others, including an adult film actress and fetish film director, who promise to resist the anti-porn crusaders. And there is a bigger issue at stake, says Marty Klein, author of America's War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty. "The right to see South Park, may actually depend on the right to watch Butt Busters 3," says Klein. "If people want to have the right to do what they want to do, they have to protect the rights of other people to do what other people want to do."
"Obscenity vs. Freedom of Expression" is produced and edited by Hawk Jensen, field produced by Dan Hayes, with camera work by Dan Hayes, Hawk Jensen, Alex Manning, Joshua Swain and Zach Weissmueller. Production Assistants are Sam Corcos and Jack Gillespie. Approximately 7.30 minutes.
__________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 16 Jul 2010 17:22
Administrator Currently Offline
Posts: 4786
Join Date: Jul 2007
Seems to me that porn is way too far out there to be deemed any kind of free speech. They didn't need some kind of rules in as far as how they can just put that stuff out there for anybody to see. Common sense has to play here.
32 years in prison seems a bit much unless there was kids involved or some real actual violent act otherwise I would think more of a big fine or something. __________________
Lucas McCain the Rifleman: A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark...but that doesn't mean you should go running *to* one, either.
Posted: 16 Jul 2010 18:25
Registered User
Posts: 4725
Join Date: Aug 2007
It's debatable that there exists such a thing as free speech to begin with. Adding limits to it makes it something completely other than free.
The rule of law can only work properly with clear definitions; it won't work on 'common sense', whatever that is. 'Common sense' is playing it too fast and loose. Your version of it, mine, the other users here and Thomas Paine would all have varying degrees of it and that's only if somehow one set standard actually exists.
It's vaguaries like common sense, prurience and good taste that got him threatened with 32 years. He doesn't even deserve a fine as far as I'm concerned, and that milk thing disgusts me. __________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted: 17 Jul 2010 12:56
Registered User
Posts: 4725
Join Date: Aug 2007
Lawyers that don't know what they're doing certainly doesn't hurt a defendant, but it's those gray areas that did their work. John Stagliano is a free man. Whether or not you like what he does(with milk or anything else), it's a good day for freedom itself.
__________________
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles
And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
