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by HungryGuy on January 27th, 2006

HungryGuy

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What should a writer of erotic horror fiction do to avoid prosecution under American censorship laws?

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  • by LynfromNM on March 3rd, 2006

    LynfromNM

    Hungry Guy knows his stuff on this issue, read his profile! Local jurisdictions rather than the federal government are the controlling entities. Different communities have different standards. Rarely is anyone brought up on charges for publishing erotic material unless it involves real children who have been exploited in order to produce the material. In some communities the material may be banned from display or sale, or individual companies may refuse to accept your work for sale in their markets, but this is really the only recourse that would be taken against you. As to what you should DO, seek markets that accept your type of material and keep Hungry Guy's references at your fingertips. Your choice of expression is protected under federal law but no one is forced to read it, or to like you, and frequently writers of erotic material face persecution if not prosecution.

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  • by Anonymous on February 9th, 2006

    Anonymous

    I would change my writing habits from erotic to fairy tales. no prosecution or censorship laws to violate here.

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  • by HungryGuy on February 4th, 2006

    HungryGuy

    Historically, it has been very difficult for the government to persecute, oops, I mean prosecute, someone for penning fictional literature, i.e. plain text. A prime example is when the US Supreme Court struck down the censorship provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 as unconstitutional ( http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=00-795 ). But in answer to the question, I usually preface many of my high-risk works with the following Foreword. Feel free to use it as-is or with your own changes to suit yourself:

    Foreword: The story that follows this introduction contains written words that came out of someone's imagination (nothing more and nothing less) for the purpose of entertainment and social commentary. Indeed, it is a sad commentary that an introduction like this is needed to defend such a basic, essential, and precious human right as freedom of speech. This right is affirmed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The words "no law" and "or abridging the freedom of speech" are perfectly clear and leave no room for interpretation. The First Amendment protects every kind of speech, and makes no exceptions whatsoever for offensive, erotic, prurient, obscene, or other forms of speech. I stand in good company in defense of free speech:

    - "Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."--Thomas Jefferson

    - "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."--Benjamin Franklin

    - "A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouths of labor the bread it has earned, this is the sum of good government."--Thomas Jefferson

    - "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."--The Friends Of Voltaire, 1906

    - "There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."--Oscar Wilde

    - "The Greatest evils inflicted by man over the face of the Earth are wrought not by the self-seekers, the pleasure lovers, or the merely amoral, but by the fervent devotees of ethical principles."--Robert M. MacIver

    - "Laws that prevent the choosing of sin also prevent the choosing of virtue."--Daniel B. Klein

    - "Liberty is the only thing you can't have unless you give it to others."--William Allan White

    - "The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self protection."--John Stuart Mill

    Furthermore, every US President, Attorney General, FBI Director, and other government employees whose job is to enforce the law is sworn to an oath to defend the Constitution. Therefore, any government representative or employee who enacts laws or imposes punishments upon people for their speech is violating their solemn oath of office. For example:

    - "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."--George W. Bush, Jr., President of the United States

    - "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."--Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI

    Lastly, the purpose of the jury trial system is not merely to judge those accused of crimes, but also to judge the law itself. The jury trial system exists to empower the people to enforce the Constitution upon the government, in the same way that the jury trial system exists to empower the government to enforce the law upon the people. Again, I stand in good company in my awareness of the true function of the jury trial process:

    - "The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the facts in controversy."--John Jay, 1789, first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

    - "If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal case being tried is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural, inalienable, or Constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all--for no one is bound to obey an unjust law...the law itself is on trial, quite as much as the cause which is to be decided."--Harlan F. Stone, former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

    - "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."--Thomas Jefferson.

    - "It is not only the juror's right, but his duty, in that case, to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court."--John Adams, 1771.

    For more information of freedom of speech see:

    American Civil Liberties Union--http://www.aclu.org/
    CATO Institute--http://www.cato.org/
    Electronic Frontier Foundation--http://www.eff.org/
    Fully Informed Juries Association--http://www.fija.org/
    iFeminists--http://www.ifeminists.net/
    Institute for Justice--http://www.ij.org/
    The Independent Institute--http://www.independent.org/

    Now, on to the story...

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  • by Shabba on February 28th, 2006

    Shabba

    My first thought would be to get a copy of the relevant censorship standards. As long as you tailor your writing to not breach any of the standards, there is nothing stopping you from writing erotic horror fiction.

    What you would mainly need to do is work on wording and writing style to deliver the story without too much explicit/offensive content. I'd say it is possible, and with good writing you should be able to get your story out without too much hassle.

    If in doubt, I would speak to somebody involved in that area, and just get some feedback on what is acceptable to publish, and what is not.

    Erotic horror to fairy tales? I'll never look at Snow White and her seven dwarves the same way again...

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