How to Assess Obscenity: A Legal Realism Interpretation of the Legal Standards for Obscenity
![handle is hein.journals/ubclr53 and id is 729 raw text is: HOW TO ASSESS OBSCENITY: A LEGAL REALISM
INTERPRETATION OF THE LEGAL STANDARDS
FOR OBSCENITY
JENNIFER KUSZt
INTRODUCTION
In 1974, Penthouse magazine, what might be called a girlie
magazine, was subjected to the scrutiny of the Canadian justice
system.1 In that same year, the film The Last Tango in Paris was
prosecuted under the obscenity provisions at the Manitoba Court
of Appeal.2 The film was described as a skin-flick-films that
lack plot and typically show lesbian sex and orgies.3 Thirty years
later, in 2004, the justice system was to consider whether
pornographic material which featured bondage, domination,
and/or sado-masochism (BDSM) would be tolerated by Canadian
society.4 These cases share a common feature in that they all
necessitated the application of the community standards of
tolerance test, a Canadian common law approach to assessing
obscene material. In Canadian law, material that is defined as
t Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jennifer E.
Kusz, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C. V5A 1S6.
jtognela@sfu.ca.
1 See R vProvincial News Co (1974), 52 DLR (3d) 222, [1974] 6 WWR 137 (Alta
SC) [Provincial News Co SC].
2 See R v Odeon Morton Theaters Ltd (1974), 45 DLR (3d) 224, [1974] 3 WWR
304 (Man CA) [Odeon Morton Theaters].
3 Ibid at 233.
4 See R v Price, 2004 BCPC 103 [Price].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ubclr53&div=23&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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How to Assess Obscenity: A Legal Realism Interpretation of the Legal Standards for Obscenity
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