Quote:

According to Hackbart's complaint, "The courts have interpreted the language of the disorderly conduct statute narrowly to permit application only when the language or gesture satisfies the United States Supreme Court's test for obscene sexual conduct."

We're guessing that Hackbart's lifting of his middle finger neither appealed to the cop's prurient interest nor, since Pittsburgh is host to several colleges and universities, not to mention a couple of sports teams, did it offend local community standards.



I think its quite the opposite and this case bodes badly for Gonzo producers. Notice how the court was focusing on whether the gesture appealed to "prurient interest". In other words, did it appeal to sexual titillation and noting but sexual titillation.

When the last round of obscenity cases came down adult producers where still in the features business. Since there were story lines, it could not be said that adult movies appealed solely to a "prurient interest". Fast forward to today's Gonzo product. What's missing? Story lines. What's left, nothing but sexual titillation.

This will not be a popular opinion, but I believe that much of modern Gonzo fails the obscenity test enumerated by the Supreme Court as there is no reason to watch most Gonzo films other than to jerk off. If there is, please feel free to correct me. Don't get me wrong, I like modern Gonzo allot. I just think the producers are at significant legal risk.

The funny thing is that Extreme usually worked some political or societal message into their films. For example, "Forced Entry" can be viewed as a commentary on Richard Ramirez. So the government will still need to prove Extreme violated community standards.

There is allot of porn out there with no story and wall to wall sex. Quick, what's "Gag Factor" about? "Max Hardcore"? I could go on, but you get the point. The learning point is that the absence of a story line gives the government a strong obscenity case against Gonzo producers.
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"This thing is ready to do damage!"