ABSTRACT
Obscenity law regulates two types of bodies: those engaged in sexual pursuits within various kinds of texts, and the more figurative body-politic. It is at that latter level that it exerts its strongest power, acting as a central regulatory agent in setting the parameters of sexual citizenship in the United States. While the sources of normative sexuality are numerous, ranging from economic systems to cultural influences, certainly sexuality is also, as historian Margot Canaday reminds us, a legal regime administered by state regulation.1 In that sense, if such institutions as marriage or military service act as gatekeepers of inclusion, obscenity law has often served as the outer limit that excludes certain sexual expressions from access to the public sphere. As such, the work it does in American history goes well beyond simple questions of free speech and First Amendment doctrine. Obscenity, simply put, is the boundary of social inclusion in the sexual body-politic. While often conflated with pornography, the two terms carry slightly different meanings: Obscenity is a formal legal term, while pornography is a socially and culturally determined word without actual legal weight. Since at least the 1960s, obscenity has by case-law definition effectively been constrained to pornography—though this was not always the case.
