Piscivore
Smelling fishy
Then we need to define each term before the discussion can proceed.
Have I been other than completely explicit about my terms?
It's not that there are differing definitions of pornography, the problem is the most common one, the one formulated in Victorian England, uses "primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal" as the element to distinguish it from otherwise identical material that gets tagged as "Art".
Sometimes, as dann observed, this element is evident. Oftentimes it isn't. Many times the creator is dead, unknown or otherwise unavailable, and the creator can lie about his purpose- leaving the determination of his "purpose" as a subjective judgement. "I know it when I see it" too often translates to "this falls too far outside the sphere of my experience and upbringing"- hardly an objective, consistant basis for decision-making. It is an idea that is little more than "it's a sin" dressed up for dinner. Thought control- shaping what is allowed to sexually stimulate someone other than yourself- is wholly endemic to the fundamental concept of "pornography".
Further, The idea of what causes sexual arousal varies widely sometimes between individuals and certainly between cultures, and even between time periods. That was not much of a problem a century and a half ago, but with the increasing and inevitable globilisation of human culture these divergent subjective categorisations are bumping up against each other, and inherently arbitrary concepts such as "pornography" are going to fall by the wayside eventually. How much damage must we let it do on the way down?
Lastly, this concept of "pornography" really does not address the issue we need it to address- is anyone harmed by this material? By it's very definition, "pornography" is concerned with what is going on inside someone's head. And using that as a basis of law, my friend, is where the real obscenity lies.
It isn't the definition that needs to be spelled out, IMO, but the implications.
Sorry, that was a bit much all at once.

