THOSE CRAZY VOLOKHS….Sheesh, porn, vibrators, male vibrators, obscene material that promotes racial subordination….The Volokh Conspiracy is hopping today. I guess when Eugene tells everyone it’s not a family blog, all hell breaks loose.
Anyway, just to pick one thing to comment on, how about this. Congress has passed a new law banning misleading domain names “with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors.” Here’s one piece of the relevant section:
(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “material that is harmful to minors” means any communication that —
(1) taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion….
Excretion? What’s up with that? I mean, the last time I looked kiddie TV was so full of fart and poop and pee jokes that it even makes me a little queasy. Or is there a whole subgenre of excretion porn that I am blessedly unfamiliar with?
UPDATE: A reader who may or may not wish to be publicly identified with this, answers my question about excretion porn:
Yes. Be grateful that you attended college before it was possible to have a roommate who had both a disturbing interest in such things and the ability to instantly access it from the dormroom computer you share with him.
Additionally, trying to explain the above situation to your girlfriend when she stumbles upon the link in the History section of your browser when she’s checking her email is one of those aspects of modern life that I could do without.
That’s shocking. He has to share a computer?
