Pornography is going on-line: the harm principle in Dutch law

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Date

2013

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Faculty of Law, UWC

Abstract

The pornography of 19th century Victorian society, Steven Marcus observes in The Other Victorians, gave expression to a fantasy that exactly mirrored the public ideal image of chastity in reverse reflection. As exemplary of Victorian morality, Marcus refers to an 1857 treatise on human sexuality, The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs, by the physician William Acton. Unlike Freud, Acton maintained that healthy children hardly manifest any sexual feelings. For youngsters who give in to titillations an ill fate awaits: "His intellect has become sluggish and enfeebled, and if his evil habits are persisted in, he may end in becoming a drivelling idiot or a peevish valetudinarian."

Description

Keywords

Sexual morality, Pornography, Harm principle, Dutch law, Victorian society

Citation

Maris, C. (2013). Pornography is going on-line: the harm principle in Dutch law. Law, Democracy & Development, 17: 1-23