Abstract:
The concept that people can be harmed by exposure to various kinds of content is traceable to Plato.1 The specific category of person, the type of content, and the nature of the harm it may induce vary over intervening centuries and across cultures.2
In the United States, the identification of children as a distinct group particularly vulnerable to putative harmful effects of exposure to certain types of content began in the late nineteenth century.3 In 1968, the Supreme Court held in Ginsberg v. New York that material not deemed obscene for adults may nonetheless be considered “obscene with respect to minors.” This doctrine of variable obscenity promoted passage of federal, state, and local laws preventing children’s access to material that is constitutionally protected for adults but regarded as “harmful to minors.”4 Ironically, most of the terms describing this issue are ill-defined and variable, including even the definition of “harm.”
Sexually explicit content has been of concern as harmful to minors for more than a century. More recently, materials depicting or including violence, illegal drug use, and other topics have been proposed as harmful to youth. Sex and violence are two of the most frequently mentioned areas of concern, thus are the focus of this article.5
