Let’s Talk About Sex: How Societal Value Evolution Has Redefined Obscenity

This Note seeks to examine the evolution of sex and sexuality in the media, by critically examining how the prevalence of sex and more recently the prevalence of topics and issues related to sexuality in television, literature, electronic media, and art have and continue to impact societal views and notions on obscenity. This Note will also examine the Miller test for obscenity, and the long term effects of societal value evolution on the application of the Miller test. This Note concludes by positing that at some point, the line between what is deemed sexually offensive and what is socially acceptable will become so blurred that the Miller test will no longer be definitively able to differentiate between the two, ultimately rendering it inapplicable.