Recently a woman was indicted for selling rape, molestation and snuff stories involving children under the obscenity laws.. According to Prof Hellman the creator of the obscenity laws- The worry is that people will be aroused and do awful things based on obscene work

While I understand that in terms of morality what the woman did was wrong ie catering to pedophiles in all likelihood but herein lies the big question - Can we be persuaded to believe that the thoughts penned by a writer could lead normal sane people to commit heinous acts? Isnt it an understood thing that only those who are latently/mentally disturbed can be swayed to do deviant acts? And how much can one curb the freedom of speech based on the fear that it might somewhere some how have an adverse effect on the weak minded?

He further remarked- The legal definition of obscenity embraces both "description," as in text, and "depiction," as in images, he said.

Does that mean that we ban - Mein Kampf, Lolita, Catcher In The Rye or for that matter My Experiments With The Truth since Gandhi talked about sleeping in the same bed with his teenage nieces on either sides?

There are numerous books written about kids having affairs with adults. Take Anne Rice's Mayfair series were a nublie 14 year old girl seduces a 40 something old man. Should we burn her on the stake too?

I find the woman's activities to be repugnant and yet believe that the prosecutors would have a hard time making the case stick since the stories were purely fiction and no pictures or videos of actual kids was involved.