Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 7 of 8 · from the scan, no model involved
Most of this was already on the books. The change only involves the added clause, “or to knowingly display for commercial purpose in a manner whereby juveniles may examine or peruse . . .” But that change casts a far wider net than simply keeping youngsters from looking at sexy magazines on convenience store shelves.
The new law became effective July 1, and as of that date not only local supermarkets and other outlets for sexually explicit magazines and paperbacks are suddenly under the gun, but so will be the most reputable and respectable book and art dealers in the state.
There are vast bodies of literature and art dealing with erotica which are world renowned for their beauty and esthetic value. Yet if the new law is enforced, owners of bookstores in the Old Dominion will have to strip their shelves of,not only these, but the works of some of our most respected contemporary writers. If any little browsers under age 18 should come across a salacious passage or picture, the storekeeper could be charged with a class I misdemeanor. This means he could draw a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.
Just how the book marketing industry will deal with the new law is unclear, just as some provisions of the law are unclear. What, for example, is meant by “depicts sexually explicit nudity”? Will photographs of Michaelangelo’s “David” or “Pieta” have to be kept under wraps lest some teenager snicker at them?
At bottom, it is not only a dumb law, it is a bad law. Censorship steals in on little cat’s feet, and the change is a godsend to fundamentalist preacher types and those commonwealth’s attorneys who are inclined to turn crusader when they come up for election.
If we in the press had been on the ball we would have been saying all this when the bill was before the General Assembly last winter.
The measure, of course, was a politician’s dream in an election year. Who could vote against someone who stood four-square against the rising tide of smut?
In spite of that, however, even in an election year the lawmakers should know that they can’t fight the social problems of the 1980s with legislation which has the values of the 1880s stamped all over it.
92.9%