WI: Obscenity laws ruled unconstitutional

What if in 1973, The supreme court had ruled obscenity laws to be unconstitutional and that obscene materials were protected by the first amendment? what effect would this have on the porn industry? How would the religious right react?
 
What if in 1973, The supreme court had ruled obscenity laws to be unconstitutional and that obscene materials were protected by the first amendment? what effect would this have on the porn industry? How would the religious right react?

The porn industry would be bigger than they were in the 1970's (In 1976, we had X-rated films advertised openly in my local paper), and the Religious Right would have another issue, besides abortion and loss of tax-exempt status for discriminatory schools.
 
The porn industry would be bigger than they were in the 1970's (In 1976, we had X-rated films advertised openly in my local paper), and the Religious Right would have another issue, besides abortion and loss of tax-exempt status for discriminatory schools.

There was enough hardcore pornography in the 1970s/80s for the Religious Right to make it an issue, and, believe me, they did. Though their only major accomplishment at the national level was getting 7-11 to stop selling Playboy and Penthouse(a crusade which didn't require legal action, and had almost no impact on the availability of pornography elsewhere.) Plus, they got Reagan to appoint the Meese Commission, which(here I am speculating) might have worked as a soft-threat to get the industry to tone itself down a little bit, going into the 90s.

I'm actually kinda hard-pressed to imagine how raunchier the 1970s porn-market coulda been(I recall incest and rape motifs in mainstream men's mags from that era). I guess with no obscenity laws, you MIGHT see bestiality and coprophilia featured as regular themes at the newstand. Child porn, while possibly legal to own, would still be illegal to produce(under the child-abuse laws), so that likely wouldn't find a market.
 
Would a more widespread porn industry also result in it being more heavily hit during the AIDS epidemic?

I'm not sure if AIDS in the porn industry is an issue of how widespread the industry is overall, as how much sexual interaction you've got between actors working in higher-risk genres, and actors in lower-risk genres.

I believe AIDS transmits easier male-to-male and male-to-female, than female-to-male or female-to-female. So, you'd probably need there to be more gay-male stars crossing over into straight porn, to increase the number of cases overall.
 
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Miller v. California

In Miller v. California SCOTUS scrapped the standards of Memoirs v. Massachusetts which in turn "clarified" the standards of Roth v. United States. Memoirs said that to be obscene something had to be "utterly without redeeming social importance". Miller replaced that with a three pronged test that in the long run did not make as big a difference as first thought. SCOTUS was not going to completely scrap all prior precedents and declare obscenity to be completely protected by First Amendment in Miller. It might have reiterated the standards of Memoirs though.
 
In Miller v. California SCOTUS scrapped the standards of Memoirs v. Massachusetts which in turn "clarified" the standards of Roth v. United States. Memoirs said that to be obscene something had to be "utterly without redeeming social importance". Miller replaced that with a three pronged test that in the long run did not make as big a difference as first thought. SCOTUS was not going to completely scrap all prior precedents and declare obscenity to be completely protected by First Amendment in Miller. It might have reiterated the standards of Memoirs though.

The fact is, though, that four members of the Court--including Brennan, the author of *Roth* and *Memoirs*, as well as Stewart, Marshall, and of course Douglas--did take the position in *Miller* that all "obscenity" be protected unless distributed to minors or offensively exposed to adults who did not wish to see it. The opponents of obscenity laws just needed a fifth vote. An obvious POD would be Justice Black living a few years longer...
 
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