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The 20th century saw a shifting legal landscape around obscenity and pornography. The 1957 Supreme Court case Roth v. United States defined obscenity as material that appeals to "prurient interest" and lacks "redeeming social value." This provided a framework for both expanding and restricting sexual content. The 1972 Miller v. California case further refined the legal parameters, leading to a period of increased public and political attention to the issue of pornography.
The Strange Bedfellows of Anti-Porn Activism
In the 1970s and 1980s, an unlikely alliance emerged between radical feminists and conservative Christian women in their opposition to pornography. Both groups saw it as harmful to women, though their motivations and approaches differed.