Critical Reflection 2

The differentiation between indecent and obscene material is a particularly difficult one. Similarly, the level of offense generated by a profane word or phrase depends on region, context, and audience. Whether the predominant theme or purpose of the material is an appeal to the prurient interest of the "average person of the community as a whole" is a judgment which must be made in the light of contemporary standards as would be applied by the average person with an average and normal attitude toward, and interest in, sex. Contemporary community standards, in turn, are set by what is accepted in the community as a whole; that is to say, by society at large or people in general. So, obscenity is not a matter of individual taste and the question is not how the material impresses an individual juror; rather, as stated before, the test is how the average person of the community as a whole would view the material.

In addition to considering the average or normal person, the prurient appeal requirement may also be assessed in terms of the sexual interest of a clearly defined deviant sexual group if the material was intended to appeal to the prurient interest of such a group as, for example, homosexuals.