PORNOGRAPHY. - From the Greek πονύγραφος, painter or writer of prostitution. According to the etymological meaning of the word, it denotes obscenity exhibited through writing, but in common usage and also in legal language the concept has been broadened to the point of calling "pornographic" not only licentious literature, but any other exhibition of the kind, made even through drawings, speeches, photographs, acts, etc., that offend modesty.
Pornography is one of the saddest phenomena of periods of moral decadence and represents a particularly grave danger for youth, an age at which sexual stimuli act with greater readiness and impetuosity and the conscience is ordinarily less vigilant.
Italian legislation in defense of morality (as, for that matter, is the legislation of all civilized countries) strikes at pornography in all its forms, by whatever means it is made public: periodical and non-periodical publications, newspapers, posters, objects exposed for sale or for advertising purposes, immoral spectacles, etc.
Article 528 of the Penal Code punishes with imprisonment from three months to three years anyone who acquires pornographic material in order to trade in or distribute it, and anyone who by any means of publicity promotes its circulation.
The Code does not consider a work of art or a work of science pornographic. Unfortunately, the elasticity with which the concept of "work of art" is sometimes understood makes possible, despite the law, a lax jurisprudence. However, the sanction is restored when the work of art or the work of science is offered for sale, sold or otherwise procured for a person under eighteen years of age for a reason other than study. Article 725 of the Penal Code imposes a fine also on anyone who exposes to public view or, in a public place or a place open to the public, offers for sale or distributes writings, drawings or any other figurative object that "offends public decency." Everything that is pornographic is liable to seizure by the authority (administrative, judicial, civil or criminal).
There is no lack, therefore, of laws that strike at pornography in all its forms and at every stage of its pernicious activity. What is needed, then, is the reaction of citizens who have the courage to defend virtue publicly, and to defend their right not to be offended in their most intimate and delicate feelings and not to be hindered in their work as educators.
Bibliography6 works
Ferdinando Prosperini