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 that «pornographic» refers not only to licentious literature, but to every other exhibition of this kind, whether conveyed through drawings, speeches, photographs, acts, etc., that offend modesty.
Pornography is one of the saddest phenomena of periods of moral decline and represents a particularly grave danger to the young, an age at which sexual impulses act with greater immediacy and vehemence and at which consciousness is ordinarily less vigilant.
Italian legislation in defence of morality (as, moreover, 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 displayed for sale or advertising purposes, immoral performances, etc.
Article 528 of the Penal Code punishes with imprisonment from three months to three years anyone who acquires pornographic material for the purpose of trading in or distributing it, and anyone who, by any means of publicity, facilitates its circulation.
The Code does not regard a work of art or a work of science as pornographic. Unfortunately, the elasticity with which the concept of «work of art» is sometimes understood makes possible, notwithstanding the law, a permissive jurisprudence. The sanction is restored, however, when a work of art or a work of science is offered for sale, sold, or otherwise procured for a person under eighteen years of age for a purpose other than study. Article 725 of the Penal Code also imposes a fine 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 pornographic is liable to seizure by the authorities (administrative, judicial, civil, or criminal).
There is therefore no lack of laws that strike at pornography in all its forms and at every stage of its pernicious activity. What is needed, therefore, is a reaction on the part of citizens who have the courage to defend virtue publicly and to defend their right not to have their most intimate and delicate feelings offended, nor to be obstructed in their work as educators.