Legal situation
Please note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice, the information in this section is not necessarily 100% accurate.
The legal status of pornography varies widely. While child pornography is illegal almost everywhere, most countries allow at least some form of pornography. Soft core pornography is usually tame enough to be sold in general stores and (in some countries) to be shown on TV.
Most countries attempt to restrict minors' access to hard core materials, so that it is only available in adult bookstores, via mail-order, in some countries over special satellite TV channels, and sometimes in gas stations. Many of these efforts have been rendered moot by the wide availability of internet pornography. Most western countries have some restrictions on pornography involving violence or animals.
There are recurring urban legends of snuff movies, in which murders are filmed for pornographic purposes. Extensive work by law enforcement officials to ascertain the truth of these rumours have been unable to find any such works.
- In 1966 in Denmark, the ban on written pornography was lifted and in 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise (hard core) picture pornography.
- The Netherlands have the most liberal rules: pornography is sold openly at normal newsstands and material involving animals is legal.
- In Sweden material involving animals is de-facto legal but subject to animal-welfare laws. Porn movies can be viewed beginning at age 15, and there are no age restrictions for magazines.
- In the United States, hard core pornography is legal unless it meets the Miller test of obscenity, which it almost never does. The materials may not be made available to persons under 18 years of age. Some attempts at restricting pornography on the internet have been struck down by the courts; see internet pornography.
- In Australia, regulation of pornography has increased somewhat under the Howard government, but remains reasonably widely available. See censorship in Australia.
- In the United Kingdom, hard core pornography was illegal until 1999.
- Hard pornography remains illegal (but tolerated) in Norway.
- In Japan until the mid-1990s, no genitals could be shown, but there is no taboo regarding sex and violence and also much less general concern about portraying teenagers as sexual beings (this applies to both out-and-out pornography and works dealing with other themes). Until recently, Japanese law prohibited the depiction of pubic hair in depictions of any forms of nudity, whether it be pornographic or not. For example, Japanese editions of men's magazines such as Playboy had to have any photographs visible signs of pubic hair airbrushed out.
- In Singapore pornography is illegal, even Playboy is banned.
- In Republic of Ireland pornography was illegal until the mid-1990s.