One thing I think people should know about obscenity laws is that they only target nsfw. They are literally laws against being horny on main. CSEM? Covered by different laws. Hate speech? Covered by different laws. You can think obscenity is bullshit and keep the others illegal.

The first part of the Miller test for defining obscenity is if the work “appeals to the prurient interest”. What does prurient mean? Sexual. It’s just if the work is meant to be arousing or not. Anything else automatically isn’t obscene.

And as for CSEM, there was a whole Supreme Court case establishing that it’s not obscenity (New York v. Ferber). CSEM is illegal in the US because it harms children both by its creation and distribution. The SC has said this explicitly.

The reason I’m making this thread is because I occasionally get people asking “How can you be against obscenity laws? What about hate speech and CSEM?” Those aren’t obscene, friend. They’re illegal for other reasons.