Pornography

Pornography, term applied to materials, including books, pictures, magazines, and films, with obscene or offensive content designed to cause sexual excitement. The term is derived from the Greek pornographos (“writing of harlots”) and most often refers to sexual material, though it is now sometimes applied to other forms of offensive material, such as that which portrays gratuitous violence. In the United States each state has laws concerning the publication and distribution of obscene material; these are backed up by extensive international agreements designed to inhibit the import and export of pornography.