Canada the prude

I was reading Nabokov's Lolita this week and was inspired to chase down the Canadian Child Pornography laws. I considered this a grey area, but upon reading the Wiki article I find the description of child pornography to be very harsh.

And of course, who can say anything… won't someone think of the children.

FTA:

Prohibition covers the visual representations of child sexual abuse and other sexual activity by persons (real or imaginary) under the age of 18 years or the depiction of their sexual organ/anal region for a sexual purpose, unless an artistic, educational, scientific, or medical justification can be provided and the court accepts that.

If I were to write a story about my sexual adventures with my wife back when we were under 18, I could be thrown in jail. Or how about a graphic novel?

If we were to act by the letter of the law, Canadians would not browse ASSTR or many other Erotica Sites due to the prohibition.

Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/3wzzpz/canada_the_prude

1 comment

  1. [Evolution of Pornography Law in Canada](http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/researchpublications/843-e.htm) summarizes that the Supreme Court of Canada, in a ruling on 26 January 2001 regarding a constitutional challenge of 163.1: > The Supreme Court also ruled on the wording of section 163.1(1)(b), which prohibits “any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years.” In order to meet the requirement of “advocates” or “counsels,” the Court ruled that the material must be viewed objectively and seen as “actively inducing” or encouraging the described offences with children. Thus, the mere description of the act is not enough to contravene the law. However, Bill C-2 of the 38th Parliment (introduced on 8 October 2004, granted Royal Assent 20 July 2005) expanded the definition of child pornography: > s 163.1(1) is now expanded to include audio formats as well as written material whose “dominant characteristic” is the description “for a sexual purpose” of sexual activity involving a person under 18 years of age that would be an offence under the Criminal Code. As mentioned earlier, it is no longer required that written material “advocates or counsels” sexual activity with a person under age 18. The actual quote from the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography_laws_in_Canada) that summarizes this all in regards to written works: > The current law criminalizes possession of purely fictional material and has been applied in the absence of any images of real children, including to possession of fictional stories with no pictures at all (…) [Section 163.1](http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-163.1.html)

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