Patently offensive is a term used in United States law regarding

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

under the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. The phrase "patently offensive" first appeared in '' Roth v. United States'', referring to any obscene acts or materials that are considered to be openly, plainly, or clearly visible as offensive to the viewing public. The ''Roth'' standard outlined what is to be considered obscene and thus not under First Amendment protection. The ''Roth'' standard was largely replaced by the ''Miller'' test established by '' Miller v. California'' (1973).

Roth standard

According to the "Roth Standard" a work is obscene if: *The dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex, *The material is ''patently offensive'' because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sexual matters, *The material is utterly without redeeming social value

Miller test

The Miller test was developed in the 1973 case '' Miller v. California''. It has three parts: *Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the

prurient Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental music, experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow, Rain ...

interest, *Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functionsThe syllabus of the case mentions only sexual conduct, but excretory functions are explicitly mentioned on page 25 of the majority opinion. specifically defined by applicable state law, *Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

istic,

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

value. Chief Justice

Warren E. Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell College o ...

, writing for the majority, included the following definitions of what may be "patently offensive": *"Representations or descriptions of ultimate sex acts normal or perverted, actual or simulated." *"Representations or descriptions of masturbation, excretory functions, and lewd exhibitions of the genitals."

References

Supreme Court of the United States Obscenity law {{US-law-stub