A legitimate case for prohibition requires reliable evidence that pornography causes significant harm to people other than consenting adults involved in its production and consumption.
A rule that forbids or blocks something from happening.
burden of proof(Used to frame the default presumption against coercive institutional structures.)
The obligation on institutions employing authority, hierarchy, or domination to demonstrate that such arrangements are justified given existing conditions.
harm principle(Associated with Mill; its necessity as a basis for liberty restrictions is questioned)
The principle that restrictions on individual liberty are justified only when necessary to prevent harm to others
Liberal defenders of the right to pornography may thus allow that restrictions on its public display may be justified. But only if pornography can reliably be shown to cause significant harm to people other than those consenting adults involved in its production and consumption will there be a legitimate case for prohibiting its voluntary private consumption. When an individual’s private activities cause harm to others, they become no longer merely a private matter but of legitimate public inter