7

In Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013), a little girl is shown having an orgasm while flying in the sky with clothes on. The narration says that the girl is having an orgasm.

In Babel, a kid is shown masturbating to his sister bathing (masturbation not shown).

I already viewed this question, which is about toplessness, but I am referring to orgasms, which are inherently sexual.

Is it legal to show kids reaching orgasm with clothes on?

Improve this question
4
  • 9
    This will depend on the jurisdiction of where the film is being shown. Clearly unless the scene is patently obscene it will be legal.
    – Paulie_D
    Commented May 17, 2017 at 9:16
  • 1
    Different countries will have different laws, but since the orgasm isn't real and just a role to play in acting, it would be OK. In the movie The Good Son, McCauley Culkin (who was just a child at the time) committed a murder, and that was OK with audiences.
    – Johnny Bones
    Commented May 17, 2017 at 13:43
  • 2
    @JohnnyBones It will still depend on the locale where the movie is airing. American sensibilities can (in some parts of the country) be remarkably accepting of violence, but abhorrent to the mere suggestion of sexuality.
    – Steve-O
    Commented May 17, 2017 at 14:47
  • This is more of a question for law.stackexchange.com. But I would advise against migrating it until the author clarified which jurisdiction they are talking about.
    – Philipp
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 8:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

In the US, at least, the law is reasonably clear. Child pornography, which is unlawful, is defined as

any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor

Sexually explicit conduct is in turn defined as

sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex as well as bestiality, masturbation, sadistic or masochistic abuse, and the lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person.

But the action has to actually be shown. A boy looking down, moving his arm rhythmically, would not count.

Separately, a work could be be prosecuted as obscene if

the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .