Children, Adults, and the First Amendment
BOOK FORUMMonday, May 21, 2001
4:00 p.m.
Featuring Philip D. Harvey, Author, Government vs. Erotica: The Siege of Adam & Eve; Marjorie Heins, Author, Not in Front of the Children: Indecency, Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth; with comments by Laurence Jarvik, Author, PBS: Behind the Screen, and publisher, The Idler (www.the-idler.com).
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
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Although the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press and of association, the struggle between government and erotica continues. Presently, for example, courts are hearing suits on federal law mandating Internet filters in public schools and libraries, and Congress is considering the reauthorization of abstinence-till-marriage sex education. In that setting, two new books have just come out that examine the relationship between government and erotica. Philip Harvey is a Washington entrepreneur whose small North Carolina mail-order company specializing in erotica was invaded in 1986 by 37 armed federal agents. His book recounts his successful but harrowing eight-year struggle against the Department of Justice, with particular attention to the politics of the prosecution. Marjorie Heins looks less at prosecution than at censorship, especially to protect children. After an exhaustive tour through literature from Plato to the present, she raises searching questions about the "harm to minors" rationale for censorship. Please join us for what will doubtless be a provocative discussion.