It seems as if censorship is back in vogue. Truthfully, it never really left. I am preparing to teach a course called “Censorship and Obscenity,” and while the course is not focused on popular romance, I cannot help but see correspondences. I think here most obviously of attacks on YA literatures, which often themselves have strong affinities to popular romance. Oftentimes, I find myself lost in thought wondering about what the implications of censorship might be for the study of popular romance, but also for the general reader of romance. Will these books be subject to an “age-rating” system that will require “age verification” the way many states are enacting measures for the use of pornographic material? While romance novels may not be pornography, they certainly have been accused of being pornographic (most often by critics who would see them as lacking in aesthetic value). And even if we do not see them as pornography, we must admit they can be graphically sexual, some might even say obscene. My word choice here is intentional; I am returning to Roth v. United States 354 U.S. 476 (1953), which established principles that are key to determining if a work is obscene, and therefore worthy of censorship.
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