If you’ve ever watched an erotic movie made in the last decade, or looked at porn on the internet, you’ve probably noticed a blurb about the fact that the movie or website contains sexually explicit images and that there are records being kept pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2257 and C.F.R. 75 ar, along with the address of the custodian of such records. What you may not know is that these record keeping requirements were a result of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act, which Congress ostensibly passed in order to stop kiddie porn.

This law has required a huge amount of record keeping by every single porn manufacturer, which has made it much harder for the smaller companies to get a foothold in the industry since it’s a lot of work. For each image or film, a record needed to be kept showing that everyone depicted was over 18 at the time of the shoot, and records needed to be kept cross-referencing all of this. Given that some of those webpages or DVD covers that may have dozens of images on them, you can imagine the burden this has placed on people doing something that is totally legal (and is, in fact, purchased and enjoyed by millions of people).

The enforcement of 2257 put the burden of proving innocence on the producers, rather than putting the burden of proving guilt on the government. It’s as if you could get a ticket if you couldn’t prove that you never drove over the speed limit, rather than getting a ticket if the police can prove that you were driving too fast. It goes against the presumption of innocence, which is the underpinning of our entire legal system. (Not that this is the only recent example of some portions of the government assuming guilty unless innocence can be proven, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic.)

It has seemed to me, and to many others, that the purpose of the law was to make it harder for people to do something that is totally legal, but that some folks don’t like. And when it comes to sex, as long as everyone is consenting (and yes, if you’re under 18, you can’t legally consent), there’s absolutely no good reason to restrict it. Once one set of consensual sexual activities is restricted, it’s that much easier to restrict the next one. Given the range of sexual diversity in the world, all that does is create shame, silence and fear about something that should be honored and celebrated.

So it’s really good news that last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit over turned 2257 on the grounds that 2257’s burdens are not sufficient in the Government’s interest of combating child pornography. This doesn’t mean that 2257 is gone for good, and while this decision holds for the 6th circuit (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee), it’s not clear whether it does so for everywhere else since this creates a persuasive, but non-binding precedent. Nevertheless, this is a huge victory for those of us who understand that nudity and sex aren’t inherently bad. And it doesn’t make child pornography illegal since there’s a different set of laws specifically about that.

The Free Speech Coalition’s analysis of the decision is a great overview of this monumental victory for free speech and sex-positivity. I highly recommend reading it. And I want to give a shout out to Rondee Kamins, the CEO of GVA-TWN, which is the company that recently bought Good Vibrations. She was one of the plaintiffs in the case, which took 12 years to fight and I’m really grateful that she fought this battle. There’s nothing wrong with making and/or enjoying movies and photos of adults having sex and this court decision is an important defense of everyone’s sexual rights.

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