The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down parts of the Communications Decency Act as violating the First Amendment. The law was predicted to wreak havoc on the Internet and connected campus computer networks. The 1996 law was aimed at protecting children from pornography but threatened the availability of a wide range of materials,…

Analysis of retrospective self-reports about childhood curiosity to see persons in the nude, with heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles, gynephiles, and androphiles, suggests that establishment of erotic sex preference proceeded that of age preference, and a greater proportion of pedophiles than gynephiles or androphiles remembered childhood…

Examines attitudes about and exposure to sexually explicit materials for 663 predominantly Caucasian college students (52.4% males and 47.6% females). Most agree on a general definition of pornography and think that sexually explicit materials should be available to adults. College students do not seem more liberal than the general population.…

The Supreme Court's decision in "Reno," striking down major portions of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, pits the need to protect children from inappropriate material against the need to maintain free Internet access by adults. Highlights major points in the holding and discusses the meaning of "Reno" for educators. (MLF)

Argues against the international project called "Sex Education for the Schoolchildren of Russia" that is a sex education program intended for students in the seventh through ninth grades and is carried out by the Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation…

Discusses ethical issues concerning public Internet access in academic libraries. Highlights include intellectual freedom, censorship, technical aspects of limiting or restricting use, legal liability for public use of computers for illegal purposes such as child pornography, and the importance of priority use of terminals by the primary academic…

Congress recently approved a Communications Decency Act (part of the sweeping Telecommunications Act of 1996) that criminalizes the act of making pornography available to minors on the Internet. School districts can avoid the darker corners of online access and reassure parents by adopting acceptable use policies, board of education policies, or…

Responds to the article, "Separating Wheat from Chaff: Why Dirty Pictures are not the Real Dilemma in Using the Internet to Teach Social Studies." Maintains that creating a safe Internet environment is the responsibility of the adults not students and developing student skills in evaluating and validating information is not the answer. (CMK)

Documentation of the spread of censorship is extensive, and although challenges to films and videocassettes have not figured prominently in the literature, in the future there may be more emphasis on these media than on print material. On the state level, increasing censorship of films and videocassettes has occurred in North Carolina, California,…

Reviews experimental studies of behavioral consequences of exposure to violent or aggressive pornography and evaluates the validity and relevance as support for censoring pornography in the aftermath of the Meese Commission. Finds research deficient in several areas, such as design, theoretical models, and interpretation, thus offering no…

Briefly discusses some of the recent developments in the on-going controversy concerning pornography and the arts. Argues that much of the mainstream press coverage merely sensationalizes incidents (e.g., "Time" magazine's cover story on cyberporn and the furor over Calvin Klein advertisements) and encourages polarized opinions. (MJP)

Describes an educational program that enables women to explore, in a safe environment, male violence and its impact on their lives. Topics include battered women, rape, incest, pornography, nonphysical violence, and sexual harassment. The course helps women realize that violence is a societal, not individual, problem and empowers them to take…

Suggests that a definitive court ruling is needed to better define rights and responsibilities related to the First Amendment and libraries' Internet use policies so that libraries can provide a comfortable environment for users while maintaining the law. Discusses filters; court cases; claims of the anti-porn cult; research studies on how much of…

A survey was conducted among 692 Australian 13-to 16-year-olds to examine aspects of their Internet use and, in particular, their exposure to inappropriate material and behaviors online and their online safety practices. Significant differences were found in the amount of exposure to inappropriate material or behaviors online according to sex and…

Noting that much of the recent preoccupation with pornography has centered on its delivery by the relatively new medium of adult-oriented cable television, this monograph explores the questions surrounding regulation of adult-oriented cable television and develops those elements that must be considered when forming a judicial test in this area.…