I rarely look at the text of legislative bills, but how does some of this language wind up in binding laws?
“Harmful to minors” includes in its meaning the quality of any material or of any performance or of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when it: (a) Appeals to the prurient interest of minors as judged by the average person, applying contemporary community standards;
Who the fuck is the “average person”? What the fuck are “contemporary community standards”? Realistically, I know it’s on purpose to give the courts leeway to apply the law loosely, but it’s still outrageous.
“average person” and “contemporary community standards” are in tons of court decisions. It’s not a simple definition, but any lawyer or judge in the US will be familiar with it.
The legalese phrases don’t bother me, it’s the declaration that anything that might arouse a teenager is harmful to them. That’s a fight against basic puberty biology they are going to lose, but hurt a lot of people in the battle.