ABSTRACT
The word "pornography" comes from the Greek words for "prostitute" (porne) and "to write" (grapho), and until the nineteenth century it referred to a description of prostitutes and prostitution as related to public hygiene. The word has a much broader meaning today, including any depiction or portrayal of sexually explicit conduct. Although pornography is a very elusive legal term and is inextricably related to the more familiar yet equally indistinct term "obscenity," its delineation elucidates the general parameters of the pornographic-obscenity syndrome.
