How can a work’s literary value affect an obscenity ruling?

In the context of U.S. law, a work’s literary, artistic, political, or scientific value is a critical factor in determining whether it is legally obscene.

Under the current three-part test established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. California (1973), a work is considered obscene only if it meets all three criteria, the third of which is that the work "lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." If a work possesses such value, it is generally protected, even if it contains sexually explicit content that might otherwise be deemed offensive by community standards.1

This standard evolved from earlier, more restrictive legal interpretations. For example, a 1966 ruling regarding the novel Fanny Hill declared that a work must be "utterly without redeeming social value" to be classified as pornographic. The Miller test refined this by requiring that the value be "serious," providing a clearer legal threshold for protecting works of merit from being suppressed as obscene.1