I have to admit that this week MLC’s task is interesting. 

Further into the topic, “what are these 3 words, what is their meaning, and what is their usage?”, couldn’t stop appearing in my mind. Hence, I went to wikipedia.org and did a search on them. 

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Obscenity 

“Obscenity (in Latin obscenus, meaning “foul, repulsive, detestable“), is a term that is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. It is often replaced by the word salaciousness.

Despite its long formal and informal use with a sexual connotation, the word still retains the meanings of “inspiring disgust” and even “inauspicious; ill-omened”, as in such uses as “obscene profits”, “the obscenity of war”, etc. It can simply be used to mean profanity, or it can mean anything that is taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting.

The definition of obscenity differs from culture to culture, between communities within a single culture, and also between individuals within those communities. Many cultures have produced laws to define what is considered to be obscene, and censorship is often used to try to suppress or control materials that are obscene under these definitions: usually including, but not limited to, pornographic material. As such censorship restricts freedom of expression, crafting a legal definition of obscenity presents a civil liberties issue.” -Wikipedia.org

 

• So what I got from wikipedia is that, obscenity, is a term, or noun, used to describe the action of being obscene properly, formerly, and not legally.

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Pornography 

 

“Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer. It is to a certain extent similar to erotica, which is the use of sexually arousing imagery. Over the past few decades, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, due to emergence of the VCR, the DVD, and the Internet, as well as the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of sexual portrayals. Performers in pornography are referred to as pornographic actors (or actresses), or the more commonly known title “porn star” and are generally seen as qualitatively different from their mainstream counterparts.

Pornography may use any of a variety of media—printed literature, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, or video game. However, when sexual acts are performed for a live audience, by definition it is not pornography, as the term applies to the depiction of the act, rather than the act itself. Thus, portrayals such as sex shows and striptease are not pornographic.

In most countries pornography is treated as a separate entity, both culturally and legally, from depictions of naked persons in art or photography.” -Wikipedia.org

 

• So from this passage, I could see that pornography is materials that could sexually excite the viewers when looking at it, and is usually made up of printed literature, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, or video game. 

 

 

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Indecency

“Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure by a person of a portion or portions of his or her own body under circumstances where such an exposure is likely to be seen as contrary to the local commonly accepted standards of decency [1], and may in fact be a violation of law. In some countries a breach of the standards of modesty is considered to be public indecency.” - Wikipedia.org

 

“In the early 1900s, women were expected to wear cumbersome dress and pantaloon combinations when swimming. In 1907, Annette Kellerman, an Australian swimmer, was arrested on a Boston beach for public indecency for wearing her trademark one-piece swimsuit. After a public outcry at the arrest, the style had become generally acceptable by the 1910s.[3]” - Wikipedia.org

I thought I was late when I was reaching the class late 10 minutes. However, the tutor was not at classroom yet. Mr. Radzi arrived the class around 9.30 am and gave us a brief about the 2nd assignment and then dismissed all of us.

I browsed through the net, and got into an online dictionary directory - dictionary.reference.com

Definition for obscenity :

1.	the character or quality of being obscene; indecency; lewdness.

2.	something obscene, as a picture or story.

3.	an obscene word or expression, esp. when used as an invective.

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Definition for pornography :

obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit.

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Definition for indecency : 

1.	the quality or condition of being indecent.

2.	impropriety or immodesty.

3.	obscenity or indelicacy.

4.	an indecent act, remark, etc.

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Right now, from what I’d understand about the definitions got from dictionary.com about that 3 terms,  I believe, they have the similarity to expose a thing, to a certain degree, that norm would feel hard to accept, and people would feel disgusted. 

The only difference I could see is that these 3 terms, are being applied on different objects, and also its severity and degree of exposing something.