‘Do you hear that moaning?’ The conspicuous absence and haunting presence of obscenity in proposed Canadian online harms legislation

Bibliographic Data

ID17825964
AuthorsMeg D Lonergan (Carleton University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Pages1-19
Publication date2026-04-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePorn Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2326-8743 • E-ISSN: 2326-8751
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23268743.2026.2625096
OpenAlexW7155524186
LanguageEN
References cited22

Porn Studies celebrates the legacy of Shannon Bell amid efforts to enact Online Harms Act legislation in Canada (Bill C-63 [2024]). This legislation seeks to address online harms – harms seemingly already prohibited by existing criminal prohibitions. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the provisions criminalizing obscene materials in R v. Butler (1992), on the basis that this law is about preventing harm rather than enforcing morality. A significant portion of obscenity prosecutions since Butler involve online content, but prohibiting obscene materials does not appear in the government’s documents as a potential online harm in need of redress. Obscenity’s absence is itself a ghostly presence, signalling a haunting. Using a Derridean hauntological approach, I argue that the ghosts of the ‘feminist sex wars’ and the Butler decision haunt the present political moment. This article attempts to embody the spirit of Bell’s contributions to feminist research on pornography and obscenity and her broader commitment to justice.

Derogation · Government (linguistics) · Harm · Legislation · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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