The term pornography or porn as it is used today did not exist until the Victorian time period. The term today applies to the depiction, rather than the act itself. Before the Victorian Era some sex acts were regulated in laws, however depiction was not. It appears that during the Victorian Era everything got switched around.

Pornography by definition today is the "depiction of sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer" . In the nineteenth century the word also meant "a description of prostitutes or prostitution, as a matter of public hygiene" or as "a description of the life, manners, etc of prostitutes and their patrons." Today pornography, by modern definition can be found on the cover of a mens magazine like MAXIM, or a womens magazine like Cosmo.

The depiction of cleavage on the cover of this album be concidered pornographic according to victorian standards.

In the United States, distribution of "obscene" materials is a federal crime.

The determination of what is obscene is up to a jury in a trial, They must apply the Miller Test; however, due to the prominence of pornography in most communities most pornographic materials are not considered obscene by the Miller Test.

Pornographic does not equal obscene according to the definition

In order for something to be concidered obscene it must meet all of the criteria of the Miller Test. The Miller test was developed in a court case, Miller v. California. It contains three parts, and all three parts must be met to be declared obscene.

• Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the arousal of sexual desire.
• Whether the work depicts/describes, in a clear and unambiguous offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions. Specifically defined by the state law where the offence occured.
• Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Shows and stripteases are not by definition concidered pornographic.

Sexual acts performed for a live audience are not concidered pornography.

 As soon as the first picture is taken or the camera begins to roll, magically the picture and the film becomes pornography.