Hollywood sex scenes attract lawmakers' attention (Reuters/H.R.) [View All]

[Up2Late]

(And yet, I can't remember the last time I saw so many ads for Ultra-Violent films. Mike Pence, (R-Indiana), needs to get back to working on some REAL issues, this Censorship crap really pisses me off.)

Hollywood sex scenes attract lawmakers' attention

Wed Mar 8, 2006 11:17 PM ET

By Brooks Boliek

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - The U.S. House of Representatives has approved child-safety legislation that includes a provision bringing some legitimate film and TV productions under the same federal-reporting requirements as X-rated films.

Under a provision inserted in the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act, the legislation would require "any book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape or other matter" that contains a simulated sex scene to come under the same government-filing requirements that adult films have to meet.

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

Under the provision authored by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the definition of sexual activity is expanded to include simulated sex acts like those that appear in many movies and TV shows. While the overall bill is designed to give law enforcement officials more power to prosecute violent sexual predators and sets up a comprehensive national sex-offender registration system, it includes the language targeting motion pictures, TV shows and other material.

Last year, the House approved a similar measure, but it languished in the Senate as lawmakers could not decide how to proceed on hate-crimes language that also was attached to the legislation. The new legislation left the hate-crimes language out of the bill in the hopes that it would have an easier time in the Senate.

(more at link below)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11472437&src=rss/domesticNews>