Thursday, October 11, 2007

Is a Gauguin nude sexual harassment?

Eugene Volokh points out that the University of California's online Sexual Harassment Training makes a distinction between "artwork by a recognized artist" (which is generally not considered sexual harassment) and run-of-the-mill "explicit pictures" (which can be, "even in your personal work space"). He says that's "a fairly accurate statement of what courts are likely to do" (though, as he notes in this law review article, there have been a number of harassment complaints over art by recognized artists), but thinks this "pose[s] serious First Amendment problems ..., both related to the law's vagueness and to the law's breadth."