The Regulation of Sex-Themed Visual Imagery - From Clay Tablets to Tablet Computers

Lyombe Eko carries out an historical and cultural survey of the regulation of visual depictions of explicit human sexual conduct from their earliest appearance on the clay tablets of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient Mesopotamia, to the tablet computers of Silicon Valley. The Regulation of Sex-Themed Visual Imagery analyzes the contemporary problem of the applicability of the human right of freedom of expression to explicit imagery in the face of societal interests in the regulation of representations of human sexuality. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, and broad audiences interested in comparative studies in pornography regulation, the history of pornography, the law of pornography and obscenity, and visual culture and history alike.


Lyombe Eko is Professor at the College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University, USA. He is the author of New Media, Old Regimes: Case Studies in Comparative Communication Law and Policy (2012) (Gold Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2014) and American Exceptionalism, the French Exception, and Digital Media Law (2013). His research has been published in numerous journals, including Communication Law and Policy, The Journal of Internet Law, the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law, and the International Communication Gazette. Eko has served as a journalist, producer, and TV program translator at the African Broadcasting Union (URTNA) in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation.