Sex, sin, and cinema: obscenity law and moral regulation in early 1980s Alberta

This article traces the emergence of modern Canadian obscenity doctrine through the regional context of sexual and moral panic in early 1980s Alberta. It argues that although R. v. Butler (1992) is often treated as the decisive turning point in Canadian obscenity law, some of its legal and conceptual foundations were established earlier in Alberta through Towne Cinema Theatres, Ltd. v. The Queen (1985), which arose from the prosecution of Dracula Sucks (1978) after its screening at Edmonton's Jasper Cinema in January 1980. By examining how overt moral condemnation was translated into the legal language of degradation, dehumanization, and harm, the article shows how queer pornography and sexual representation were being disciplined before R. v. Butler formalized this framework nationally. In doing so, it repositions Alberta as an underrecognized site in the making of Canada's obscenity regime.