public morals
Society's ethical norms
Public morals are standards of behavior and decency that a society considers essential to maintain, particularly regarding sex, obscenity, and vice.
The term appears most often in legal contexts—laws regulating pornography, prostitution, or public nudity are justified as protecting public morals.
The film was banned on grounds of public morals.
The concept assumes shared community standards, though what those are shifts over time and varies across cultures.
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
- moresBinding social standards
- social normsShared behavioral expectations
- legislationOfficial enactment of statutes
- taboosSocially proscribed practices
customs · virtue · traditions · family values · jurisprudence · honesty · decorum · good taste · censorship · accountability · etiquette · civility · propriety · indecent exposure · ordinances · solidarity · governance · fairness
public moralspublic corruption
Officials abusing power for gain
moral decay · public indecency · immorality · licentiousness · depravity
public moralspersonal liberty
Freedom from external control
individual freedom · libertinism · moral relativism · permissiveness · free love
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