Paul F. Little, known among rough-and-tumble Internet users as Max Hardcore, was sentenced to 46 months in prison on Friday after being convicted of 10 counts of criminal obscenity. I’m not personally familiar with Hardcore’s work, but Wikipedia tells me his films “usually feature him engaging in a variety of sexual acts with young women who dress and act like prepubescent girls.” Women’s Space elaborates:

[Hardcore’s films depict] ”actresses” who hold themselves out to be 12 years old vomiting after being orally raped, followed by the rapist urinating on them, or being forced to drink urine and vomit. . . . [In one], Hardcore tells an “actress” on film, “You look better with puke on your face,” after having apparently raped her until she vomited.

Well he sounds simply darling!

Little, based in California, was prosecuted in Florida, where some of his films had been distributed through the Internet and mail. According to Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald, who objected to the ruling in the case based on first amendment arguments (and also something about Bush Guantanamo Bay prisoner waterboarding blah blah dee blah):

Because the films which Little produced included scenes involving sadomasochism, the Bush DOJ alleged, and the federal court found, that the films were not merely pornographic, but also “obscene,” and thus illegal (Little’s lawyers argued, unsuccessfully, they were intended primarily for distribution in Europe, where such films are legal).

Indeed, most of the titles listed in the Max Hardcore indictment, retrieved by The Smoking Gun, specify that they are “Euro promos” or “Euro versions.” The indictment named the following Max Hardcore titles:

– MAX HARDCORE EXTREME, Volume Number 20, Euro Edition
– PURE MAX 19—-Euro Edition:
– MAX HARDCORE Golden Guzzlers 7—-Euro Edition
– Fists of Fury 4—-Euro Edition
– PLANET MAX 16—-Euro Edition

What makes the “euro editions” more obscene than the U.S. ones? I could only find reviews for U.S. versions of two of the films: “Golden Guzzlers” (“Includes: Pissing on/in girls’ mouths and faces, some rough fucking, hair pulling, pigtails”) and “PURE MAX 19” (“These girls get every hole abused by the Max Treatment. They also are in the teenie outfits with plenty of makeup, which for me is kind of a downer”). The Euro versions I can’t find (and I assume that will stay that way). Anyone know how Hardcore’s European versions stack up to his U.S. ones?