Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Harmful matter has its own definition in the Penal Code:

"Harmful matter" means matter, taken as a whole, which to the

average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to

the prurient interest, and is matter which, taken as a whole,

depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct and

which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political,

or scientific value for minors.

So - a photograph of a flaccid penis could constitute harmful matter. Then again, a nude art photo may not. It's all about the context.