Two weeks ago, the UK introduced a new law governing the type of pornography that can legally be produced and put online from within the UK. Ever since it happened I've wanted to write something about it, but I've simply felt too angry to do so, too filled with outrage and disbelief to be able to coherently express myself. Everything about this new law is frankly insulting to any intelligent human being, but it's the bigger picture of where we might be heading regarding online censorship that truly chills me.
As of 2nd December there are certain acts which are now banned from depiction in UK porn - and to clarify, this is porn that is produced from within the UK, not porn that is viewed from within the UK. As a UK citizen I can still legally access porn from all over the world, but any porn that is made in the UK has to abide by these new restrictions.
The restrictions beggar belief. You can find the full list of restricted acts all over the internet, but they include face-sitting, female ejaculation (when it is onto another person), fisting, verbal abuse... and much more besides.
Here, lawyer Miles Jackman gives a complete breakdown of the banned acts, plus some background to how we arrived at this new law: ObscenityLawyer.BlogSpot.co.uk
Some random thoughts/observations, because I am incapable of organising these thoughts into anything like a coherent piece of writing:
It has kicked my ass. For two weeks I have been in a state of disbelief that such an execrable, regressive law has been passed.
It was rushed through parliament in under a month, almost stealthily, with no debate within parliament, no publicity and no public consultation.
It is a pig's ear of a law. The restrictions are ludicrous, offensive, arbitrary, deeply sexist, and they specifically target niche porn producers.
Overnight it has made criminals of people who are harming no one.
The irony is that the type of porn it overwhelmingly targets - niche porn, BDSM porn, feminist porn, female domination porn, spanking & corporal punishment porn - is often the porn that is made to high ethical standards and where the issue of consent is of the highest importance - probably more so than in standard mainstream porn.
The only moral guideline should be consent. Consent is everything.
ATVOD, the UK regulator for television-on-demand, has decided that online porn is TV-like, and that it falls under its regulatory authority. ATVOD is a closed-door, unelected, private quango, and it now has the power to determine what can and can't be broadcast online from within the UK. This is an outrage, and should not be acceptable in a free society.
What ATVOD want to do next, and what I believe they are already consulting on, is to bring foreign websites under their jurisdiction, so they can control what people in the UK can view online. This will mean foreign IP addresses being blocked and card payments being blocked to any companies that don't toe ATVOD's line.
This is a prospect that I find terrifying. They must be stopped.
I could write a lot more about this. I will write a lot more about this, particularly about its inherent sexism, but for now I hope that writing what I have will help to clear my head, assuage my anger, and allow me to organise my thoughts more clearly and write more coherently about this subject from now on.
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