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UK law against 'violent' porn.

Started by Celestial Goblin, September 08, 2006, 06:14:09 PM

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Celestial Goblin

Basically, the United Kingdom passed a law criminalizing all kinds of pornography involving violence, bondage and danger. It also mentions scenes 'acted out by consenting actors'. If anyone is in UK and didn't notice the matter, here is the site opposing the problematic law.
http://www.backlash-uk.org.uk/

There's no comment i can add here, it's quite an absurd what the UK goverment attemtps.

RubySlippers

Well some of this is not my cup of tea but the UK has a right to pass any laws they wish on their people its not really our concern in the United States. Since Japan and other countries have such pornography and they have relatively low sex crime rates I would find the connection hard to make. Especially since the best Spanking Lesbian Porn comes from England.  ;)

kylie

#2
Bill Thompson writes about the London obscenity squad in the 1990's.  For the longest time, they were failing to get Parliament to ban _soft porn_ (never mind spanking) but couldn't get any support.  Finally they busted a few gay guys in Spanner, an operation that was originally justified as an investigation of a murdering Satanic cult but found no such thing.  They used a videotape of long time gay associates paddling and wax-dripping, charging them successfully with assault.  Apparently, after that they kept their budget healthy and felt justified in raiding parties and confiscating leather pants as items likely to inspire violent crime.

Historically at least, there are common points with American situations.  Both countries have come up with higher profile cases involving gay men, and with suggestions that an SM interest is likely to lead to extreme bodily harm for participants -- if not child snuff.  Both an American case in the 1960's and the Spanner case resulted in rulings that essentially, mentally sane adults cannot legally "consent" to the bottom role in SM activities.  (Not sure the 1960's case is in Thompson, it may be from other work I've read.)  The defense attempted in both cases to point out that popular sports involve much more physical danger, and both courts rejected that with assertions that SM does not have certified referees.

Thompson also discusses the linkage between certain feminists, Christian and psychoanalytic outfits that lined up against SM in both the US and UK, with considerable communication and influence across the ocean.

For gory and wacky details:

Bill Thompson 1994  Sadomasochism: Painful Perversion or Pleasurable Play?  London: Cassell

Also, a quick reference to Spanner (based on Thompson), some similar issues and research on the London scene by Andrea Beckmann... 2001  “Deconstructing myths: the social construction of ‘Sadomasochism’ versus ‘subjugated knowledges’ of practitioners of consensual ‘SM’ ” Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 8(2) pp.66-95.  Albany, NY: Univ. at Albany

That last one is online
(I think you can switch the HTML for PDF in this address if you like, but my Acrobat is being odd just now):

http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol8is2/beckmann.html



     

Celestial Goblin

If anyone gives a damn, this isn't just a cheap scare.
A site called 'the grey archive', not much different than Elliquiy closed down because it's owner fear of the new law. For folks that happen to be living in UK, please consider adding your voice to any of the activism groups, Backlash or otherwise.
There's nothing to lose by complaining to your goverment. And I know that 95% of you will never be affected in a direct way, but it doesn't make it any less scary.
And it's not just about 'hard BDSM' or pornography itself. It's pretty much about moving people from 'normal citizens' to 'psychopats' for no apparent reasons.

Jester

Gee. I used to read grey archive a lot.

So could i be in trouble because i come here and write about it?

Celestial Goblin

#5
No one knows, including the people that created the law in the first place.
But you don't want to argue about it in court, don't you?
edit:
Is writing a game on Elliquiy a 'depiction of an act that could cause non-trifling(sic!) injury?'
I have no idea. Probably not.