Female pr0n and the Extreme pr0nography Act
by Kate Morrison
Sexual arousal is a beautiful thing: You go about your day and then something a little bit kinky pops into your head. Hurrah! You may be pro sexual arousal, and anti-pr0nography. Lovely. No problem. But there's a potentially nasty and sour lemon-mouthed little thing called the Extreme pr0nography Act, and Kate Morrison digs a bit deeper...
Sexual arousal is a funny thing, isn't it? One minute you're going about your day and the next you're thinking about something wholly inappropriate and not a little bit kinky. It can't just be me, surely?
Let me preface this article by stating for the record I am not condoning sexual violence or predatory sexual behaviour in anyway, shape or form. However, as a girl with an open mind and who has several friends tied up in the BDSM scene (pun intended), I was interested to read the front page of The Scotsman on 19th January this year.
In a nutshell, there is this thing which is being referred to as The Extreme pr0nography Act which has been set up to regulate what kind of pr0nography is legal and which isn't. If an image is pr0nographic, of an obscene character and displays in a realistic way an act which could threaten a person's life, cause serious injury to their genitals, involves necrophilia or bestiality, it has been deemed illegal and those in possession of such images could get themselves into serious trouble. The maximum jail term is 3 years and the offender will be placed on the list of Sex Offenders. It came into affect on the 26th January 2009 in the UK.
Obviously, the issue of child abuse leaps to the mind of the public when reading these definitions and can not be condoned by anyone. Necrophilia and bestiality is unfathomable to most of us as well, so for the sake of this article I'll focus on the issue of rape fantasy and BDSM.
The government are quick to blame anyone and anything to explain social violence. Blame music, blame films, blame video games or just blame the internet and be done with it, but what they don't do is blame people. People can be shitty. People can do appalling things with no reason and with no prompting. If a person is of the mindset where they are tempted to rape a woman they will probably do so, regardless of whether they have seen pr0nographic images of that subject matter. I would go so far as to say that pr0nography detailing these fantasies (as repulsive as they may be) may even curb the impulse. The word to concentrate on here is fantasy.
The BDSM community is in uproar about this Act and for good reason. For years now they have campaigned to be taken seriously, to be seen as people and not just freaks who like to whipped and chained. BDSM isn't about violence or pain anymore than it is about sex; it's about trust. Entering into an S&M relationship with another person isn't something to be taken lightly. It is not the same as just jumping into bed with a stranger after a few too many drinks for a one night stand and in that respect there's probably a great deal more mutual respect and trust than in many traditional relationships.
Three years in prison is a high price to pay for a fantasy. While I understand the concerns of those campaigning for this cause it strikes me as an example of trying to stigmatise the actions of an already persecuted group of individuals. Those old copies of Bizarre magazine that you have lurking in your cupboard.be careful because many photographs featured in it could now be illegal. While films classified by the BBFC are exempt from the act, if a person has a clip from a film (for example Blue Velvet) which features any of the actions specified, they could also be persecuted.
By all means the government should be policing the internet more strictly but the resources and money used for this cause could be better spent insuring that those websites and publications which are coming under scrutiny only feature consenting adults and use this law to convict those who are publishing photographs or videos which detail real rape or sexual attacks and keep an eye on those who are viewing them.
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This impossibly beautiful illustration was created by MiuMau. Oh, do go see!
Kate Morrison is a graduate from Scotland who is completely at a loss as to what to do with her degree in English Literature. She makes soup and paints designs on shoes from Primark in her spare time and can usually be found barflying in various rock clubs and bars. She can forgive most things apart from women in bad shoes and men who can't grow proper beards. If you can drink copious amounts of Sailor Jerry's rum or dance like you just don't give a goodgoshdamn, chances are you'll get along just fine.
