New rules regulating the UK porn industry have come into force this week
Representational image. (Photo: visualphotos.com)
This is bad news for anyone with a gripe about government censorships. As per the 2014 Audiovisual Media Services Regulations, the UK government has banned a whole heap of sex acts, including spanking and fisting, from appearing in video-on-demand (VoD) online porn—in other words, paid porn. Now, VoD porn has to comply with the same regulations that govern porn sold on DVDs in sex shops according to The Huffington Post UK.
As The Independent observes, the decision to ban certain acts and not others feels arbitrary and sexist. Vice UK documented the full list of sex acts that are now banned. It’s fun to imagine the room full of (probably) straight cis-men anxiously putting this together: Acts that are no longer acceptable include: spanking, caning and whipping beyond a gentle level; penetration by any object ‘associated with violence'; activities that can be classed as “life-endangering”, such as strangulation and facesitting; fisting, if all knuckles are inserted; physical or verbal abuse, even if consensual; the portrayal of non-consensual sex; urination in various sexual contexts; and female ejaculation.
In an op-ed for The Independent, award-winning erotic filmmaker Erika Lust argued that the new regulations are a step backward for women: It’s 2014, and we need to acknowledge that sexuality is key to human nature, whether that be the so-called “normal sex” as we imagine it, or kinkier desires… With this legislation, the UK is in danger of finding itself back in an age where porn is simply the boring, unrealistic, male fantasy of bimbos eagerly pleasing men as if it is their duty, where women are submissive and lack ownership of their sexuality. Women in the industry will now fear the loss of their livelihoods as well as their sexual independence.
The filmmaker also adds that “has been put in place because of a supposed need to safeguard children, but prohibiting something doesn’t make it unattainable, it only makes it more desirable.” S
Similar to teen sexting, it’s unsettling that this is where British lawmakers are devoting their efforts. And furthermore, what does this mean for the UK release of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' movie?
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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