New porn laws force Dominatrix content takedown

When it was announced late last year that many forms of pornography were being banned in the UK, it caused quite a hubbub, even seeing many British pornographers staging mass face sittings outside parliament to protest the criminalisation of many female sex acts. However when it was realised that the viewing of such material wasn't illegal, just the production, much of the buzz died down and people went back to their viewing habits as before. Those making the content can't rest so easy though, as two Dominatrix have now been hit by the new laws, with one forced to pull down their content and another now facing potential fines.

The content in question involved heavy whipping, which was deemed to have the potential to cause “lasting physical harm,” and in another instance, “repeated strong kicks to the genitals which appear to draw blood.” While these acts are perfectly legal to take part in within the UK, they are not legal to film. Due to the ruling, one Dominatrix, Megan Furie, has complied and apologised, while another, Misress R'eal has so far refused and faces potential criminal charges and fines under current legislation.

The group behind this latest crack down on British pornographers is the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), which was initially created in 2010 to regulate the likes of BBC Iplayer, 4OD and other services. However it recently appointed itself as the regulator of “tv-like” websites too, including all streaming services and it's taken on the task of regulating pornography in the UK too, despite it having no ability to block content produced overseas, thereby making any takedowns it engages in an entirely pointless activity in terms of regulating access by the public.

“Thank god the internet is safe from self-employed business owners taking part in consensual activities.”

Whether this is ATVOD deliberately putting its head in the sand while it barrels ahead, or if it's simple naivety is unclear, but what is, is how out of touch its spokespeople are. In a statement it said that the two websites it was currently looking to have content removed from, “went beyond that which could be sold only to adults in licensed sex shops.” As if that was how even a modest per centage of the populace still viewed their pornography.

What it does instead, is demonise a small but profitable sector of society that films entirely consensual acts. Many like Sex and Censorship's Jerry Barnett, believe this is part of a stigmatising of pornography and a campaign of censorship driven by greed and little more.

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KitGuru Says: The sad part is, both David Cameron and Ed Milliband have pledged to continue crackdowns on pornography. Amidst a debate across the globe about net neutrality, personal privacy, intelligence agency spying oversight and mass data collection, British politicians appear to care more about preventing people from looking at pornography that they think is a bit off centre. [Thanks Independent]

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