Confirmed: One Year Later, UK Porn Rules Still Dumb

by Calico Rudasill, Sssh.com Porn For Women

When it comes to what ‘should’ be permitted in terms of sexually-explicit depictions, it’s hard to get much looser on the subject than me. For me, the two bright red lines are age and consent; so long as everybody involved is an adult and has signed off on what their sexual performance entails, I’m inclined to say knock yourself out (literally, even, if that’s what really floats your boat) and more power to you.

It’s a little more complicated than that, of course, as there’s more to making porn than simply pointing a camera at people having sex. Among other things, every adult studio ought to have a clearly spelled out policy under which performers have an absolute, unquestioned right to change their minds, even in mid-performance, so they can back out of anything they’ve previously agreed to if it turns out to be less comfortable for them in practice than it sounded in theory.

Read on…

Regulations Can Be A Good Thing – But Only If They Make Sense

While I think it makes sense to have a certain amount of regulation of any and all major industries, including the porn industry, what I don’t think makes sense (at all) is for laws, regulations and restrictions which pertain to porn to be founded upon the subjective whims of our elected officials, and in the UK, it’s apparent that’s the basis for their pointless, arbitrary and just downright dumb porn regulations.

One year removed from the introduction of new requirements under the Audio Visual Media Service regulations, it’s also pretty clear the impact on BDSM producers (and others whose productions run afoul of the regulations) has been just as negative as predicted – if not worse.

“The enforcement was far swifter, and more heavy-handed than I expected,” Pandora Blake recently told The Independent, adding she believes she was unfairly targeted in response to her vocal criticism of the new regulations when they were first enacted, referring to the regulations at the time as “needlessly oppressive and sexist.”

OK For Me, But Not For Thee – And By ‘Thee,’ I Mean Women, Obviously

While the head of the UK’s Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD) disputed the assertion ATVOD “targets” anybody and claimed the current rules provide “clear guidance” on how to comply with the regulations, he’d probably have a harder time explaining how the rules make any sort of sense.

To wit, while the regulations (ostensibly) allow for “moderate, non-abusive, consensual activity,” even relatively benign spanking is somehow considered an act “which may cause lasting physical harm,” and it thus verboten, even when simulated.

Let that sink in for a second: In other words, even if a dominatrix is only pretending to spank a subject with a paddle, if the real act could cause lasting harm, then the simulated act is prohibited.

In another curious twist of British porn-logic, it’s not OK to depict female ejaculation (although, it should be noted, most “squirting” videos don’t depict such), but it is OK, somehow, to depict a long line of dudes shooting their ejaculate all over the face of a woman they just team-fucked – but, presumably, didn’t spank.

Sure, that makes total sense – if you happen to be a British bureaucrat who has a thing for cumshot videos, that is.

It’s Not Just About The Money, Folks

Here’s something I think a lot of people outside the adult industry might have a hard time processing: For a lot of porn producers, making porn really isn’t just about making money. As difficult as it might be to believe, for a lot of producers, making these movies isn’t just a vocation, it’s a passion.

As Blake pointed out in her recent comments, websites like hers aren’t just a collection of random video clips made by third parties (as tube sites are); they’re the culmination of years of hard work and represent investments of far more than money.

“It has been devastating for me personally and professionally,” Blake said of her now-closed website, which was shuttered because the regulations “made it impossible” to continue operation of it. “I have lost money, my mental health has suffered, my creative output has been stifled.”

Just One More Question: What’s The Point?

I’m sure nobody at ATVOD is losing any sleep over Blake’s anguish, but what does shutting down a website like hers accomplish, precisely?

By now, even the most clueless of internet users must understand the web is a global enterprise (Right? Please say yes.), and that absent some sort of content blocking and filtration being in place, this means Brits can easily visit sites which violate the UK’s porn regulations and stream videos which fall outside ATVOD’s rules to their heart’s content.

What, then, is the point of bringing down the hammer on people like Pandora Blake? Who, exactly, is being “protected” by this?

As observed by one of Blake’s porn-making British peers, Megara Furie, there may well be good intentions behind the UK’s rules, but unless those intentions are applied in ways which make sense and have some reasonable prospect to produce an impact, they just become pointless obstacles to a select few producers, with no impact whatsoever on the underlying issue the government is trying to address.

“I do believe there is a level of protective intentions but unless they (ATVOD) go after tube sites and start placing some onus on parents to protect their own children from over-18 content the same way there are laws against providing a child with alcohol or cigarettes, then I am skeptical,” Furie said.

Furie also made a suggestion which is as sensible as it is unlikely to be heeded by regulators: Why not involve porn producers in the process of crafting such regulations?

“There needs to be clear, specific guidelines on compliance. Someone from the kink scene needs to be involved in these consultations to ensure they are fair for everyone and written clearly,” Furie said.

Heck, the gracious Ms. Furie even offered to provide a live demo of her work to regulators – capping her offer with a killer tongue-in-cheek dig at the whole sorry affair.

“I’ll gladly offer free sessions to anyone who is involved in writing guidelines so they can get a feel for what we do and how responsible we are,” Furie said. “Actually make it half price; it has cost me enough money already.”

Well played, Ms. Furie, well played.