U.K. Face-sitting Protest
First,
A U.K. regulatory agency has banned certain sexual acts from being performed in online pornography produced and hosted within the U.K. This is to coincide with a pre-existing ban on these acts in video/DVD porn for sale in shops (I believe the relevant law is the Obscene Publications Act). Online porn produced elsewhere can still be viewed and purchased there currently. There are a number of problems with this policy change, beyond the damage to the livelihoods of online porn creators and performers based in the U.K.
For example, there’s no ban on showing male ejaculation, but female ejaculation is forbidden – quite simply, that’s kinda sexist, and kinda arbitrary, and I know several women who would therefore have very brief and/or unsatisfying careers in British porn. Many BDSM activities are banned for being “life-endangering”… ignoring the fact that most kinksters take safety and communication more seriously than most vanilla folks do, as well as the fact that these acts are consensual.
Face-sitting is specifically on the list of prohibited, life-endangering activities… and has subsequently been wonderfully prominent in the protests outside Parliament on Friday. When I saw the headline image from this article on CNN.com, of extremely classy and stylish British dominatrix Mistress Absolute in situ, I had to do my best to pay homage – a tribute in solidarity with my U.K. porn allies, in defense of free expression and femdom!
That’s Shay down there, by the way. She and the Magistrate have been on the giving or receiving end of quite a lot of activities that would now be illegal if I were producing my work in the U.K.
Here’s the list of what was banned on video, and is newly banned in online porn: “Aggressive” whipping, caning, face-sitting, female ejaculation (with no word on how this applies to trans women, or futanari characters), fisting, humiliation, penetration by an object “associated with violence” (or just say weapons), physical restraint, physical/verbal abuse, spanking (SERIOUSLY?), strangulation, underage role-play, and urolagnia or “watersports”. This is in addition to anything else that was already banned.
So… again in solidarity with my U.K. counterparts, I decided to create an entire gallery of images that may be banned in the U.K. if I produced them there. I’m afraid there’s something dreadfully immoral in every single one of my products! Oh bother.
Actually… I think if they saw what kind of stuff I’m up to, they might have added a few things to their list! ^_^”’ …I think I may actually try to include more of the acts on that list, in my subsequent work.
Why is this such a big deal?
Okay, so censorship is bad, the bans are sexist and wickedly anti-BDSM, and some are idiotic, but censorship in the U.K. is nothing new. Why is this news? Well, mostly because of the colorful protests by pornographers and performers fighting for their right to fist… but it goes deeper than fisting.
There have been a few legal victories against state censorship within the U.K., but the director of ATVOD, the Authority for Television On Demand believes that porn sites outside the U.K. could violate the Obscene Publications Act when their content gets downloaded into the U.K., and there are new legal guidelines that support that idea. This would mean that sites selling in the U.K. could have to register with ATVOD, and therefore have to comply with their expanded online censorship policy, or else payments from within the U.K. to offending sites could be blocked. He specifically said, “Our view is that cutting off the funds to premium services… would disrupt and undermine the free and unrestricted provision of hardcore porn”… he said this about businesses outside his own country.
This is a bureaucrat, not an elected official, therefore someone with no direct accountability to the U.K. public, talking about imposing financial sanctions on industries in foreign jurisdictions, in order to enforce a moral code. It is not currently happening, and it can be prevented, but this is still the stated goal of someone in a non-elected government job in the U.K., with the purview to push in that direction. If it worked, it could set a dangerous legal precedent for censors and government regulators to affect other industries, and other liberties.
Porn is an easy target. No politician really wants to stand up for freedom of expression, if it’s porn. But state censorship of media is a slippery slope, (especially in a surveillance state like the U.K.), and porn could be the first domino to fall…
And that’s why I’m sitting on the side of the protestors.
Bonus: if you don’t already read Oglaf, go check it out – maybe starting with this extremely apropos comic from last week.
Dec 15, 2014 @ 08:36:13
Wow, I was not actually aware of this situation. Thank you for posting about it and more importantly, for standing against this! All of these forbidden things are absolutely ridiculous…
Keep up the work Galaxy 😀 !
Dec 15, 2014 @ 11:58:53
As a citizen and resident of the US, there’s not much I can do about bureaucratic censorship policy changes in the UK, but I had to say something… and I was inspired to create that piece of art. I’m always against censorship and enforcing repressive “morals” on adults.
Dec 15, 2014 @ 17:21:21
Happy birthday, Galaxy!!! Glad to see you posting more often 🙂
My only thought about all of this is just: fuck the censors! Censorship is always used to restrict freedom of people who do not think the same as those who impose it, whatever the subject is censored.
Dec 15, 2014 @ 18:27:01
Thank you! ^_^
And I agree. I’m always against censorship, especially state censorship. Actions by consenting adults, for consenting adults shouldn’t be any further regulated than only being available to adults. >_<
Dec 15, 2014 @ 18:47:59
This is unacceptable.
When I’m Overlord, you can depict all the lewd acts you want. I’m outlawing saying otherwise.
Also, I could not work in British porn. ^^;
Dec 15, 2014 @ 18:54:56
I will appreciate my place in the new robot world order.
And no you could not… as I alluded to at the beginning. ^_^
Dec 16, 2014 @ 23:47:24
It is a kind of silly list of things to try and ban. Glad to see you’re doing your part to show solidarity. I’m also glad to see you’re back in the saddle posting and working again as well. I was really concerned for the longest that we might not hear from you.
Dec 18, 2014 @ 13:23:58
They give weird reasons too, like, no face-sitting, it’s a choking hazard – but deep-throating is okay. Male pleasure is always safe territory (unless that pleasure is derived from BDSM activity). >_< And yes, I'm back in the saddle, got the reins, riding boots, and spurs *ka-ching*. I thought I'd lost my mojo for good, but it's very good to have it back! ^_^
Dec 17, 2014 @ 14:22:15
Happy Birthday Galaxy!!! And love the face-sitting pic. I’m not into most of what BDSM has to offer but I agree that it shouldn’t be banned or censored. And the few people I know that are into it are very strict about the safety of anyone and everyone involved. Always glad to see you posting!!!
Dec 17, 2014 @ 14:48:01
BTW I just read all of the pics above with your comments regarding the regulations overseas. Here are some of my veiws on them:
– The scene of the Magistrate getting decked by the prisoner I would consider as payback.
– The scenes depicting monsters being “violent” and/or abusive I would love to see how the argue that point. Last time I checked Orcs, Vampires, Dark Elves, Zombies, Angels, Demons, Fairy’s and Cat Girls don’t exist in the real world. (What would Japanese tentacle porn fall under for this =p )
– The stranglehold in the vampire pic is a result of combat. I don’t think Street Fighter or Mortal Combat are banned over there.
There are many more comments I would like to list but these are by far my favorite. Let me know what you think.
Dec 18, 2014 @ 13:29:58
Thanks for the birthday wishes! It was a good day ^_^
I’m not personally into a lot of BDSM, but that list of theirs has given me ideas for new things to incorporate into future work! The gallery is a bit facetious. Some of those events probably wouldn’t count. Though the fighting is happening still in an overall sex scene. But isn’t the grey territory part of the problem with enforcing bans like that?
My big question for ATVOD would be about whether female ejaculation is banned for trans and futanari girls. It’s a valid question, in my line of work, and I doubt it’s something they thought of. ^_^”’
Dec 20, 2014 @ 18:41:12
Happy belated Birthday Galaxy! Love the picture gallery and protest pic. I fully agree you are a very naughty, immoral lady and should be dealt with immediately, preferably by November in a new 3-D animated adventure. 🙂 (I’m not a big BDSM fan, so lots of happy kissing and petting is a perfectly suitable punishment for your wicked ways.)
Dec 20, 2014 @ 21:30:47
Thank you! I don’t know if Novie could take care of the problem, she’s kind of a bad influence. I’m sure we’ll have another scene together, but I’m not sure when or what it’ll be (Galaxy Editions for SFK3&4 I guess, which might be a joint release at some point). Happy kissing and petting is not really our style though, I’m more likely to be punished… which might be okay. ^_^”