Last Year British Porn Stars Conducted A Protest Against New Laws Directed At The Porn Industry. You'll Be Shocked At How They Did It!
#1
Sex workers and campaigners gathered in front of Parliament to protest against changes to pornography regulations last December.
Organiser Charlotte Rose called the restrictions "ludicrous" and said they were a threat to freedom of expression.
Protesters say the list of banned activities includes "face-sitting", and campaigners carried out a mass demonstration of this while singing the Monty Python song Sit On My Face.
"These activities were added to this list without the public being made aware," Charlotte Rose said. "They've done this without public knowledge and without public consent.
"There are activities on that list that may be deemed sexist, but it's not just about sexism, it's about censorship. What the Government is doing is taking our personal liberties away without our permissions."
#2
The protest came after the Government said a list of sex acts had been banned from online porn videos filmed in the UK, in a bid to crack down on "harmful" content.
A quiet change in legislation had ruled that paid-for online porn videos must now adhere to the same rules as content produced for sex shop-type videos.
It means acts that would not be classified as an R18 rating, in line with guidelines laid out by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), are prohibited.
#3
The list of around 10 acts reportedly range from spanking to strangulation.
Critics argued the change not only damaged the country's porn industry, with online viewers still able to access content banned in the UK by watching videos filmed abroad, but amounts to "arbitrary censorship".
The Audiovisual Media Services Regulation 2014 went into effect in December of 2014.
#4 At first there were just a few protesters posing for photos
Mistress Absolute, 39, a professional dominatrix and fetish promoter, said the law was restrictive.
"I felt that this was the beginning of something to creep into my sexual freedom and sexual preferences."
This is a gateway to other laws being snuck in."
#5
Her friend Neil Rushton, 33, a mature student, said: "They're very sexist laws. These are very geared towards women's enjoyment as opposed to men's."
The pair took part in the mass face-sitting that afternoon.
#6 There were some pretty funny placards
Justin Hancock, a sex educator who runs the website Bish UK, said: "Often the same filters that block these websites block my website, so I suffer from the same kind of censorship issues that the porn industry does.
"This particular regulation will not prevent one person from seeing any porn that they can't already see elsewhere anyway."
Them using the argument around sex and young people is completely specious.
"It's moralising. It's about saying as a society what kind of sex is okay."
#7 Then more people turned up and they attempted to break a world record
#8 And, it being Christmas, Santa showed up to lend his support
#9 Here is a list of the now banned acts
Urination is banned in a sexual context and the government seem to count female ejaculation as urination! So any porn with female ejaculation is now banned.
#10
Bondage - being tied up is banned. As is being gagged. 52.1% of women - more than half - have fantasised about this, and 46.2% of men. They can no longer buy porn of it in the UK. 59.6% of men and 46.7% of women have fantasised about dominating someone.
#11
Spanking, hitting or whipping - 23% of women, 39.6% of men and a whopping 53% of our readers are interested in being spanked or whipped for sexual pleasure
#12
Abusive language during sex is banned - No name-calling in bed form now on. All porn is now going to be really courteous, which is a shame. What counts as "abusive language"? We asked the BBFC if calling someone a "dickhead" during sex will be banned.
#13
Face-sitting - We can see how this could go wrong, but should it really be banned? Has anyone ever died from their face being sat on during sex?
#14
Fisting, but only if all knuckles are inserted - Surely having all the knuckles of a small hand is better than having some of the knuckles of a huge hand. Just saying.
#15
It won't really affect what porn you watch as porn from providers and servers not based in the UK will still be available in the UK. And a lot of mainstream porn doesn't include these banned actions.
It does, however, affect independent and BDSM porn providers, who rely on people purchasing their material to make a living. They are understandably angry about this change. And arguable the mainstream porn industry, which has issues with trafficking and not paying performers properly is more harmful than a loving couple producing and selling BDSM porn.
#16
The Government said the changes were about safety as they say videos of some sex acts could encourage people to take part in potentially risky activities at home.
#17
What do you think about the law? What about the protest?
#18
Check out this video of the protest in action