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Jezzebelle
Posted by Jezzebelle on Mon 9 Oct 06, 6:19 PM

I wish to register my distaste for the proposed new anti pornography laws.

Whilst I do not currently practice BDSM I have in the past and may do in the future, I may or may not have some random images of myself on the computer from my days as a submissive. The only BDSM images I have are related to a print and design business that I am a partner in, to be honest I don't really like porn, I have a preference the written word which fires my imagination far more than any pornographic image could.

I have many friends in the BDSM community, some active, some not, some have business's, are artists or performers or writers, all connected with that darker side of life. Some of these people are professionals, some housewives, parents, grandparents all are capable of shielding their families from any impact of this side of their lives. However, if this proposed law comes into play whole families will be torn apart, children will be taken from loving homes and put into an already over burdened, bureaucratic system that is the social services, people will be for ever stigmatised by their new label of sex offender. Even if they are cleared the mud will stick and the damage will irreparable. And what of the impact on our already over flowing prison population, where is the space to put all these new offenders? Consider very carefully what possible harm they are doing to society in general by viewing these images.

The vast majority who practice BDSM and have images on their computers are practising BDSM with knowledge, care, love and most of all communication of needs, wants and desires. It is not something one imposes on the other it is borne out of mutual consent.

I speak out against this censorship as one who was sexually abused as a child, raped as an adult and who has been in an abusive relationship. None of the harm that came to me was driven by images seen on the Internet, or I imagine by the pornographic images available at the time, these attacks were many years before the Internet became a public domain. A person who has a proclivity to commit a sex offence may have strong pornographic images on their computer but they are more likely to be there because of a pre-existing desire to cause harm rather than being the driving force behind the final act. And just think how many people may have these images on their computer and yet never act in a non-consensual manner, how many who may have these images and never act at all? Many of these images for example those involving knife play can be extremely erotic to look at but just because a person has them does not mean the desire to cut someone in a way that causes permanent harm or death.

With that in mind should the acts of an extremely small minority govern the viewing material of a majority?

Edited Mon 9 Oct 06, 9:46 PM by Jezzebelle


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