Posted by Smartarse
on Mon 9 Oct 06, 10:53 PM to Smartarse's blog.
I'm a latecomer to the BDSM community. And it is a community - a complete society of people united by a common attribute – their sexuality. My sexuality was established at three years of age and my tastes are not extreme. In fact many people who consider themselves to have a completely normal sexuality have experienced far more than I have. I have lived for most of my adult life with feelings of shame and of not belonging to mainstream society and this has previously prevented me from forming relationships. Since I came out as kinky to my friends and joined this community I have enjoyed a renewed sense of self and at last been liberated from my shame. This has been a very positive thing for me.
Along the way, on this journey of self discovery I have looked at many images of BDSM acts. Before I came out, these images provided my only window into a world that was closed to me, providing an education and instruction. They did not pervert me, corrupt me or make me in any way a bad person. The only downside was the secrecy and shame involved in finding them.
I understand that my government is intending to make these images illegal to possess. I have read the draft proposals and I strongly object to the tone in which they were written, which appears to deprecate my sexuality and call for its suppression – the legislation intended to be the tool of that process. The motivation is a moral one but is it moral to impose fundamentalist views on liberal minded and innocent victims? I seem to remember the same people proposing the legislation taking us to war over something similar.
I have no objection to the government banning images of extreme violence and suffering. I don't think I've ever seen any - except perhaps on the news. They must be a very small percentage of the images available and images that most people would shun. The images I've seen involve consenting adults who enjoy the experiences involved in BDSM.
I expect none of this will convince you that the legislation is wrong. So let me put it into words you can understand. Let me make it personal: One of your friends and colleagues is probably a closet pervert. One of your ex-partners is probably a closet pervert. This is a flavor of sexuality that reaches into all parts and levels of society. Suppress it if you feel you must, but you will never destroy it - just as laws from previous eras failed to stamp out homosexuality.
The legislation is based on one high profile case in which the perpetrator of a horrendous crime used his obsession with violent imagery as a defence. The defence failed to work. He got sent down. Nobody believed he wasn't already deranged. The basis of the legislation is flawed and that will inevitably lead to further legislation. That's actually a good thing for the BDSM community. Every time this comes up it fuels a public debate and BDSM is more accessible than its ever been, it just lacks publicity. The injustice of the legislation has succeeded in uniting the community and creating a vocal opposition. That's also good for the BDSM community. Currently BDSM is low profile. By all means bring it into the public arena. Or just quietly drop it. It's worth some thought.
This case is being used as a pretext for oppressive legislation intended to keep non-vanilla sex shameful. If someone looks at pictures of fires do they become an arsonist? If someone looks at pictures of unattended clothes rails do they become a shoplifter? If someone is shown a picture of a yellow line do they become illegal parkers? Most people would recognise that it's ridiculous.
