Jerry Barnett, Chair of AITA
Unlike Australia, the UK had less input and influence from the christian right when it comes to censorship. Here, the tone was set far more by a variety of (militant) feminist groups, often under the banner/accusation of “objectification”.
More recently, however, the government has bought into the concept of “sexualisation”, which has been fed by christian groups – the fear that sex is being used to sell product – and following that, “pornification”… the idea that culture has been subsumed by porn.
Jerry is looking to get the UK’s adult trade industry to fight on three fronts.
First, there is concern over web filtering: there is a recent report from the Perry parliamentary inquiry into the internet that young people are too easily accessing nasty sexual stuff on the web. Therefore there is a need for top-down filters to be put in place, and this will be managed by putting in place standard filters that will be applied to ALL pc’s, which can only be removed on application.
This followed a great deal of “evidence” supplied to the effect that sexual violence happening in society looked like violence in (sexual) film.
Second, EU regulation of video on demand has given rise to a body called ATVOD, an “independent co-regulator for the editorial content of UK video on demand”. This is likely to make it increasingly difficult for producers of commercial material to do so in the UK, with the result that much of the adult industry will go abroad.
Third, following the Peacock obscenity case, in which material that the UK’s CPS claimed was obscene was held not to be by a jury, Jerry is now planning a formal challenge to the British Board of Film Classification. This will involve producing a film that includes the material that was found NOT unlawful – and using the subsequent court case as a means to rewrite obscenity law.
jane fae xx
