Extreme Concern: Regulating ‘Dangerous Pictures’ in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article begins with an exploration of section 5 of the recent Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, otherwise known as the ‘Dangerous Pictures Act’ which outlaws the possession of ‘extreme images’, and the Rapid Evidence Assessment belatedly used to justify the legislation. We then examine the claims of the growth, dissemination, and widespread availability of material which ‘glories in sexual violence’ and its putative ‘effects’. This current crisis over the meanings of pornography highlights the rhetorical function of the conceptual discourse of ‘pornographication’, its links to problematic figurations of the consumer or viewer of explicit materials, and how the identification of ‘extreme’ pornography has given voice to a range of anxieties about media spectacularization of the body. We end by arguing that opposition to the legislation is not just a matter of protecting personal freedoms or refusing to recognize the existence of harms; instead, we propose that academics will need to question the very parameters on which the impulses to legislate are based.

An Exploratory Study of a New Kink Activity: “Pup Play”

“…Highlighting this, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (c4) in the United Kingdom banned "extreme" pornographic representations of kinky sexual acts deemed unsafe, without evidence of the risks involved in these acts. Attwood and Smith (2010) demonstrate that the law relies on moralistic and emotional dichotomies of 'good' and 'bad' sex. This stigma is evident in the academic community as well, with research on sex and sexuality deemed "dirty work" (Irvine, 2014)-and research on kink remaining a marginal component of the study of sexualities (Rubin, 2011).…”

Sense about sex: media, sex advice, education and learning

“…Our work also includes continuing to analyse the ways in which sex and sexual health are conceptualised in policy (see for example, Smith and Attwood, 2011;Barker and Duschinksy, 2012;Duschinsky and Barker, 2013) and legislation (see for example, Attwood and Smith, 2010), as well as current mediated sex education (see for example, Barker, Gill and Harvey, forthcoming 2016b), and the broader study of mediated sex and sexuality (see for example, Smith, Attwood, Egan and McNair, forthcoming 2016). Some of us have been active in blogging on these issues (see for example, Petra's 'Dr Petra' and Meg John's 'Rewriting the Rules'), on writing about formats like blogging and how academics might use these (Attwood et al 2012), and on helping to shape research and professional practice (see for example, Boynton, 2005;Richards and Barker, 2013;Richards and Barker, 2015).…”

Over ‘Sexed’ Regulation and the Disregarded Worker: An Overview of the Impact of Sexual Entertainment Policy on Lap-Dancing Club Workers

“…It has been argued that the use of radical feminists' research by policy makers to support abolitionist sex-work legislation is common practice and an effective way of endorsing anti-sex-work policies (Carline, 2011). It has also been suggested that the careful selection of sympathetic supporters during the policy consultation process is necessary to ensure the proposed legislative changes are made (Attwood and Smith, 2010). This further brings into question the reliability of evidence produced to support policy.…”