Lecture notes
Pornography
- Module
- Criminology
- Institution
- The University Of Huddersfield (UoH)
Overview of Pornography lecture for Violent Crime exam.
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Pornography + Sexual ViolencePornography: Contemporary Concern
Lots of research into different outcomes (Short et al., 2012):
- Positive = stress relief, decreasing boredom, increasing sexual knowledge,
decreasing feelings of shame re. sexual preferences
- Negative = financial problems, adverse effects on workplace performance,
relationship problems, sexual dissatisfaction, self-esteem issues re. sexual
performance or appearance, ‘risky sex’, teen pregnancy, unrealistic expectations
re. sex
Most prominent concern is possible contribution of pornography to sexual violence
(Mellor & Duff, 2010)
Government Agenda
Recent years have seen a resurgence in discourse - and scares:
- Briefing paper on extreme pornography (2016).
- Independent review of evidence on pornography and harmful sexual behaviours
and attitudes (2020).
A desire to protect:
a) those who participate in the creation of sexual material containing violence, cruelty
or degradation, who may be the victim of crime in the making of the material,
whether or not they notionally or genuinely consent to take part.”
b) society, particularly children, from exposure to such material, to which access can
no longer be reliably controlled through legislation dealing with publication and
distribution, and which may encourage interest in violent or aberrant sexual
activity.”
Obscene Publications Act 1959
Offence to publish articles that would tend to “deprave or corrupt” persons likely to
consume them
- Article = images, films, reading material, audio
- Publication = distributes, circulates, sells, lets on hire, gives or lends, or offers for
sale or letting
Mostly targets producers/distributors of pornography
- But could apply to individuals who e.g. send images via text
Act does not define what is likely to be considered obscene
- CPS previously provided a list of example acts that might be considered obscene
(inc. torture & bondage)
Obscene Publications: Critiques
Based on obscenity/morality rather than protecting individuals involved in adult film
industry from harm
Unfairly targets producers/consumers of certain types of pornography (women,
BDSM, LGBT)
Restricts freedom of expression and curtails access to those who simply wish to view
material (fantasy not an offence)
Juries hold increasingly liberal attitudes towards alternative sexual practices
, Illogical – acts that are legal between consenting adults illegal to depict
British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) regulates mainstream TV and DVDs for
sale/rental – with Trading Standards enforcing latter
Obscenity laws do little to restrict access to pornography hosted on websites outside
E&W
Campaign from family of Jane Longhurst (murdered by boyfriend in 2003) for the
government ‘to do something’
Obscene Publications: Revisions
January 2019 - “It is not for the CPS to decide what is considered good taste or
objectionable”
- Example acts removed in favour of four tests…
Producers/distributors unlikely to be charged providing:
- Consensual (focusing on full and freely exercised consent, and also where the
provision of consent is made clear where such consent may not be easily
determined from the material itself);
- No serious harm is caused (whether physical or other);
- It is not otherwise inextricably linked with other criminality (to emulate, interest
in or normalisation of criminality);
- The likely audience is not under 18
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
Marks a shift to consumers of pornography
“It is an offence for a person to be in possession of an extreme pornographic image”
- Pornographic = such a nature that it must be reasonably assumed to be produced
solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal.
- Extreme = grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character
Extreme Pornography
Portrays in an explicit and realistic way any of the following:
An act which threatens a person's life;
An act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts
or genitals;
An act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse (necrophilia);
A person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead
or alive);
An act which involves the non-consensual penetration of a person's vagina, anus or
mouth by another with the other person's penis or part of the other person’s body
or anything else (rape or assault by penetration) and a reasonable person looking at
the image would think that the persons or animals were real
Extreme Pornography: Critique
Applies to ‘realistic’ images as opposed to ‘real’ images
- Could include consensual activity as part of BDSM lifestyles
What about harms against other parts of the body?
Rationale for including oral sex with an animal unclear
- Only intercourse prohibited under SOA 2003
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