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UK Bans Spanking, Golden Showers, Other "Non-Conventional" Acts From Online Porn

The ban is a small part of a much larger bill on digital access.

UK web users could soon be banned from visiting websites that feature non-conventional sex acts—such as spanking, golden showers and female ejaculation—under a clause in a government bill currently working its way through parliament.

The measure, included in the digital economy bill, would force internet service providers to restrict access to websites that display pictures or video that would not be certified for commercial DVD sale by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

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Young man is sitting in bed and watching pornography on his laptop

The main objective of the bill is to enforce strict age verification checks to make it impossible for children to visit adult websites. However, after facing pressure from conservative ministers, the government amended the legislation to include powers to block certain niche sex content.

Many have come out against the amendment, calling the move a "prurient" invasion into people's sex lives. “It should not be the business of government to regulate what kinds of consensual adult sex can be viewed by adults,” said Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of Index on Censorship.

A spokeswoman for the BBFC stated, “In making this assessment, we will apply the standards that we apply to pornography that is distributed offline. If a website fails on either of these [age verification or obscene content] tests then a notification of non-compliance will be sent to the site.”

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Young naked man is watching pornography on a laptop in his kitchen and masturbating

Though a definitive list of restricted sex acts has not been released, experts believe it would include whipping, caning, spanking, urination, sex in public and female ejaculation or menstruation, all of which are legal for consenting adults in the UK.

“Although it is nominally designed to enforce the [Obscene Publications Act] guidelines of the Crown Prosecution Service, in practice it draws far tighter lines, many of them inexplicable.” said free speech campaigner Jerry Barnett.

Prof. Clare McGlynn, an expert on pornography laws, added: “If we are regulating things like menstrual blood or urination, that’s detracting from a focus on what I think is really the harmful material, and that would be material around child sexual abuse, but also around sexual violence."

Neither the Department for Culture, Media and Sport nor the BBFC have responded to the public backlash.

h/t: The Guardian

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