In the UK, a law has been tabled that will criminalise "incest simulation" porn. You might not see the harm in this, considering the taboo nature of the subject, but the ban is a notable escalation in a trend of censorship and government overreach occurring in the UK and beyond that *will* harm those it claims to protect.
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#Censorship #Fascism #GovernmentOverreach #Law #Politics #UK #UKpol #UKpoli #UKpolitics #WorldPolitics
By now we should all be familiar with 'age-verification' laws which put everyone's privacy and security at substantial risk whilst effectively doing nothing to actually "protect the children". In the UK, the so-called Online Safety Act (2023) lays the groundwork for age-verification (rolled out last July) and censorship like the criminalisation of strangulation porn (last November) which raised fears of censorship creep. With a new ban on 'incest porn', those fears are confirmed.
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Okay, before I get too concerned with government overreach, is there a valid reason for these bans? MP, Alex Davies-Jones stated that "watching incest porn risks normalising child sexual abuse." This is the entire justification for the ban and is entirely false. There is no significant link of porn nor of incest kink to CSA.
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And, nowhere is sexual abuse more effectively discouraged than in kink culture where safe-sex ethos is paramount. If one is to negate the risk of normalising harm, this ethos must be more accessible, not less. By villainising kink, porn bans will *not* prevent CSA. They will make it more insidious.
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Indeed, as Lady Alison Levitt noted, the widening scope of the law could complicate the prevention of actual CSA, "limiting successful law enforcement operations". Diverting police and NCA resources to attack kinksters will not protect children.
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Also, the bans will directly revictimise some abuse survivors because, strange as it may seem, many of those interested in taboo kinks *are* survivors. One survey, for example, shows that folks who experienced severe sexual assault during childhood are nearly three times more likely to be extremely aroused by incest than those who did not experience CSA.
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Survivors have good reasons to be kinky (not that 'it feels good' isn't a valid enough reason). For some, kink is a catharsis, allowing us to process and come to terms with our trauma. It allows us to feel normal to be in the presence of those who revel in our experiences instead of being disgusted by them. It can be a vital source of healing and empowerment. The criminalisation of kink not only robs survivors of that healing and empowerment, but also threatens to persecute us for it.
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But porn bans also create a very dangerous situation for #LGBTQ+ folk and marginalised subcultures. Increasingly, #LGBT content is being wrongfully treated as obscene making it more difficult for us to express ourselves and our experiences. If porn bans prevail, it is much more likely for our very existence to be criminalised at the stroke of a politician's pen. And the same method could be used to erase anyone the state decides is undesirable. It is a gun hanging over all our heads.
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#AgeVerification and #PornBans make us all less free and less safe. Anyone who genuinely wants to #ProtectTheChildren must oppose this. Speak up if your country is considering similar laws. Support simple and effective user-side moderation tools. Encouraging tech-literacy for parents and the general public, to better understand online risks, will actually protect. Sex-ed that teaches safety and the value of consent will actually decrease assault. Education, not prohibition, is the answer!
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Shade the AshClad