Brits, Porn and Free Speech
I know this sounds unimportant right now to many, but I actually do find these things interesting to a certain degree. Porn is a huge draw and in some cases a money-maker. Many people watch it for many different reasons, and I don’t think it’s fair to judge them. This piece talks about which porn people in the UK would miss the most…for this reason:
The UK government have banned UK porn producers from producing certain types of online pornographic material, specifically anything that depicts ‘the infliction of pain’ and ‘verbal and physical abuse.’
I’m working on the second novel in the Fangsters series right now, and I get into certain aspects of “verbal” and “rough sex” in the book because the main characters are vampires. That alone should be reason enough not to have to explain anything. They’re vampires; everything is exaggerated because they aren’t human…even the sex. But I’ve found myself on the defensive at certain times wondering if readers would understand what the characters were talking about. It didn’t happen in the first book in the series. There were a few, in the minority, who thought it was BDSM. So this time rather than self-censor I decided to approach the sex scenes in a different way. I probably did more telling than showing this time, but I think it was important.
In any event, my book isn’t the issue here. My biggest question about this entire topic is more free speech oriented. And who gets to decide what is physical and verbal abuse? In other words, if two gay vampires are having sex and one calls the other a “fag”…as a sexual turn-on, within the context of the sex scene…is that verbal abuse and should that be censored…even if this is a common phrase with some gay men during sex? If I have to explain this any further it’s not worth it. Most of you get what I mean. And it has nothing to do with reality or homophobia on the surface. What this means subconsciously is another story and I’m not a psychologist.
The Independent says that practices that producers are now prohibited from depicting are listed as:
Spanking; Caning; Aggressive whipping; Penetration by any object ‘associated with violence’; Physical or verbal abuse (regardless of if consensual); Urolagnia (known as ‘water sports’); Role-playing as non-adults; Physical restraint; Humiliation; Female ejaculation; Strangulation; Facesitting; Fisting
And this is how all this relates to free speech. Yes. Porn is free speech.
Myles Jackman, an obscenity lawyer, said that his concern about the new regulations were about the wider issue of policing the internet.
‘Pornography is the canary in the coalmine of free speech: it is the first freedom to die. If this assault on liberty is allowed to go unchallenged, other freedoms will fall as a consequence.
‘This declaration of State censorship will affect millions of consenting adults who choose to view British pornography.’
I think it’s dangerous. And even if you aren’t into any of the things banned above, so should you. What if any government decided to ban the right to practice a certain religion? And it could happen. In fact, there have been governments who tried to kill of entire religious communities.Think Hitler.
You can read the rest here. This might be the beginning of a whole new trend…policing the Internet like TV and films have been censored for decades. Facebook does it all the time, without questions asked, for little things like gay men kissing. Do we want to see this happen?
Naked Gay Film Actor
An actor in Lithuania will go naked in the name of homophobia to save a gay Lithuanian film, You Can’t Escape Lithuania. I’m still not sure if someone tried to stop the film, but it sounds as if they need the funding because no one was willing to make things easier on them.
Denisas Kolomyckis will star in the film and by getting naked is following in the footsteps of his movie’s director. 24-year-old Romas Zabarauskas has already promised to strip off if the cash is raised to make the feature film via a crowd funding campaign.
Just 33 hours remain to raise the $5,000 (€4,020) needed to reach their $20,000 target on Kickstarter. If they don’t reach their goal by 9pm GMT on Wednesday (3 December) they will get nothing.
Kolomyckis, 22, said: ‘If my naked butt can help the film to reach its goal, I’m ready to do it.
According to his facebook page they reached the goal and I guess he’ll go naked. There’s a clip here. But before you judge him for doing this please keep in mind that Kim Kardashian showed her big naked ass in a lame attempt to “break the Internet.” The Internet broke her.
Andy Cohen on Sex with Women
Bravo TV host, Andy Cohen, has a new book out. And he’s being asked all the worst questions imaginable…like has he ever had sex with a woman? I wish someone just once would ask these interviewers if they ever had sex with a horse.
‘Never. Never full, full-monty. I’m a gold-star gay,’ Cohen said this week during an interview with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump.
When Vanderpump asked ‘How do you know you don’t like it?’ Cohen stated the obvious: ‘Well, because I like dudes so much more.’
That first question I can understand. I’m a little curious about that too sometimes. But the second one, how do you know you don’t like it, really gets under my last gay nerve. You don’t have to jump out of a plane to know you don’t like skydiving. And if you do you’re not playing with a full deck.
