UK Bans "Step Family" Porn Where Performers Role-Play As Minors
News via The Guardian in the UK:
The government has agreed to ban the production of pornography depicting sex acts between stepfamily members following a vote in the House of Lords. The government tabled an amendment calling for step-incest to be included in a ban on harmful content, with the support of the Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, who led a review into pornography regulation that was published last year.
Note that the UK use of “tabled” means that it’s moving forward, which is the opposite of what it means here in the U.S. (where it means to postpone or suspend). Also, it’s not all step porn being banned, it’s only the step porn where models are role-playing as minors. The Guardian article doesn’t get to that key detail until five paragraphs later:
The amendment was narrowly passed, with 144 voting in favour and 143 against. Once the law comes into effect, anyone found to posses or publish pornography which shows incest between family members, or sex between step- or foster-relations where one person is pretending to be under-18, will be criminalised, with publication carrying a maximum penalty of two to five years’ imprisonment, depending on the severity of the content.
OK, but who’s going to decide if someone is pretending to be under the age of 18, and what kind of metrics are going to be used to make that determination? Absurd toys, clothing, and sets are easy to identify, but I could also see three or four gay porn studios being shut down right now simply because of some of the twinks’ physical appearances in their step incest porn. Obviously, the now defunct FamilyDick would be the first to go, just by that one picture above.
The final wording in the amendment may be changed slightly when the Crime and Policing bill is completed next week, but this looks like it’s pretty much a done deal, and anyone in the UK who possesses step family porn with performers role-playing (as determined by the government) as minors will face up to five years in prison. UK studios making this type of porn will have to either shut down or completely alter the type of content they produce.
Via the UK’s Ministry of Justice press release:
Building on the Government’s work to tackle violence against women and girls, pornography depicting illegal sexual conduct between family members and adults roleplaying as children will be criminalised.
The first of these vital measures will ban anyone from possessing or publishing harmful pornography that shows incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18.
A further amendment will criminalise the publication and possession of pornography where an adult is roleplaying as a child.
Delivered with the support of many brave campaigners and advocates for change, both amendments recognise that this revolting online content risks normalising child sexual abuse. Each new offence comes with a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment for publication.
