Rape Porn To Be Banned In Britain, Joining Pamela Geller And A Bunch Of Old George Formby Songs

Posh anti-tossing tosser UK PM David Cameron's Conservative party is not very popular right now, but they're still more popular than rape. So, opportunity! 

A new restriction on the possession of rape porn is part of a crackdown by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced this summer that lawmakers wanted to close a “legal loophole” in the law. Currently, possession of rape porn is legal in the U.K., even though publishing and distributing it has already been outlawed.

Rape is hella bad. That goes without saying, but we will say it anyway, because "internet." RAPE IS HELLA BAD. Rape, however, isn't the issue here. The issue is the criminalization of fictional depictions of rape between consenting, compensated, often sexy adults. You may think porn is inherently bad or exploitative or should not have so many pop-ups, but it is a science fact that "the connection between actual real-life violence and porn is blurry at best."

India, which bans all forms of porn, has been in the news thanks to a rash of brutal rapes. Meanwhile, in the United States the incidence of rape declined 85 percent over a period of 25 years while access to pornography has increased,  The New York Times reported. 

Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon has already written the definitive "wait a minute people, let's be real" piece about this, which you should read, but here's some of it:

As feminist writer Zoe Stavri wrote this summer in the Independent, “Within BDSM porn, there is often a short interview between the performers discussing what they would like to do, and what they would not like to do, and how they can signal that they want the scene to stop if need be,” she said. “After the scene has finished, the performers talk about the scene in a debrief.” Consent, communication and boundary-setting! That is the opposite of rape.

Actually, the opposite of rape is a kitten wearing a bonnet that it put on itself and wants to wear because it likes to feel pretty. But David Cameron (possibly still mad that he's not allowed to listen to the Smiths anymore) isn't having it:  

Cameron has argued that images depicting rape normalize sexual violence against women, and that exposure to such images is “poisonous” to young people.

Then Cameron mounted his trusty camel and rode off to slaughter some Turks. 

[ BBC / Guardian / IBTimes / Atlantic Wire / Salon / Telegraph / Shortlist ]