subject: Response to Jacqui Smith's documentary ‘Porn Again' aired 3/3/11 [print this page] Response to Jacqui Smith's documentary Porn Again' aired 3/3/11
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of the points brought up by Jacqui Smith's documentary and subsequent phone in last night.
As a multi award winning (including Best British Film Brand) feminist pornographer of 13 years and Chair of The Adult Industry Trade Association when the documentary was made, I would like to ask Jacqui why she felt that my opinion or the opinion of any of our board members all of whom could have advised her on the law regarding pornography of which she was obviously unaware - were not relevant to her documentary?
Having studied pornography and gender both practically and academically (I am currently studying a PhD in Gender Studies at Sussex University) I would like to propose the following points that Jacqui should have taken into account when making the programme:
1, A third of all porn viewers online are female according to a recent independent Internet survey. It no longer makes sense founding the subject in terms of men's' opinions of women'. Thus, Jacqui's argument never allows women to have sexual agency.
2, There are no proven links between porn and violence, rape or any other damaged' behaviour by men onto women even though the two US Governments and one UK Government (Labour) have conducted large studies, and the American Christian/Conservative groups have pumped millions of dollars into the cause for over thirty years. There have been several studies that prove the precise opposite, including a recent one where good availability of internet access and a reduction in rape cases were strongly linked.
The whole documentary rested on a vague belief that harm was in fact proven, not least her call for the industry to pay for sex education in the same way alcohol producers pay for facilities for alcoholics. There is a proven case for the damages of alcohol, not so with porn.
3, Also with response to her call for contributions from the industry who are making vast amounts of money' Jacqui could do well to look at the way UK law handicaps British porn producers and shop owners, by allowing only imported (harder) DVDs to be sent by mail order; for foreign companies to be able to sell DVDs without a sex licence online in the UK; and for councils around the country to be able to charge anything they like as a tax on sin' that is a sex establishment license of up to 30K per year- without justifying the fee at all.
Sex shops do not cause social disorder or the environmental mess that drinking establishments do, and yet we pay much more on average for a license. Perhaps if Jacqui could equalise the playing field between adult companies and other legitimate companies - and take copyright theft seriously - we might feel a bit more generous.
4, Pornography is probably the only large example of the democratisation of the body and the sexual imagination' In pornography there is a market for anything. Whatever a woman dislikes about here body, she would be able to find several examples through a search engine of people who find that aspect the most attractive thing about her. Compare this to mainstream media - including the mainstream media's representation of the porn industry where only a very narrow idea of feminine beauty is celebrated. Also if Jacqui is making a documentary about the evils of 'porn' she cannot ignore feminist porn, queer porn or gay porn 'in order to fit it into an hour' These voices are key to changing attitudes about sex and sexual freedoms that would have posed difficult questions for her to answer.
5, Lastly in response to Ed Vaisey's call for opt in' sex access on the Internet: Can Jacqui explain what is wrong with a simple opt out' system, which enables people to have a porn free internet, and also allows others to have the free internet that is not censored by any Government's idea of tasteful' material, which is surely our right in a free society? Remembering that net nanny software is easily bought and perfectly effective for responsible parents to use in their own home. Well-used software, actually makes porn harder to access for young people, than in the days when magazines and DVDs were kept in the family home.
