Why I Took a Caning on Camera to Fight Censorship

On December 1, 2014, UK online pornography distributors were dealt a cruel blow by a new change in the law. Previously, the Crown Prosecution Service's Guidance on the OPA provided a list of sexual activities that were deemed illegal to publish in British pornography. Yet, the new regulations set in place specifically stated that only sexual content that is equivalent to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) R18 category can be sold via Video on Demand (VoD) service.

What Does This Mean?

The BBFC is the British equivalent of the Motion Picture Association of America. The R18 certificate, our equivalent of the X rating, is the most restrictive of all their certificates. It provides a classification for works that are within the UK's obscenity laws, but exceed what the BBFC deems acceptable for the 18 certificate.

So, from December 1, 2014 and going forward, UK VoD producers are now subject to the same restrictions as DVDs. They cannot sell anything that’s prohibited under the R18 certificate as it is no longer legal. The Internet was considered the last bastion of creative freedom of expression by many UK adult filmmakers. It was the one space where they could feel free to post and sell a broader range of content than admitted by the BBFC – it was a safe space, one that had gotten smaller as a result of censorship laws.

The list of acts that are legal for consenting adults to practice, and yet are now forbidden to be portrayed, is depressingly long. They include:

• Squirting (and consuming female ejaculate – male ejaculate was deemed fine)
• Facesitting
• Age play (however, school uniforms are acceptable provided there is no pretending that the wearer isn’t of legal age)
• Fisting
• Bondage and restraint
• Watersports
• BDSM pain play (only “moderate” pain play is acceptable; therefore, reddening of the skin is okay, but raised welts and bruises are not)

As several sources reporting on the matter have noted, a lot of the forbidden acts seem to lean favorably toward male sexuality; consuming female ejaculate is not OK, but male ejaculate is fine, for example. Facesitting (which usually involved a woman) was restricted. Queer sexual expression has also come a cropper, with fisting (both vaginal and anal – again, an act which is legal to perform in real life with consent) banned as well.

Caned in the Name of Censorship

One of the voices speaking up against these laws, a voice that found her own work affected by the laws, is Dreams of Spanking’s Pandora Blake. As well as appearing in various media outlets talking about the new laws and their regressive nature, she and fellow performer Nimue Allen launched an IndieGogo campaign to raise money for Backlash UK, an umbrella organisation providing academic, legal, and campaigning resources defending freedom of sexual expression.

The campaign, which involved getting one stroke of the cane for every £10 raised, was a huge success. They raised £3863. However, as Nimue and Pandora couldn’t possibly take all those cane strokes alone (because no-one has a bottom that resilient), they called upon friends to help take the cane strokes and, in the process, capture it on film.

I was one of the people putting their ass on the line.

I am not a UK pornography distributor. I am not a performer. I have never taken cane strokes. And yet, one Sunday afternoon, my other half and I went to Pandora’s house for tea, an on-camera chat about my feelings about these laws, and five cane strokes delivered by Pandora herself.