Saturday, 9th March 2013
EU MAKING MOVE TO BAN ALL PORNOGRAPHY – Pornography, no matter how you present it, is always going to have stigma that only dirty old men view it. With the rapid growth of internet access it almost appears that no matter where you go online there is some form of pornography lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on the unexpected or the innocent.
There have been countless moves by some quarters to remove pornography from the internet or more sensibly restricting it through an Internet Services Providers (ISP) block – meaning that only an adult can request the removal of the block from their ISP; the idea being that our children will not be subjected to pornography.
Read
Keeping Your Kids Safe While Surfing Online
David Cameron: We Will Block Online Pornography for Children
Today the European Parliament is preparing to vote on a complete ban of all forms of pornography, including all forms of print and publication which is also to include any type of publishing and displaying on the internet.
The initial report on the banning of pornography has been prepared by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. If their bid is successful a clause under Article 17 of the report will effectively ban all forms of pornography on all types of media.
Iceland is one country that already has legislation in place making it illegal to produce or publish pornography; however the law does not currently affect internet media. Iceland’s government recently made moves to include the internet in its legislation banning all forms of pornography and this is likely to be enacted within the next 18 months.
Read
Iceland Looking to Ban Online Pornography
While parents would be more than happy to see ISP’s blocking pornography, so that their children cannot access it online, we have to ask the question as to whether any such legislation would infringe upon the rights of freedom of expression and the right to view ‘legal’ material for those who choose to do so.
“Girls were becoming increasingly sexualised while more and more boys were treating them as little more than ‘sexual objects’.” Baroness Benjamin
On Tuesday 12th March 2013 the 754 MEP’s will be voting on proposed ban and whether it legislation should be drafted to effective ban all types of pornography, across all types of media.
Baroness Benjamin also gave an impassioned speech about how boys are now pressurizing young girls into degrading sexual acts but admits that she had no answers on how society could reverse the trend.
There is no doubt in my mind, or the mind of any parent, that our governments should take positive measures in order to stop our children from being able to access any form of pornography; however, a complete ban will certainly violate the rights of both men and women who freely choose and consent to viewing or participating in the making of pornography.
I for one certainly support the government imposing legislation on ISP’s so that pornography is blocked; unless a direct request from an adult is made to unblock any filter imposed.
We should not, ever, allow our governments to create legislation that infringes upon our rights of expression or free speech.
While I feel that pornography should be restricted to those under the legal age, we simply cannot allow people to legislation against those who want to view it and who are of legal age. This is nothing short of creating a dictatorship where democratic rights and freedoms, whether a minority or not, are bulldozed simply because some find it offensive.
There are many things in life that we do not like or heavily disagree with. My neighbour likes to keep birds and has a magnificent aviary but I still think it’s cruel to keep birds cooped up in a cage; but does that give me the right to create legislation that would prevent him or anyone else from indulging in their hobby or pastime activities?
Like it or not the pornography industry turns over billions of dollars each year and employs thousands of men and women across the globe – are we to form legislation so that we effectively take away their employment?
With any form of legislation that restricts certain group’s activities or bans them altogether we run the very real danger of forming a police state which can only result in a totalitarianism government where every action, movement and thought is monitored.
“During times of war and financial distress, demonize your adversaries, result to class warfare and steal freedoms incrementally moving towards a police state.” Unknown
We should never let our governments dictate to us what we can or cannot do and this should not be a decision of the EU but a decision by the people of their independent counties and should, under pure democracy, be put to the people via a referendum, if any such legislation is ever going to be enacted.
