Obscenity Trial

Here are two posts by people who were present at the recent extreme pornography trial:

By Obscenity Lawyer, Myles Jackman.

The following blog on consent to sexual acts and representations was written a week after Michael Peacock’s acquittal and addresses the CPS’ guidelines on the OPA six-months prior to Simon Walsh’s Trial.

There is an update at the end of the blog, written today, on the current state of the guidelines and the role of the CPS, BBFC and Met in reviewing them…

“Would you welcome an Anal Prolapse?”

This question was put in open Court in the obscenity trial of the decade, R v Peacock, by prosecution counsel Mr TimothyForster, in cross-examining the defence expert witness in pornography, Dr ClarissaSmith. Read more…

By Alex Dymock.

Extreme porn trial: well, thank you for that interesting anatomical lesson

Simon Walsh’s case has shown the Crown Prosecution Service to have a rather prurient interest in other people’s sex lives

I’m not sure if my mother, thrilled when I decided to study law, ever anticipated that this would involve me spending weeks in court live-tweeting about fisting and how best to stick metal rods down one’s penis. But it’s testament only to how extraordinary it is that Simon Walsh’s case at Kingston crown court ever reached this stage that I found myself doing exactly this. Read more…

Normal sex

In this youtube clip, Meg Barker, gives a 90 minute lecture on sex therapy and what people mean by ‘normal’ sex.

After Pornified

The feminist librarian has blogged some useful notes about the book After Pornified.

As readers of this blog know, I spend a not-inconsiderable amount of time reading, writing, and thinking about sexually-explicit materials. Not just histories and health texts, but also works of fiction and nonfiction intended to arouse. In other words: porn.

As as you may also remember, I have little time for categorically anti-porn feminists (e.g. Gail Dines) whose only way of critiquing porn is to attack it wholesale. Pornography — by which I mean, in the broad sense, material of any medium that is sexually-explicit and intended to involve the reader/viewer on a visceral level — is, like any other creative medium, a way for us as humans to make sense of our world. And discounting it wholesale seems nonsensical to me. Should we not, instead, engage in a critical discussion about what we do and don’t like about the current state of porn (there will, naturally, be differences of opinion here) and what we’d like to see more of moving forward (again, there will be no consensus — there creativity lies)?

Therefore, I was super excited when I first heard, last year, about Anne G. Sabo’s forthcoming book After Pornified: How Women are Transforming Pornography & Why It Really Matters (Zero Books, 2012). A follower of her blogs (Quizzical Mama; New Porn by Women; and Love, Sex, and Family), I knew Anne would have thoughtful and thought-provoking things to say about a genre of porn — motion picture porn — that I have had little experience with, and know little about. I was excited enough about the book to press the author for an advance review copy, which she was kind enough to send me (hooray!). Since that exchange earlier in the summer we’ve actually gotten involved in an ongoing conversation about sexuality and identity — along with Molly of first the egg — which has the potential to solidify into a collaborative project down the line. Read more…