Illegal Porn Movies
Is Porn Over Regulated? … Many people in Swindon seem to think it is.
According to the Swindon Advertiser there has been “[an] Illegal porn explosion in Swindon”
What this amounts to is that a Chinese illegal immigrant Zhong Chen has recently been charged with selling unclassified and therefore highly illegal pornographic DVDs around the construction sites and industrial estates of the round about capital of England.
The titles apparently include some activities that would simply not see the light of day if they were to enter the UK via legal channels as they would be refused a certification by the BBFC. Specifically one of the titles included sexual acts with a dog.
The reason that there is such an appetite for DVDs sold in such an obviously illegal manner is that Swindon council will not grant licences for its local sex shops to sell R18 titles. Total prohibition of something does not mean that the public will lose its appetite for it and by denying legal access means that as in the Swindon case a black market will develop.
Draconian control of erotica and pornography has never worked and always forces the trade underground. A policy of “No R18 in Swindon” may make anti-porn groups happy but surely even the most naïve opponent of adult must realise that the Internet provides an alternate source of material that is accessible from anywhere – and much of what’s available there isn’t properly regulated either. Or if you really want a physical DVD to play you could just take a trip up the road to the first town with a council who aren’t as self-delusional as Swindon’s.
Adult shops in the town are reporting that sales are already slowing and with the retail sector in general taking a hit because of the world situation this can only get worse. The local head of commercial regulation believes that Zhong was a just part of a larger, organised pirating operation. As a small part of a larger criminal gang he’ll soon be replaced, while law-abiding retailers could close because of falling profits caused by the council’s policy.
So should be relax regulation on adult material?
In conclusion I’d have to say no, there isn’t too much regulation when it comes to porn.
However as in every area where bureaucracy impacts on the individual, if a person’s freedom of choice is compromised there are those who will work outside the system to get what they want or make a quick buck. Within a regulatory framework we have control and can ensure that what is available covers all but the most extreme of tastes while ensuring that it is not exploitative of those who produce/appear in it. Nobody in their right mind wants minors to have access to porn either, but that’s exactly what can happen if you make the only source of porn an unscrupulous criminal element.