Perverted, Deviant Or Just Plain Sex?

Today Max Mosley won his case against The News Of The World which stemmed from their publication of images, a video and newspaper stories about his “Nazi Orgy”.

The BBC reported:

At the High Court, Mr Justice Eady said there was “no evidence that the gathering on 28 March 2008 was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes. Nor was it in fact.

“I see no genuine basis at all for the suggestion that the participants mocked the victims of the Holocaust.”

The “bondage, beating and domination” that did take place was “typical of S&M behaviour”, he said.

Mr Justice Eady also stated that Mr Mosley could expect privacy for consensual “sexual activities (albeit unconventional)”.

In his ruling he effectively declared the newspaper’s justification that it was in the public interest to publish the story to be invalid.

Leaving aside the betrayal of trust (on the part of one or more of the female sex workers) that I discussed in my previous post on the case this has to be a victory for the rights of the individual to practice safe, sane and consenting BDSM … or does it?

The legal fees in the case ran to £850,000 split roughly half-and-half between the newspaper and Mosley. Both parties have huge pots of money and if either had lost the case it would have been a painful, but not lethal blow to their financial stability.

For most ordinary people in this country that sort of legal representation is out of the question. So if you are compromised in this way how can you defend yourself successfully in such a case. Frankly I don’t think you could. Sad isn’t it to think that in a democratic country with a legal system that is copied across the world it takes nearly £1 million (if you take the damages into account) to get justice.