Pornography involves the depiction of sexual acts in order to sexually arouse the viewer of the material. There is a huge market for pornography and there are many sub-genres to cater for different tastes and desires. The idea that watching porn leads men, in particular, to commit rape is faintly ridiculous. The argument runs that women are objectified', and that it dehumanises women, thus making it easier for men to perpetrate such despicable acts. However, most viewers can differentiate between the contrived situations involving actors in porn movies and the real-life interactions between men and women.

There may be individuals who are drawn to certain kinds of pornographic material, such as the depiction of simulated rape, but viewing such material does not cause someone to commit rape. In the United Kingdom the government seems determined to utilise the notion that violent pornography is bad' for individuals in order to crack down on the pornographic industry; in other words to impede our right to freedom of expression. This is most evident in the knee-jerk reaction of the government to the murder of Jane Longhurst by Graham Coutts in 2003. Coutts had an obsession with strangulation and prior to Longhurst's murder had accessed violent pornography involving simulated strangulation, rape and necrophilia.

Coutts claimed that Longhurst had died accidentally during consensual asphyxial intercourse, although the prosecution maintained that there was nothing to suggest that Coutts and Jane had ever been lovers. The prosecution placed great emphasis on the fact that Coutts had accessed violent pornography for a number of years, even though Coutts' interest in erotic asphyxia had began years before he had even encountered such pornography. Coutts was convicted of Jane Longhurst's murder and given a life sentence.

There was no evidence that accessing such violent images had led Coutts to such deviant' sexual practices and ultimately murder, but this did not prevent Jane Longhurst's mother from spearheading a campaign to clamp down on extreme pornography'. Consequently, the government inserted a clause into its Criminal Justice Bill to make possessing extreme pornography' illegal. Extreme pornography is defined by the government as pornography which depicts acts that threaten a person's life or result in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals, an act which involves or appears to involve sexual interference with a human corpse as well as an act in which a person performs or appears to perform, intercourse with an animal.

Despite the fact that the majority of people who access extreme pornography' do not otherwise behave abnormally, have normal relationships with men and women, and do not end up raping and murdering people, they, too, will be punished. Individuals who rape others will continue to do so, regardless of whether violent porn is legal, or not. However, it is more expedient for the government to look towards simple solutions for complex problems, and to pander to the concerns of the right-wing press about the decline of social standards. Pornography is therefore an easy target.

Learn more about this author, Ollie Jonson.
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