This week the Scottish Parliament passed its own version of the ban on “extreme porn” as part of the wide ranging Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill. “Extreme pornography” in Scotland includes a potentially much wider range of images, prohibiting possession of depictions of non-consensual sex besides the categories already present in English law. While rape itself is an abhorrent crime and personal violation, non-consensual sex is also a common erotic fantasy and fictional theme in some pornography, as well as other art and media. This makes the Scottish legislation potentially a far more serious infringement of people’s rights to sexual autonomy and free expression than the version already enacted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Jane Fae has more on the context in which this legislation has been brought in.