A new set of regulations put into effect by the British government yesterday will censor female ejaculation from any UK-produced pornography. Among the sex acts to fall foul of the new rules are spanking, ‘aggressive’ whipping, watersports, facesitting and fisting, with the latter two among those marked out as ‘life endangering’. Notions of consent have not been taken into account in compiling the list, which is already being heavily criticised for seemingly focusing on acts in which women either traditionally derive the greatest pleasure or are depicted as powerful and in control.

In interviews with Vice UK, producer and professional dominatrix Itziar Bilbao Urrutia, or Ms Tytania to her subs, called the regulations “absurd and surreal”, while Jerry Barnett, founder of anti-censorship campaign Sex And Censorship, described them as “a set of moral judgements designed by people who have struggled endlessly to stop the British people from watching pornography.” Director Erika Lust, writing for the Telegraph, fears the new rules will turn porn into a “boring, unrealistic, male fantasy of bimbos eagerly pleasing men as if it is their duty, where women are submissive and lack ownership of their sexuality.”

Despite this widespread censorship being justified under the guise of child protection, the rules solely affect UK porn producers and in no way limit the rights or ability of viewers to seek out videos from abroad depicting the banned acts.

Few would deny that child access to pornography remains a very serious issue, especially when it comes to some of the more hardcore material which can potentially affect sexual development and expectations at a young age. At a time when casual social misogyny and the sexual mistreatment of women is finally being taken as seriously as it should, that these regulations so heavily focus on censoring depictions of female pleasure is not only damaging, but outright repellent. They enshrine in law the idea that male sexual satisfaction is more important and acceptable than that of women, while making seemingly arbitrary judgments on what is deemed ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sex between consenting adults.

In this case, such censorship represents a government attempting to enforce its outdated, puritanical and simplistic morality on a modern issue requiring more careful and considered education to help those affected better understand such essential ideas as consent, respect and the difference between sex as fantasy and in reality.

In any case, those Monty Python boys had better watch out. All together now…

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