At about the time when hardcore was legalised, the
law enforcement agencies including customs got together and agreed that they would all adhere
to the BBFC guidelines for R18 videos:
The following content is not
acceptable:
- any material which is in breach of the criminal law
- material likely to encourage an interest in abusive
- sexual activity (eg paedophilia, incest) which may
include depictions involving adults role-playing as non-adults
- the portrayal of any sexual activity, whether real
or simulated, which involves lack of consent
- the infliction of pain or physical harm, real or
(in a sexual context) simulated. Some allowance may be made for mild consensual activity
- any sexual threats or humiliation which do not form
part of a clearly consenting role-playing game
- the use of any form of physical restraint which
prevents participants from withdrawing consent, for example, ball gags
- penetration by any object likely to cause actual harm or
associated with violence
- activity which is degrading or dehumanising (examples
include the portrayal of bestiality, necrophilia, defecation, urolagnia)
The Obscenity laws apply which theoretically defines material that
juries judge to deprave or corrupt the likely audience. In practice the
CPS define what is legal and what is not. Golden showers, fisting and
scat are all deemed to be obscene.
Dangerous Pictures are Illegal to import or
even possess
Section 63 of the Criminal Justice &
Immigration Act passed in 2008 bans the possession of an
extreme pornographic image. An image falls within this
subsection if it is pornographic and portrays, in an
explicit and realistic way, any of the following
- an act which threatens a person's life
- an act which results, or is likely to result, in
serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals
- an act which involves sexual interference with a
human corpse
- a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex
with an animal (whether dead or alive), and a reasonable person looking
at the image would think that any such person or animal was real.
See
further details and note that the
Scottish equivalent law is even stricter with depictions of rape being
added to the list
Dangerous Cartoons are Illegal to import or
even possess
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Part 2 Chapter 2 introduced a ban
on non-photographic pictures, eg cartoons, drawings etc, featuring
depictions of people under the age of 18 (however one is supposed to
judge that)
Section 62 Possession of prohibited images of children
(2) A prohibited image is an image which—
(a) is pornographic, ie if it is of such a nature that it must
reasonably be assumed to have been produced solely or principally
for the purpose of sexual arousal.
(b) falls within subsection (6), and
(c) is grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene
character.
Note that photographic and near photographic images are not
covered by this law as they are already prohibited by other more
serious laws.
(6) An image falls within this subsection if it—
(a) is an image which focuses solely or principally on a child's
genitals or anal region, or
(b) portrays any of the acts:
(a) the performance by a person of an act of intercourse or
oral sex with or in the presence of a child;
(b) an act of masturbation by, of, involving or in the presence
of a child;
(c) an act which involves penetration of the vagina or anus of a
child with a part of a person's body or with anything else;
(d) an act of penetration, in the presence of a child, of the
vagina or anus of a person with a part of a person's body or
with anything else;
(e) the performance by a child of an act of intercourse or oral
sex with an animal (whether dead or alive or imaginary);
(f) the performance by a person of an act of intercourse or oral
sex with an animal (whether dead or alive or imaginary) in the
presence of a child.
See
further details
