CAAN and Dangerous Pictures

Models wearing chains, stockings and gags have been led around Westminster in protest at laws to make owning extreme pornography illegal.

From next year, possession of images such as those depicting a threat to life or serious injury to a person's genitals will be banned even if staged by actors or special effects.

Demonstrators opposite Parliament described this as the government interfering with people's sex lives.

The demonstration, organised by the Consenting Adult Action Network, was led by photographer Ben Westwood, son of fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood.

He paraded two "slaves" - models called Jade and Dolly Blowup - across the road from Westminster underground station and around Parliament Square, with police having to hold up the traffic.

A group of about 20 marchers carried placards with messages including No to thought crime, Penalise crime, not sex and Depiction harms no-one.

Westwood said to the BBC: Why are the government doing this? I think they are just mucking about. They want to seem as though they are doing something to help society, that they must seem strong on law and order.

Coming from a government that lied about going into war in Iraq, that seems strange. There are more important issues to be debated than this.

I think that people might be worrying that what they have got in their video collection might be breaking the law. People are going to get a bit nervous.

I hope our demonstration does change some minds.

Campaigners say the new law risks criminalising thousands of people who use violent pornographic images as part of consensual sexual relationships.

Bruce Argue, of the group Esinem, said: We want to draw attention to what is an unfair and ill-thought-out law.

The act comes into force on 1 January.

Who we are - Why we're fighting

Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN) is a loose-knit network of groups and individuals who believe in the right of adults to express themselves sexually with other adults, without interference from government.

We run campaigns on issues as they arise. Not every supporter of CAAN agrees with every campaign we run. We ask only that supporters sign up to a simple statement of principle:

We believe in the right of consenting adults to make their own sexual choices, in respect of what they do, see and enjoy alone or with other consenting adults, unhindered and unfettered by government.

We believe that it is not the business of government to intrude into the sex lives of consenting adults.

We are aware that no matter how we draft such a statement, there will be dissent: for example, we believe there is debate to be had on the issue of "harm"; but equally, a society that tolerates two grown men beating each other up in the confines of a boxing ring is not well placed to lecture adults on a shared interest in sado-masochistic sex.

Outwardly, the UK is more open, more sexually liberated than ever before. Behind the headlines lies another story: ten years of government progressively clamping down and criminalising behaviour that harms no-one, but offends the sensibilities of Ministers who are still uncomfortable talking about real sexual activity.

Our aim is to create a counterbalance to the current moral majority in government.

The Issues

Over the past ten years, Government has been passing more and more laws. One consistent theme to this non-stop stream of law-making has been an obsession with tightening up rules that are intended to micro-manage our sexual activity.

These include:

• criminalising the possession of images depicting perfectly legal sexual activity
• putting in place a Committee of Public Safety whose job it will be to vet nearly half the workforce - and remove them from their jobs if they possess any porn that is sexual and violent in nature
• proposing to make it a criminal offence for an adult
  to pay for sex
• clamping down on lap-dancing and other erotic displays

Each of these proposals, in isolation, represents a serious erosion of personal liberty for no better reason than the government are uncomfortable with the activity involved. Taken together, and in combination with a great deal more government tinkering in this area, they begin to look like a serious attempt to return the UK to a Golden Era of sex-free purity.

Key Campaigns

CAAN is currently most active on two of these issues - although in fact they are closely related.

• we are asking the government not to commence the extreme porn law, passed in the Criminal Justice Act 2008.
• we are asking the government to think again about its witch-hunt that began with provisions in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 allowing it to sack approximately half the workforce for possessing sado-masochistic material of any kind.

The first of these pieces of legislation criminalises individuals for possessing material that is produced for the purposes of sexual arousal, depicts realistic violence, and is grossly offensive. The legislation itself has already been exposed by many commentators as ludicrous:

• it is believed to breach the Government's own Human Rights' Laws
• it will criminalise individuals for owning pictures depicting wholly legal and consensual activity
• it is inconsistent, with some of the most (theoretically) harmful material allowed - and up to three years in jail for less harmful material
• it actually encourages behaviour that is far more dangerous and, if the government's own publicity is to be believed, more likely to lead to sexual violence.
• In terms of its effects on the growing BDSM (Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, Sadism and Masochism) communities in the UK it is likely to be equally disastrous
• it is already souring relationships with the police, and therefore is likely to make future policing of the scene far more difficult
• it is having a chilling effect on individuals prepared to write about safe practices, thereby increasing future risk
• it is law that will encourage blackmail
• it is replacing material produced by individuals with experience and a genuine dedication toward their activity with commercial material produced by companies that have provided significant financial supporters to New Labour in the past
• worst of all, there is evidence already that the Government attack on this lifestyle is impacting upon safety and leading to greater risk for vulnerable people involved (case studies available on request).

The second piece of legislation is having an even more disastrous effect on individuals whose sexuality does not fall within the norms prescribed by government. At the very last minute, in 2006, government amended the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act to give it the power to exclude from a wide range of jobs anyone with a serious interest in sado-masochistic material.

The effects of this legislation are already being felt, as individuals wishing to pursue a career in areas as diverse as plumbing, teaching and admin find themselves quizzed at interview about their sexual interests. The clear implication is that anyone with bdsm interests is no longer welcome as part of the workforce or as a volunteer.

If you would like further details about CAAN, our statement of principles or our campaigns, please go to: www.caan.org.uk, you can also email us at info@caan.org.uk

As you might have gathered elsewhere, Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN) opposes NuLabour idiocy when it comes to Sex and Sexuality.

Legislation on Extreme Porn is just bad law, badly written and, we believe, likely to fall into disrepute very quickly – but maybe not before ruining a couple of dozen lives along the way.

Another new law - on Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups - is also going to cause enormous harm, because it bars people from working on the basis of their private and perfectly legal sexual fantasies.

In the meantime, we are hearing more and more from people who are beginning to be very afraid, simply because of their own sexuality.

But what do we believe in? We think the following is about as straightforward as it gets – and if you agree with us, let us know. Signing up doesn't mean you buy into every last detail of CAAN's campaigning actions: it does mean you are joining together with a growing body of people who are sick and tired of the Nanny State bullying its way into their bedroom.

Sign if you're kinky. Sign, too, if you're not.

This is about basic human rights – not your personal sexuality.

If you'd like to support this simple notion, please e-mail us on info@caan.org.uk

Please provide your real name (and organisation if applicable) and we do need a valid e-mail address for confirmation purposes.

Oh – and if you can help us campaign, please let us know what you are willing to do. Blowing up the Houses of Parliament is not on the agenda.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We believe in the right of consenting adults to make their own sexual choices, in respect of what they do, see and enjoy alone or with other consenting adults, unhindered and unfettered by government

We believe that it is not the business of government to intrude into the sex lives of consenting adults.

Update: New Address

13th September 2008

CAAN have now established an easier to remember internet address:

Website: www.caan.org.uk
Email:  info@caan.org.uk

Friday 22nd August 2008
12:00 in London

Westminster Abbey public entrance, by the coffee stall outside.
Deans Yard
Westminster
London
Nearest tube St James Park or Westminster.
Bring a red rose so we can find each other.

For more information and to join in with actions, either on the streets or from what's left of the privacy of your own home, please contact c-a-a-n@live.co.uk or visit our webpage at http://consentingadultactionnet.spaces.live.com

Fight The Extreme Porn Ban!

Despite lack of evidence, the government claim banning violent porn will reduce sex crime. Study after study proves the beneficial influence of porn on society. On May 8th 2008, the government passed legislation criminalising the personal possession of 'extreme' and 'disgusting' pornography. Provisions 64 to 67 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 come into effect in January 2009. Convictions will carry up to 3 years jail sentence and inclusion on the Sex Offender Register, even if the pictures are of your partner. Just because the police think the pictures are extreme.

On 7th May protests were held in London at the British Library and Houses of Parliament. On 14th June we went to West Midlands police and asked them to look at our collection of extreme pornographic evidence people need advice about. They can't advise us so we're back on the trail and our collection is growing fast.

Fight Unjust Laws and Lies

To get our rights back and turn the tide of puritanical laws, which create harmless criminals and victimless crimes, we need to put our energies and skills together. CAAN is against all insidious and unjust laws which cause wider discrimination and criminalisation of adults who engage in informed consensual relationships with other adults.

What does extreme mean?

Despite concessions from the government concerning some images of legal activities in which the owner can be proved to feature, this law will still make criminal fantasy images involving consensual acts between adults – whether or not the act was staged: for example 'realistic' pictures that look like acts which threaten life such as strangulation or serious harm to breasts, anus or genitals. Lobby group www.backlash-uk.org.uk, an umbrella group of organisations, has been opposing this law since its inception. Now we also need to act on our own behalf.

We need advice.

Many of us need advice about whether books and images we own are illegal, or not, to stand a chance of not falling foul of this extreme law. We need to show how ridiculous and unfair this law is and try to interrupt its commencement.

Let's go and get it!

Send your images to us and we will put them in our collection and give them a unique evidence number so you can track their progress in our reports. If we go together to get advice about images we own there's safety in numbers and we can share the information we get with each other and the wider public. The Ministry of Justice says it will give us more guidance about what is illegal closer to the date but we need to ready ourselves now.