Bullied by the bill

There’s bound to be some adventurous people out there considering a career jump into the porn industry. Just imagine being paid to wear sexy lingerie we often can’t afford and having toe-curling sex with a muscled hottie that throws us around the room like we’re Anastasia Steele.

But now is the worst time for sex workers to enter the industry, whether they be in porn films, selling photographs or webcammers, in full time positions or just making some extra cash. The government’s new plans to censor every website with pornographic content is having knock on effects for self employed workers, but nobody seems to be considering them. In fact, neither party in the general election opposed this new legislation, leaving the workers unrepresented.

Thanks to Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, soon you will have to share your credit card details and other private information to verify your age before watching porn. New legislation currently being introduced in the UK means access to pornographic websites are becoming regulated to ensure no one under the age of 18 can gain access.

The new age verification act, under the Digital Economy Bill, says websites that benefit commercially from any type of pornography must pay for age verification software and The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have been appointed as the regulator.

They will be ensuring all service providers ban access to websites that do not comply with the new law. Obviously, a massive task on their hands considering it is estimated that between 20-30% of all websites in existence share pornographic content. However, those who do not comply will find their content blocked and payment collectors stepping in.

David Cooke, director of MindGeek, explained to WIRED that the bill is about protecting children from "stumbling" across adult content. MindGeek has become the biggest porn provider in the world owning most of the free porn sites, including big names like PornHub.

Although most of the bigger companies are happy to comply with the new law, it isn’t ideal for business women who share their own content on their personal websites and may not make a huge sum of money. They will still have to pay for the software, whether a customer buys anything from their website or not, meaning their income will be massively affected.

Below, Pandora Blake, a well-known sexual liberties campaigner and owner of DreamsOfSpanking.com, explains how the new legislation affects sex workers. 

The word “porn” is used more now than ever before, normally as a suffix to the things we love to plaster on social media; with #foodporn used over 124 million times on Instagram alone, #makeupporn at 1.1 million and #travelporn used over 700,000 times (at time of writing). We associate the word “porn” with our feelings when we watch it: fantasy, desire, guilt and typically disappointment at the reality of our current situation. Disappointed with our bog-standard lunch. Disappointed with our imperfect winged eyeliner. Disappointed with the lack of sex we are having.

Yet, porn is still a taboo subject that often brings much controversy, but to the sex workers who are targeted by the new law, this is their livelihood. 

Kaz B, aka Mistress Kaz (stage names), began her career in the sex industry in 2005. Initially presenting late night shows on babe stations, Kaz B went on to shooting all over Europe for various modelling and subscription sites and is now a pro-domme (a term often used to describe a female professional dominant) and makes fetish videos for her website. Kaz B makes Femdom videos whereby “willing” men performing seemingly degrading acts are the subjects. She doesn’t have sex with them, instead she trains them to be obedient and take discipline.

“Some just want to be dressed like a baby and fed from a bottle.”

According to the award-winning sex worker, the problem with the age verification act is it seeks to control small businesses and independent producers. She adds, "All it will do is line the pockets of the governing body behind it while putting independent businesses out of business."

While the new act aims to stop minors accessing pornographic content, Kaz B believes it will not achieve this. She is adamant that age verification will not protect minors as, "It is like throwing knives in the dark and hoping to hit the right target.”

Kaz B argues that the government are “exploiting” sex workers and adds: “Ironically they say it is illegal to benefit financially from sex workers, yet they are doing just this. I would say they are no more than glorified pimps demanding their extra cut on top of income tax and national insurance. Isn't that the exact definition of a pimp? Taking money from a sex worker without providing anything in return.”

Tiffany Morriss, elected secretary of UK Adult Producers and adult performer and mentor, has been in the industry since 2004, when she was just 22. Tiffany shares that in the early days, she was earning £2,000 a week for her porn videos, as DVD sales were at their highest.

However, before being financially efficient, Tiffany admits to being on the dole after she tried to get support for herself and her disabled son, but the government had "failed" her. So, being pushed into searching for other means to make money, Tiffany now has a career and isn't happy that the government now want to take this away from her.

Tiffany is passionate about her job and loves how it makes people feel confident and happy. She adds, “I like that I can make any lad feel like Brad Pitt.” But, there has been a slight change of tone since the new law has been discussed. She says, “Financially, it may mean I can’t sell my own content under my current label TMproductions.” The mother-of-one explains the government are proposing to charge 18 rated websites 20p for every hit on their site, a cost Tiffany admits she cannot afford.

“The government are using this as a way to tax the industry and as part of the snooper charter to keep tabs on everyone’s online movement. I feel like it’s a conspiracy to make money under the pretence of child safety.”, adds Tiffany.

"The answer is simple, ban free porn"

Interestingly, Tiffany shares that MindGeek are offering an alternative and have developed a software approved by the government that producers can lease for a monthly fee, which will be dictated by the amount of traffic on the website, which will prove cheaper, She laughs, “But it’s ironic that those responsible for free porn affecting children are the ones set to benefit.”

Author of Porn Panic and firm believer in free speech and anti-censorship, Jerry Barnett, says he wrote his book because he became “dismayed” at the rise of conservative and authoritarian attitudes of the left, that he normally associated with the political right. The aim of his book is to expose a dangerous slide in left-wing politics and making a case for liberal values, according to Jerry.

He adds, “Regardless of who won the election, we were heading to a censored internet and the censorship is unnecessary, it is unlikely to increase child protection and it opens the way to draconian restrictions on free speech.” However, Jerry believes the real loss will be to the culture, not the professionals.

A spokesperson for an Anti-Porn campaign says their movement believes the created product of pornography fuels sexism, misogyny, sexual-harassment, rape, sexual abuse, broken relationships, addiction, divorce, child abuse images, prostitution, sex trafficking, and other harms in society. They believe that the age verification act is a much needed regulation to keep performers safe and to keep pornography away from children, as this can be harmful.

Jessica Eaton, a national specialist researcher, writer and consultant in sexual violence, has significant experience working with women and girls who have been raped, sexually abused, trafficked and exploited. Through her experience she believes that porn is harmful to those viewing it, especially those underage. 

Although she believes children will always find ways around everything and will find porn if that’s what they are searching for, the government still have a duty to safeguard children. 

Whatever our opinion about porn, those behind the camera are real people who have bills to pay and mouths to feed. But the debate continues and the protests become more fierce.