Criminalise possession of ‘rape porn’, campaigners urge UK Prime Minister David Cameron

There is growing pressure in the UK for possession of rape pornography to be criminalized. What do you think?We think that this is more than fair, for all of the excellent reasons covered in the below article.

[Guardian UK] — More than a hundred anti-rape groups and campaigners have written to the prime minister urging him to make it a criminal offence to possess internet pornography depicting rape.

They argue that such material “glorifies, trivialises and normalises” the abuse of women and girls, and note that both Mark Bridger and Stuart Hazell – recently convicted of murdering April Jones and Tia Sharpe respectively – were users of “violent and misogynistic pornography”.

In their letter to David Cameron, the campaigners also cite US research, which they say has long demonstrated a significant link between “arousal to rape material and a propensity to rape”.

Possession of such material is already an offence in Scotland and could be similarly outlawed in England and Wales if the government closes a loophole in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, they say.

Although it has been illegal to publish pornographic portrayals of rape for decades in the UK, existing legislation does not cover material uploaded abroad and outside British jurisdiction.

Research by Rape Crisis South London into “rape porn” available online found that much of the material – bearing descriptions such as “young schoolgirls abducted and cruelly raped. Hear her screams”; “little schoolgirl raped by teacher”, and “tiny girl sleep rape” – appears to promote or endorse such criminal acts as kidnap, additional violence and child sexual abuse.

Fiona Elvines, a Rape Crisis South London campaigner, said the 2008 legislation – which criminalised the possession of pornography judged “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character” or pornography depicting life-threatening injury, serious injury to the anus, breasts or genitals, bestiality or necrophilia – did not go far enough.

“Permitting the possession of depictions of sexual violence as entertainment glorifies, trivialises and normalises such abuse at a time when government statistics estimate that 85,000 women and girls are raped each year,” she said.

Holly Dustin, the director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, said that while the government had taken some positive steps towards preventing sexual violence, it needs to tackle the issue of “rape porn”.

“If it is really serious about keeping its promise, it must look at the cultural backdrop against which women and girls are abused,” she said. “‘Rape porn’ glorifies sexual violence and undermines the government’s work.”

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ARTICLE LINK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/07/criminalise-rape-porn-campaigners-cameron

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