I bet you thought that America was the country with the prudish Puritan sensibilities that are somewhat antiquated. The UK is looking to pass a law that would effectively ban any depictions of children in sexual situations in an attempt to curb pedophilia. Not that that's a bad thing, but it does touch upon a thorny freedom of speech issue.
The full language of the law seeks to make it a criminal offense to "possess cartoons depicting certain forms of child abuse, in this case depicting children participating in sexual activities, or present whilst sexual activity took place. Obviously this is an extremely sensitive subject and is clearly being done for the right reasons. There are more and more ways for pedophiles to contact children and having print depictions of that could only encourage that behavior. But you're getting into "first amendment" territory here.
The newly formed Comic Book Alliance is none too pleased with the vagueness of the possible law:
“We do not oppose any legislation that protects children from abuse, we understand the need for it, but some parts of the Coroners Bill do need rewording and clarifying,” said a spokesperson. “This new legislation could be used for the wrong reason and if used incorrectly thousands of people could become criminals overnight. The Government refused to impose minimum tariffs on cheap alcohol because it was unfair to punish the majority for the crimes of a minority; yet this legislation does exactly the same.”
Alan Moore's The Lost Girls is the hot topic right now in terms of being affected by the law. The book features the sexual experiences of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Dorthy from Wizard of Oz and Wendy from Peter Pan. The book focuses on them in their 30s, but the flashbacks put them in teenage years. The book definitely takes some creative license with the characters, but has been pretty universally acclaimed for the quality of the writing.
Keep an eye on this to see if it passes or not. A similar law has already passed in Australia, and while I don't think a bill like this would make it very far here in the US it's worth keeping an eye on.
Graphic artists not happy with ban on erotic comics
Petition
I bet you thought that America was the country with the prudish Puritan sensibilities that are somewhat antiquated. The UK is looking to pass a law that would effectively ban any depictions of children in sexual situations in an attempt to curb pedophilia. Not that that's a bad thing, but it does touch upon a thorny freedom of speech issue.
The full language of the law seeks to make it a criminal offense to "possess cartoons depicting certain forms of child abuse, in this case depicting children participating in sexual activities, or present whilst sexual activity took place. Obviously this is an extremely sensitive subject and is clearly being done for the right reasons. There are more and more ways for pedophiles to contact children and having print depictions of that could only encourage that behavior. But you're getting into "first amendment" territory here.
The newly formed Comic Book Alliance is none too pleased with the vagueness of the possible law:
“We do not oppose any legislation that protects children from abuse, we understand the need for it, but some parts of the Coroners Bill do need rewording and clarifying,” said a spokesperson. “This new legislation could be used for the wrong reason and if used incorrectly thousands of people could become criminals overnight. The Government refused to impose minimum tariffs on cheap alcohol because it was unfair to punish the majority for the crimes of a minority; yet this legislation does exactly the same.”
Alan Moore's The Lost Girls is the hot topic right now in terms of being affected by the law. The book features the sexual experiences of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Dorthy from Wizard of Oz and Wendy from Peter Pan. The book focuses on them in their 30s, but the flashbacks put them in teenage years. The book definitely takes some creative license with the characters, but has been pretty universally acclaimed for the quality of the writing.
Keep an eye on this to see if it passes or not. A similar law has already passed in Australia, and while I don't think a bill like this would make it very far here in the US it's worth keeping an eye on.
Graphic artists not happy with ban on erotic comics
Petition
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