Three Kinds of Pornography Become Criminal on 6 November
From that date it will be illegal in England and Wales to possess or publish pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation, sexual activity between people who are or pretend to be related, or adults role-playing as children under sixteen. Publication carries up to five years; possession carries up to three years for the third category and two for the others.
Non-fatal strangulation is already an offence where there is no consent; what changes is that depicting it online becomes one too. The measure arrives through amendments to the Crime and Policing Act, which received Royal Assent on 29 April. The justice minister Alex Davies-Jones drew the line she says it does not cross — “this isn’t about criminalising harmless sexual preferences” — while arguing that “content that normalises, or even glorifies, violence against women is dangerous and can blur the line with what is acceptable in real life”. Baroness Bertin, who chaired the review that recommended it, said the change comes “not a moment too soon”; her report found choking rife on popular sites and cited a fourteen-year-old boy asking a teacher how to choke girls during sex. Professor Clare McGlynn of Durham University calls it “a potential turning point… a line in the sand” but is realistic about enforcement: “this is not about prosecuting individuals, but transforming the online pornographic landscape and that requires the platforms and regulator to act.” Campaigners want the Online Safety Act updated to compel removal.