This was the press release from Pandora Blake which is on her site – currently awaiting reactivation. This will most probably be “live” by the time I finish this blog post so do feel free to check out her HOMEPAGE HERE and see for yourselves!
FEMINIST PORN MAKER THRASHES CENSOR
Pandora Blake, award-winning activist and feminist pornographer, has won her appeal to Ofcom against ATVOD and can reinstate her site Dreams of Spanking, which was banned under the AVMS guidelines in August 2015, triggering widespread anger among free speech advocates as well as porn fans.
The controversial Audiovisual Media Services Regulations came into effect in December 2014, banning consensual sex acts from online porn including facesitting, female ejaculation, and spanking that leaves marks. Pandora Blake took part in the ‘facesitting protest’ outside Westminster, and also spoke on Newsnight and Women’s Hour challenging the sexist and regressive nature of the regulations. She believes that speaking out made her a target for censorship.
ATVOD – the Association for TV on Demand – were tasked with regulating online porn in 2010. While porn critics often focus on the ‘mainstream’ industry, ATVOD made a point of targeting independent niche and fetish porn producers, including a disproportionate number of female filmmakers. In January 2016, Ofcom shut down the quango amid rumours that it was acting beyond its remit.
Pandora Blake said, “The point of Dreams of Spanking was to make ethical porn based on my own fantasies. I’m not ashamed of being kinky and there’s no harm in adults sharing consensual BDSM films. The AVMS regulations effectively criminalised my sexuality. I was singled out because I criticised the new laws. ATVOD tried to shut me up, but they failed.â€
“Now I’ve won my appeal I feel vindicated. It proves that it’s worth standing up to bullies. The war against intrusive and oppressive state censorship isn’t over, but this decision is a landmark victory for feminist porn, diversity and freedom of expression.â€
Pandora said on Twitter that Dreams Of Spanking will re-open for business as soon as she gets things sorted out with her credit card processor: “Hopefully CCBill will reactivate my credit card processing soon & I can re-open the full site again!â€
Pandora’s twitter feed is probably the best place to find all the latest info of her campaign.
This is awesome news! Seriously… Well done to Pandora… I was in no position to fight and I can briefly explain why below (it is complicated and there is no point in discussing it further but I would still like to say a few things).
I did actually receive a generic ATVOD email written to “webmaster” most probably before anyone mid way through December 2014, which I remember well… and read the email with Paul Kennedy since we were shooting content together at the time. I was pretty upset but then also pissed off by the apparent lack of respect and bully boy tactics, addressing it “Webmaster” – they couldn’t even be bothered to write it to me personally or find out who I really was!
Anyway, in the UK, a woman making and producing “porn” would ALWAYS receive a better public empathy than a male – it is sexist but still sadly true. The UK is a bit like that, we still have an obsession with class… our values in many other things are rather “vintage” too! I had been travelling to the USA and UK a lot anyway and was planning on having Sarah take more control as we had helped each other and become a closer team. This just helped speed things along, same with Paul and many other producers I know. We had all discussed it, those that we know… The Gutter Press over here have a nasty habit of calling males who do this sort of activity “perverts” or even “paedos” when it comes to our fantasy of schoolgirl spanking… for example. Trust me, I have tried to interact with some vanillas on this subject about what I did and they equated that to “schoolgirl spanking” to paedophilia… misguided, wrong and horrifying! I am sure my lovely neighbors would not understand either. So for that reason too, I did not stand by and fight since poor Pandora had already been outed (I could be wrong and perhaps about her already being outed, as ATVOD liked to do these things, so perhaps that didn’t matter so much to her). She did the best thing she could, shout out and stand up as a woman fighting for her just cause. I can only imagine the crap, the stress and the hell she has been through. I know I couldn’t do that – I have the utmost admiration for her and I made my choice, which I certainly do not regret since I intend to spend even more time in the USA with Sarah. There are still things that need fighting for, especially in the UK – so do check out Pandora’s Patreon Campaign on her HOME PAGE – it is a worthy cause.
P.S. Nice of the deluded pirates who hate me to visit… as always. Love you long time! 😉
The full decision (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb306/Issue_306.pdf) reveals just how far Ofcom thinks the now former ATVOD overstepped the mark.
The key issue the case has turned on is whether the website is like a streaming TV service. Ofcom has decided that the presence of significant amounts of other content means that the site is NOT similar. In Dreams of Spankings’ case, the other content was images and blog posts. However, in a related appeal decision (Candy Girl Pass and All Teens World) the other content was image sets only.
This means that if you operate a site which is strictly video only, you could well still be subject to the regulations which implement the AVMS Directive in the UK. However, if you balance out your video content with other media – even related image sets – your site should no longer fall under the regulator’s authority.
Therefore while these two decisions do not represent total defeat for the defunct ATVOD, it’s pretty close. The big no-no will henceforth be operating video streaming sites from within the UK. Image+Video paysites should be fine unless further regulation is attempted in the future.
First of all this was and is fantastic news. I do wonder if what Ofcom was able to give as the public line belied a deeper view held in private. In other words, whilst the reason for upholding the appeal seems to be a rather technical, I do hope privately that there were at least some who held the view that ATVOD was out of order, exceeding its brief and operating in a sexist, heterocentric etc etc and very partisan undemocratic way. If this overruling actually represents a little swing towards a position that is far more sensible, adult minded, far less hysterical and open to the range of consensual kinks out there, then good. I hope it does
If it was me I’d ask my lawyer if it was worth pursuing a claim against the CEO of ATVOD at the time… (I won’t mention his name as I think he’s a piece of righteous excrement).
Absolutely. For stress and anguish and loss of earnings from a perfectly reasonable business.
I rather enjoyed the idea of a bunch of lawyers getting together to watch spanking porn. Very amusing. Reminds me of a wonderful story about Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the ’90s.
Anyway, I think it’s highly unlikely one could sue the CEO of ATVOD directly. However disagreeable one might find his actions, they were done in his official capacity as an employee of the ATVOD. And likewise, as Ofcom and/or the ATVOD were administering government regulations, i.e. exercising sovereign authority, I think that the sovereign immunity principle would almost certainly apply against any claim of negligence regarding the initial ATVOD ruling.