Just How and Why did Hard-Core become Legalized in the UK?

Foxbark · June 7th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Greetings Friends,
In my other posts I have alluded to the great famine (compared to today's cornucopia) of hard-core porn in the UK during my formative years in the 70s and 80s.
Yes, the stuff was as rare as the proverbial hens' teeth, the punter either smuggled it in from a dirty weekend in the 'Dam, or was ripped-off with vastly over the odds prices by some distinctlt dodgy types for what often was shrink-wrapped rubbish.
Gosh, how we longed for a mere whiff of the fabled treasures of Scandinavia and Germany, where the women were beautiful and the dicks erect - and horror of horrors - actually penetrated , dick entering fanny, the holy grail, unknown and unkowable in Mary Whitehouse's ( and Thatcher's) Britain, the stuff of legend that would turn you into a werewolf and send you to an asylum.
Frustrated, anxious live were blighted in the quest for hard-core, the mythical elixir - people actually lost fortunes and died for it.
Strangely enough, from what seemed like the permanent and sad state of affairs in Thatcher's Britain took a sea-change around about 1992 under John Major's premiership (he actually vowed to outlaw hardcore), when explicit American titles (NOT censored by the infamous 'black-dot') such as Hustler and Cheri started infiltrating newsagent's top shelves - of course I snapped these up. The ante gradually was upped and more and more hard-core started seeping through, together with bone-fide mail-order firms (NOT Sullivan) posting their catalogues from Holland - and actually delivering on their promises, thus building up punter/supplier confidence.
The rest is history and the internet.

I am pretty certain in my own mind that this liberation was wrought by the European Union's 1992 free-tade directive which regarded the interception of continent produced magazine porn as a restraint of trade, forcing the Britih government's hand in an unannouced surrender and policy reversal.
Others deny this and state other factors.
Can anyone here give me a definitive answer?

Lena · June 7th, 2008, 02:15 PM

All porn originated from the mob.

beesfan · June 7th, 2008, 02:31 PM

This is what happened

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/759268.stm

and a follow up good overview

http://film.guardian.co.uk/censorshi...660445,00.html

Uncle Bob · June 7th, 2008, 03:49 PM

Hi Foxbark,
I have to say that we are talking about a very grey area here and as usual in the uk the laws governing porn are still quite vague. I was a video producer from 1989 through to 2001 filming mainly solo girl and lesbians and latterly boy/girl which compared with what is available on the net today was really rather tame. Anyway one early morning back in 2001 there was a heavy knocking on my front door which upon opening i gazed out on at least 12 members of the constabulary armed with a search warrant and for some reason sniffer dogs which later i found was in case i was holding drugs. I will take a bottle of Scotch any day but the funny powder, no way! To cut the story short they loaded a couple of vans with all my movie masters and related equipment and carted it away for analysis. I was taken to the local nick and officially arrested and charged with producing and dealing in obscene video tapes only to be released a few hours later to find my own way home, a scary experience i can tell you.
About a year later the case came to court, by this time the police had given up on trying to prove any such material was obscene as they were losing to many cases due to technicalities. Instead they got me on sending uncertified videos through the post which is a criminal offence and under new government regulation of the day means that they can confiscate any financial and property possessions that i had. This law was introduced to grab money back from big time drug dealers but somehow got bent around to cover me as well. I hear you say why didn't i get the videos certified, simple the BBFC was charging £1000 per hour of video and in my experience no video that i have ever made has yielded that sort of money.
Since then the film censors have relaxed on what we can and can't watch in our own homes to the point that now most things get through, brought about by a successful court case brought against them under human rights laws. However the law states that you can only purchase hardcore media from a licenced sex shop and any coming through the post is still deemed illegal. So as you can see it is still a legal quagmire and the laws concerning obscene material still exist. The think the bottom line is that nobody can be bothered any more! Hope this clears up a few points for you.

**Bovon** · June 7th, 2008, 05:25 PM

All Previous - Yeah, good and interesting points. And, obviously the Internet has opened up most doors for most things (Er, I also think that most people would be in favour of protecting young people), but what frankly dumbfounded and annoyed me recently (That's here in the UK), is where adults looking for material of other consenting adults having sex were all lumped in with the apocryphal 'dirty mac' brigade (anyone actually ever seen one of these 'Yeti' types?), and were by extension perverted, yet the powers that be were not going to act on films being released which were depicting women being tortured in SS experimentation camps. Y'know, Jeeeze - there's 7-billion people on the planet, QED sex is a very powerful force. Women having their ovaries removed without anaesthetic is NOT entertainment, and serving it up as such is the product of a very sick mind.

June 7th, 2008, 02:12 PM	#1
Foxbark Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 275 Thanks: 372 Thanked 2,021 Times in 259 Posts	Just How and Why did Hard-Core become Legalized in the UK? Greetings Friends, In my other posts I have alluded to the great famine (compared to today's cornucopia) of hard-core porn in the UK during my formative years in the 70s and 80s. Yes, the stuff was as rare as the proverbial hens' teeth, the punter either smuggled it in from a dirty weekend in the 'Dam, or was ripped-off with vastly over the odds prices by some distinctlt dodgy types for what often was shrink-wrapped rubbish. Gosh, how we longed for a mere whiff of the fabled treasures of Scandinavia and Germany, where the women were beautiful and the dicks erect - and horror of horrors - actually penetrated , dick entering fanny, the holy grail, unknown and unkowable in Mary Whitehouse's ( and Thatcher's) Britain, the stuff of legend that would turn you into a werewolf and send you to an asylum. Frustrated, anxious live were blighted in the quest for hard-core, the mythical elixir - people actually lost fortunes and died for it. Strangely enough, from what seemed like the permanent and sad state of affairs in Thatcher's Britain took a sea-change around about 1992 under John Major's premiership (he actually vowed to outlaw hardcore), when explicit American titles (NOT censored by the infamous 'black-dot') such as Hustler and Cheri started infiltrating newsagent's top shelves - of course I snapped these up. The ante gradually was upped and more and more hard-core started seeping through, together with bone-fide mail-order firms (NOT Sullivan) posting their catalogues from Holland - and actually delivering on their promises, thus building up punter/supplier confidence. The rest is history and the internet. I am pretty certain in my own mind that this liberation was wrought by the European Union's 1992 free-tade directive which regarded the interception of continent produced magazine porn as a restraint of trade, forcing the Britih government's hand in an unannouced surrender and policy reversal. Others deny this and state other factors. Can anyone here give me a definitive answer?

June 7th, 2008, 02:31 PM	#3
beesfan Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 46 Thanks: 852 Thanked 413 Times in 35 Posts	This is what happened http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/759268.stm and a follow up good overview http://film.guardian.co.uk/censorshi...660445,00.html Last edited by beesfan; June 7th, 2008 at 02:39 PM..

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June 7th, 2008, 02:15 PM	#2
Lena Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 299 Thanks: 291 Thanked 8,118 Times in 228 Posts	All porn originated from the mob.

June 7th, 2008, 03:49 PM	#4
Uncle Bob Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 42 Times in 5 Posts	Hi Foxbark, I have to say that we are talking about a very grey area here and as usual in the uk the laws governing porn are still quite vague. I was a video producer from 1989 through to 2001 filming mainly solo girl and lesbians and latterly boy/girl which compared with what is available on the net today was really rather tame. Anyway one early morning back in 2001 there was a heavy knocking on my front door which upon opening i gazed out on at least 12 members of the constabulary armed with a search warrant and for some reason sniffer dogs which later i found was in case i was holding drugs. I will take a bottle of Scotch any day but the funny powder, no way! To cut the story short they loaded a couple of vans with all my movie masters and related equipment and carted it away for analysis. I was taken to the local nick and officially arrested and charged with producing and dealing in obscene video tapes only to be released a few hours later to find my own way home, a scary experience i can tell you. About a year later the case came to court, by this time the police had given up on trying to prove any such material was obscene as they were losing to many cases due to technicalities. Instead they got me on sending uncertified videos through the post which is a criminal offence and under new government regulation of the day means that they can confiscate any financial and property possessions that i had. This law was introduced to grab money back from big time drug dealers but somehow got bent around to cover me as well. I hear you say why didn't i get the videos certified, simple the BBFC was charging £1000 per hour of video and in my experience no video that i have ever made has yielded that sort of money. Since then the film censors have relaxed on what we can and can't watch in our own homes to the point that now most things get through, brought about by a successful court case brought against them under human rights laws. However the law states that you can only purchase hardcore media from a licenced sex shop and any coming through the post is still deemed illegal. So as you can see it is still a legal quagmire and the laws concerning obscene material still exist. The think the bottom line is that nobody can be bothered any more! Hope this clears up a few points for you.

June 7th, 2008, 05:25 PM	#5
Bovon Vintage Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 509 Thanks: 392 Thanked 20,670 Times in 580 Posts	All Previous - Yeah, good and interesting points. And, obviously the Internet has opened up most doors for most things (Er, I also think that most people would be in favour of protecting young people), but what frankly dumbfounded and annoyed me recently (That's here in the UK), is where adults looking for material of other consenting adults having sex were all lumped in with the apocryphal 'dirty mac' brigade (anyone actually ever seen one of these 'Yeti' types?), and were by extension perverted, yet the powers that be *were not* going to act on films being released which were depicting women being tortured in SS experimentation camps. Y'know, Jeeeze - there's 7-billion people on the planet, QED sex is a very powerful force. Women having their ovaries removed without anaesthetic is NOT entertainment, and serving it up as such is the product of a very sick mind.