EDINBURGH, Scotland — Mirroring recent actions by Britain to control online porn, Scottish lobbyists are pressuring ISPs to also adopt filtering.
Unlike the British move that centered on the control and elimination of child porn, the Scots are more concerned with violence against women, particularly rape porn. They claim cops aren’t doing enough to crack down on the content.
“Extreme” porn became illegal in Scotland in 2011. Nearly a decade ago, a plan was put forth to tighten laws against rape, strangulation, torture and necrophilia after the murder of a 31- year-old woman was reportedly tied to a killer who was obsessed with websites such as “Club Dead” and “Rape Action” that included content depicting rape.
Concerned Scots want a full “opt-in” program where users must request online porn.
Fueling the porn control actions are new figures reported by the Herald Scotland from the Scottish government that revealed sex crime rose 5 percent in the past year, noting that almost all other categories of reported crime had fallen except for sexual offences, which saw the number of rapes increase by 16 percent.
Highlands and Islands member of parliament Rhoda Grant, who is pushing a bill to make purchasing sex a crime said porn was linked to "abuse and violence against women.” "Porn gives young people a warped view of women which can lead to a skewed idea of relationships later in life.”
"We have to ask if more should be done to make the viewing or downloading of porn from the Internet more difficult. I think there should be filters in place to help that process,” Grant said.
But a Glasgow-based part-time escort told the Herald that the "porn linked to violence" idea is outdated.
"I strongly object to the use of the term 'violence against women' when it comes to any element of the sex industry," she said. "It undermines the seriousness of real violence women have gone through, such as domestic violence.
"I'm a 5 ft. 9 in. dominatrix and I pulverise men, tell me what's degrading to women about that? Women pursue sex and porn as much as men do. This is 2013, not 1813.''