LONDON — Pandora Blake — the adult performer and director who operated DreamsOfSpanking.com before the fetish website disappeared from the internet after she was found by U.K. regulators to have violated rules over “prohibited material” — plans on relaunching the site after winning an appeal.
Blake over the weekend said that she was victorious in appealing her case to Ofcom, which took over regulating adult entertainment content from previous co-regulator ATVOD. Blake said she successfully argued in her appeal that DreamsOfSpanking.com was not an on-demand video website and not subject to regulation.
Blake was found liable for violating the U.K.’s Audiovisual Media Services Regulations (AVMS), which came into effect in December 2014, effectively banning certain sex acts from online porn, including facesitting, female ejaculation and spanking that leaves marks.
In 2014 shortly after the new regs took effect, Blake joined protesters outside the House of Parliament to show displeasure over them. In weeks later, she spoke on “Newsnight” and “Women's Hour” challenging the “sexist and regressive nature of the regulations.” As a result, Blake said she believed that speaking out made her a target for censorship.
"The point of DreamsOfSpanking.com was to make ethical porn based on my own fantasies,” Blake said on her website’s homepage. “I'm not ashamed of being kinky and there's no harm in adults sharing consensual BDSM films. The AVMS regulations effectively criminalized my sexuality. I was singled out because I criticised the new laws. ATVOD tried to shut me up, but they failed.
"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."
Blake said that the DreamsOfSpanking.com should be fully working soon; it went offline on Aug. 27, 2015.
“We're working hard behind the scenes to get billing set up and the full site back online,” Blake said. “Meanwhile you can browse DreamsOfSpanking films on Clips4Sale.com.”