REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland is currently debating a draft bill introduced by two members of the Pirate Party to overturn the total ban on pornography in the North Atlantic nation.
The legislation, submitted last September by Pirate Party MPs Björn Leví Gunnarsson and Arndís Anna Kristínardóttir, would “lift the current penalties for the publication, importation, sale, and distribution of pornography,” Iceland Review reported.
The report added, however, that Iceland’s pornography laws are “largely unenforced, with the exception of occasional controversies.”
One of several local groups supporting overturning the antiquated censorship law, the Icelandic BDSM Society, released a statement this week hailing the possibility that the anti-porn laws may end up “finally being removed” from the legal system.
“Many of our members have struggled with deep shame because of their own feelings and desires,” the statement explained. “This shame arises from growing up in a society that closes its eyes to the diversity of human sexuality and insists on outdated attitudes about sexual relations — for example, outdated ideas about the purity of women, the privileging of the marital relation between one man and one woman over all other forms of relationships, and beliefs about what is and is not normal sex.”
The group also noted that current technology makes it “trivially easy to access pornography, making the enforcement of such laws in the modern day essentially impossible,” Island Review reported. The Icelandic BDSM Society also pointed out that censorship laws “further marginalize sex workers, making it more difficult to legally and safely make a living” and advocated for “sex education in schools from an early age.”
