Freedom to strip

Proving that I'm not a moralising prude (anyone who knows me will wonder how anyone came to that conclusion) here's my take on a Scottish legislative move I'm uneasy about.

The Scottish Executive has decided they just can't ignore the pernicious evil of 'adult entertainment' as it is practiced in Scotland. Unfortunately, as with all areas of sexual propriety, they seem to be driven by a misplaced piety and (frankly) sexism. Politics treads in this arena with great care - unlike most aspects of life, it's not something where legislators lay their cards on the table - they're not about to come out as 'consumers' of adult entertainment, but they will presume to know what's good for the rest of us in this apparent vacuum of experience.

They have form in this - not long ago they needlessly placed criminal sanctions on anyone photographing people aged 16 and 17 - ie individuals perfectly capable of having sex with anyone they wished or signing up to die for their country - in a way that might be considered 'sexual' (by a random 3rd person). Equally this also theoretically placed a completely unenforceable law on prohibiting such images cropping up in Scotland, even if they are legal in the rest of the UK. You can just see copies of "Nutz" or "Sneak" being stopped at the border. While erroneously invoking the spectre of child porn (erm, 16 year olds?) they've just caused awkwardness and time-wasting completely out of proportion to any 'child protection' this affords.

Not that the male of the species is considered as anything other than sexual predator in either the aforementioned legislation or these recommendations on 'adult entertainment', which might as well have been drawn up by Andrea Dworkin or the Wee Frees. Men do work as performers in 'adult entertainment' but a prize to the first person who can quote where it's acknowledged by the working group. Just goes to prove how considerate and comprehensive their research was.

Please read the piece by Veronica Deneuve at the title link - this woman knows her stuff and is being ignored by the report authors who seem more concerned with what unaffected curtain twitchers might think. I have also placed her blog among my faves.