The government could ban ‘barely legal’ pornography featuring adults dressed as children after Bonnie Blue‘s Channel 4 documentary sparked backlash for ‘glamorising’ extreme content.
The proposed ban by the independent pornography taskforce – set up in July by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin – comes in response to the new programme 1,000 men and me: The Bonnie Blue story.
The show features Blue gearing up to have sex with 1,057 in the space of just 12 hours.
The infamous sex worker, 26, has made headlines for her extreme sex stunts and controversial language – such as bragging about taking the virginities of ‘barely legal’ 18-year-olds.
Her documentary includes footage of her in a classroom getting ready to film an orgy with a group of models posed as schoolchildren. The performers accepted they had been selected for the role because they look young enough to still be at school.
The show was condemned by the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme forms of pornography.
Lady Bertin said she will lodge amendments to the crime and policing bill this autumn, making it illegal for online platforms to show content that could promote child sexual abuse. This would include pornography filmed by adults dressed as children.
‘This content is pushing at the boundaries. We will be trying to address the ‘barely legal’ aspect legislatively,’ she told The Guardian.
Ofcom was charged with monitoring whether adult content sites are protecting UK viewers from encountering illegal material featuring child sex abuse by the Online Safety Act.
However, forms of damaging porn that are regulated offline (such as in cinemas) are not subjected to the same restrictions online – meaning adults dressed as children to mimic child sexual abuse is not prohibited online.
Channel 4 has faced immense criticism for promoting Blue’s brand, and for failing to properly challenge her claim that her sexual activity is safe.
Smirnoff and Visa are two in a string of businesses to have pulled online adverts from streaming of the documentary.
De Souza previously slammed the programme for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme porn.
De Souza said: ‘For years we have been fighting to protect our children from the kind of degrading, violent sex that exists freely on their social media feeds. Now this documentary risks taking us a step back by glamorising, even normalising the things young people tell me are frightening.
‘Bonnie Blue’s content showcases violence against women as entertainment and allows sexist ideas that women are ‘lesser’ than men to go unchecked.’
Lady Bertin said Blue’s programme could be on the agenda at the taskforce’s next meeting.
‘She has become extremely successful; she is an adult and it is consensual, so it may not be harming her, but it has potentially harmful effects on people who think that this is a normal way to behave,’ she said.
‘We should be asking more about the men who arrive with balaclavas on their head to have sex with her.’
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: ‘The film looks at how Bonnie Blue has gained worldwide attention and earned millions of pounds in the last year, exploring changing attitudes to sex, success, porn and feminism in an ever-evolving online world.
‘Director Victoria Silver puts a number of challenges to Bonnie throughout the documentary on the example she sets and how she is perceived, and the film clearly lays bare the tactics and strategies she uses, with the audience purposefully left to form their own opinions.’
