Extreme Concern: Regulating 'Dangerous Pictures' in the United Kingdom

ATTWOOD, F. and SMITH, C. (2010). Extreme Concern: Regulating 'Dangerous Pictures' in the United Kingdom. Journal Of Law And Society, 37 (1), 171-188.

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Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2010.00500.x

Abstract

This article begins with an exploration of section 5 of the recent Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, otherwise known as the 'Dangerous Pictures Act' which outlaws the possession of 'extreme images', and the Rapid Evidence Assessment belatedly used to justify the legislation. We then examine the claims of the growth, dissemination, and widespread availability of material which 'glories in sexual violence' and its putative 'effects'. This current crisis over the meanings of pornography highlights the rhetorical function of the conceptual discourse of 'pornographication', its links to problematic figurations of the consumer or viewer of explicit materials, and how the identification of 'extreme' pornography has given voice to a range of anxieties about media spectacularization of the body. We end by arguing that opposition to the legislation is not just a matter of protecting personal freedoms or refusing to recognize the existence of harms; instead, we propose that academics will need to question the very parameters on which the impulses to legislate are based.

Item Type: Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute > Communication and Computing Research Centre
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2010.00500.x
Page Range: 171-188
Depositing User: Helen Garner
Date Deposited: 12 Nov 2010 12:01
Last Modified: 19 Mar 2021 00:45
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2715

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