Woman's Hour misleads on "extreme porn"

If you want to see how dishonest the debate in Britain about "extreme pornography" is, here's your chance with this episode of Woman's Hour.

Let's be clear: It's just a bit dishonest to say that the search for evidence that this material causes harm is "inconclusive"; the evidence is that people have tried for decades to establish any link between pornography and harm, and have been unable to find support for it. There is a point at which the consistent failure to find that link is pretty strong evidence that this line of enquiry is a waste of time that deflects resources from more fruitful and promising courses.

Moreover, the casual assurances of these guests that the police would take civil liberties concerns on board are at best naive; that's not how it works in the real world, as history has repeatedly shown. You may want to ask Women's Hour why this show had no speaker who understood the concerns of people who oppose this legislation.

Deborah Hyde's speech from the Durham conference

Deborah Hyde of Backlash and Avedon Carol of Feminists Against Censorship were both invited to speak at the Positions on the Politics of Porn conference at Durham University on Thursday, 15 March 2007. The Times wrote an article on it, here.

Deborah has also posted her speech on the Backlash site.

Lets's go back to the start of the discussion.

The government says there is no evidence but ...

Substitute any word you like for the word pornography in that sentence and then see whether you would still support the government's plans to criminalise people who have done nothing wrong.