Is Porn Legal in the UK? UK Porn Laws Explained

UK porn laws are less simple than you’d expect. With a reputation for a stiff upper lip but also enjoying a nice hard cock, you’d probably expect the UK porn laws to be lowkey liberal.

Are you looking to know if you’re about to break the law? Curious about the quality of the porn market in the UK? However you got here, we’re going to explain:

• How UK porn laws evolved over the years
• What the most recent British porn laws say
• The reasons why laws on porn were changed

To make sure you’ve got the full lowdown. Hopefully, once you understand the restrictions on porn in the UK, you can keep yourself on the right side of the law.

See how people get around porn bans around the world and ten other strange sex laws you should know about

What’s the history of UK porn laws?

In modern times, the most famous test of the UK porn laws was when the book Lady Chatterley’s Lover was published. Reading the book now, it’s ridiculously sedate, but back in the sixties, it was a cutting-edge pornographic story.

When it was decided that the book could be published, laws surrounding pornography and obscenity changed forever.

Have you ever heard of Mary Whitehouse? Think of her as the original Karen; out to spoil your fun and tell the world whilst she’s at it.

Whitehouse wrote letters. Lots of letters. She complained to anyone who would listen, including the UK prime minister about the amount of sex on TV. This was around the late 1960s, when some of the most “offensive” stuff she could object to was “My Ding-a-Ling” by Chuck Berry.

Not heard it? See how offensive you think it is.

She was fighting a losing battle and Brits were becoming more liberal with access to porn. Abortion and homosexuality were both legalised, showing that British people actually want to be more open about sex.

What are the current UK porn laws?

There are lots of laws that govern porn in the UK. Some of it is plain common sense, such as laws about child pornography. There is some nuance to the overall legal framework – “is porn banned in the UK?” should be “what types of porn are banned in the UK?”

Even now, it’s illegal to bring porn into the UK from overseas. It feels a little defunct with so much of the good stuff being available online.

In the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, “extreme porn” was outlawed in the UK. This covers stuff like:

• Rape role play
• Porn that could physically harm someone
• Bestiality
• Threats to life

Among some other acts.

Next up in the rules that govern UK porn is the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014. These rules were designed to protect people from seeing what was deemed as “harmful” acts.

Thing is, the law only covers porn being made in the UK. Creators on SinParty can’t film a range of things, but they can watch stuff that was filmed in other countries, no problems. The things that got banned in UK porn were:

• Spanking
• Caning
• Aggressive whipping
• Penetration by any object ‘associated with violence’
• Physical or verbal abuse (regardless of if consensual)
• Urolagnia
• Female ejaculation
• Strangulation
• Facesitting
• Fisting

So pretty much all the fun stuff?

There’s still plenty of things that a UK porn creator can do and make bank doing it. Leave the squirting to other women and find other niches to be the queen of…

What was the UK Porn Law?

You may recall the Digital Economy Act 2017. No? You read about the UK Porn Law? The one where you needed a porn license.

Indeed, the UK was going to make everyone who wanted to watch some Friday night fucking or indulge in whatever porn took their fancy to prove their age first. It all go slightly ridiculous.

Ideas ranged from authenticating porn watchers with a credit card transaction – because everyone has one of them? Up to having to go into a shop and buy an actual license after proving you were over 18 with ID.

Not even joking.

With there being so many ways to get around bans on porn, as people from all over the world have shown us, the scheme fell flat. As it stands, you can access anything that’s not underage porn or that would be classed as “extreme porn”.

Why did the porn laws in the UK develop?

The first time anyone was convicted of pedalling porn in the UK was back in 1727. Laws about obscenity developed, but the Victorians – mid to late 19^th century – were all about a bit of smut.

The Victorians would send rude and lewd postcards and BDSM was prevalent in erotic fiction, too.

The Brits then went a bit backwards and in 1959 the Obscene Publications Act was passed. It didn’t quite fit in with the sexual revolution that was on the way in the 1960s and 70s across the western hemisphere.

Only when the internet came into existence did the laws need to be looked at. As soon as the internet became the internet, there was porn on there. It needed to be regulated and the UK government finally got round to in with the extreme porn ban in the UK in 2008.

Pulling it together

UK porn laws are rather different to the liberal democracies that surround it – places like France and Germany are much more accepting and open with porn. It doesn’t mean that British people aren’t into it.

Brits have been proud peddlers of smut for centuries. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys even bought a dirty book home from France. He had to burn it so his wife didn’t find it. Kind of like the 17^th century version of clearing your browser history.

It is legal to watch porn in the UK. Most porn. There’s rules and restrictions about what you can watch when it comes to “extreme” stuff, and even more rules about what you can create.

Don’t stress too much about it, just double check the list we’ve given here if you’re worried about what you’re allowed to film for SinParty.