‘Rape porn’ possession to be punished by three years in jail, David Cameron to announce

[rrneck]

507. If the good is indistinguishable from the bad

how do we allow one and prosecute the other? Especially if the distinction is made in the emotional response of the viewer. (ETA "Good" being a dramatic portrayal and "bad" being an actual rape)

A lot of comparisons are made to violence, but they don't work. We see people get killed in the movies all the time. But it isn't real because there's no corpus delicti. In the case of rape, the victim/actor could suffer an actual rape and survive the encounter without any physical evidence. The only difference is the state of mind of the actor. So if Monica Bellucci signs a contract to portray a rape in a movie, she could easily do a bit of method acting and create the illusion of coercion in her own mind to create an effective performance and allow the viewer to suspend disbelief. She believes it, so the audience is more likely to believe it. (ETA2 If she believes it even for a moment, is she being raped) That suspension of disbelief is an emotional reaction that depends on the viewers feelings about the content. It's impossible to regulate the relationship between the viewer of the content and the media that transmits it.

If there is an actual crime the film would be documentation of such and those responsible could get busted. That's why I mentioned the simplicity of producing a signed contract and a cancelled check. That would indicate an actor consented to a dramatic portrayal and not coercion into unwanted sexual contact. Somebody upthread mentioned third world kidnapping and such, and that could and should be prosecuted. But like I said, in the first world why actually do it when you can fake it? Even if you stamp out every single instance of actual rape depicted in media, the impossibility of prosecuting the dramatic portrayals would easily fill the lost market share.

In fact, coming down hard on fictional rape porn, (since it is indistinguishable from the real thing) would probably increase actual rapes recorded for distribution. The market will always be there, so if you shut down the actors, they will just move to the third world where it is difficult or impossible to control and sell very expensive rape porn.

But maybe I'm missing something. How would you distinguish good rape porn from serious drama?