Public Health White Paper pro-BDSM?
Peter Green, 06 Sep 2005 22:21:30
I've added an entry on the backlash links page to the Hansard transcript of a speech made by the Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid) in Parliament last November (and it's repeated here):
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo041116/debtext/41116-05.htm
At the time this made headline news because of the proposed actions against smoking, but my ears perked up at a part of the speech shown on Channel 4 News. Read it through: lots of references to informed consent and freedom of individual choice in a diverse society. For me, though, the killer sentence is in the fifth paragraph from the end:
"We do that because we believe that in a free society men and women ultimately have the right within the law to choose their own lifestyle, even when it may damage their own health."
Hopefully someone with more political skills than me, can make some mileage out of this. Department of Health says BDSM is OK?
--
Peter
*** This message has been edited by Peter Green on 06 Sep 2005 22:27:20 ***
SnowdropExplodes, 06 Sep 2005 22:55:28
--- peter.n.green@gmail.com wrote:
> I've added an entry on the backlash links page to
> the Hansard transcript of a speech made by the
> Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid) in
> Parliament last November (and it's repeated here):
>
>
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo041116/debtext/41116-05.htm
> Read it through: lots of references to informed
> consent and freedom of individual choice in a
> diverse society. For me, though, the killer sentence
> is in the fifth paragraph from the end:
>
> "We do that because we believe that in a free
> society men and women ultimately have the right
> within the law to choose their own lifestyle, even
> when it may damage their own health."
>
> Hopefully someone with more political skills than I,
> can make some mileage out of this. Department of
> Health says BDSM is OK?
Brilliant stuff!
Do you know if the Spanner Trust have this already?
It's vital stuff for the wider campaign.
Furthermore, if we couple this official government
statement with the acknowledged lack of evidence for
harm generated by "extreme pornography", then we have
a clear admission by the government that what we look
at in the privacy of our own homes, is our own
business.
All you need to do is this:
["Q. In the absence of conclusive research results as
to its possible negative effects, do you think that
there is some pornographic material which is so
degrading, violent or aberrant that it should not be
tolerated?"
"A. ...we believe that in a free society men and women
ultimately have the right within the law to choose
their own lifestyle, even when it may damage their own
health. People do not, however, have the right to
damage the health of others or to impose on them an
intolerable degree of inconvenience or nuisance..."
Since the government states that there is no proof of
harm from adult material, it would appear that the
government itself believes that this legislation is
against the principles of a free society!]
It needs a little refining in the argument, but this
is a narrative that can be provided for the public -
the Government being hypocritical (which plays into
what people believe anyway) and
anti-democratic/anti-free society (another common
suspicion) without directly levelling either
accusation, but by showing how the govt. itself has
said these things.
Ta,
SnowdropExplodes
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Peter Green, 06 Sep 2005 23:59:14
On 9/6/05, -OJT- wrote:
> Brilliant stuff!
>
> Do you know if the Spanner Trust have this already?
> It's vital stuff for the wider campaign.
I mentioned it to a few people at the first KinkFest in December,
including John Pendal, but I can certainly jog their memories via
e-mail.
--
Peter