Multiple complaints about the festival were made to Camden council. \nLocal authorities have the power to permit screenings of uncertificated \nfilms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the festival\u2019s progressive intentions, feminist organisations\n branded it demeaning. Janice Williams, chair of the activist group Object<\/a>,\n said the films on show promoted \u201cdegradation and oppression\u201d. Rude \nJude, one of the festival\u2019s organisers, disagreed. \u201cThis is the next \nstep on from the moral panic and the rightwing conservative groups that \nprotested this kind of thing before \u2026 Britain likes to think of itself \nas a place tolerant of queer people, but when queer people assert \nourselves, we\u2019re attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival programme includes screenings titled Soft Tender Tuff Bois<\/a>,\n described as a \u201clove letter to all genderqueer and transmasculine \npeople\u201d, and The Kinks Are All Right, which takes the theme of \n\u201cseductive humiliation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rude Jude said the festival was staged as a response to 2014 legislation that extended pornography laws to films streamed over the internet<\/a>:\n \u201cIt banned so many queer acts. It banned the depiction of female \nejaculation, caning, breast play, flogging. These things are part of \nqueer sexuality. The festival was formed as a protest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The coordinators of a separate pressure group, Women Against \nPornography, said: \u201cFeminist pornography is an oxymoron \u2026 feminism is \nnot about individualistic wishes or desires, it is about liberating all \nwomen from the oppression of males. This can never be achieved by being \ntied up in a bed or by telling women that torture will make them free.\u201d \nWomen Against Pornography<\/a> cited \u201csecurity reasons\u201d for not wanting to reveal their names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a letter to Camden council, Williams singled out a \nfestival strand titled Sex Work Is Work, the online description for \nwhich included the hashtag #necrophilia. Williams claimed the festival \nwas to show extreme pornographic images and pornography that is \u201clikely \nto result in serious injury\u201d to the performers. The hashtag has since \nbeen removed from the festival site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are not violent or extreme in the legal definition,\u201d said Rude\n Jude. \u201cSome of the films show practices that some people aren\u2019t into, \nbut that is very different. No one has even seen these films yet. \nObviously there is no necrophilia involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The annual festival began in 2017 and its programme is put together \nfrom open submission. The organisers say their original inspiration was \npornfilmfestival Berlin, which has been running since 2006. Those \nshowing their work are encouraged to ensure films are fully accessible, \nwith audio description and subtitling. As well as themed screenings, \nthis year organisers are staging an \u201caudio porn\u201d workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nimue Allen, whose film Fisting Fun is being shown as part of the \nBrazen Brits strand on Friday, says the festival has proved an \ninspiration for performers. \u201cFestivals like this are so important to \nshow that there are alternatives to the mainstream porn \u2026 Centring \npeople of colour, trans performers, queer sex of all types \u2013 and \nallowing people to see themselves represented on screen \u2013 is something \nthat needs to be done so much more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m one person making porn from my bedroom, which can feel \nincredibly isolating without the ability to meet others with similar \nviews at community events like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The debate surrounding sex work has sparked disagreement among \nfeminist groups. Coinciding with International Women\u2019s Day on 8 March \nthis year, groups including the English Collective of Prostitutes<\/a>\n staged a demonstration in London\u2019s Leicester Square to protest against \nlaws that they say put them in danger. Strippers from across London went\n on strike in solidarity the same evening. In 2018, the Women\u2019s Equality\n party was criticised for opposing the decriminalisation of sex trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a series of Twitter posts, the festival claimed transphobia underlay the attack on the event. Women<\/a>\n Against Pornography refute the accusation: \u201cIn the letters we sent \nthere was no mention of transgenderism. However, if transgenderism is \napparently so closely linked with pornography then that\u2019s not a very \ngood advert for it. As radical feminists we are gender critical, \nalthough this didn\u2019t form part of our criticism of the festival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Horse Hospital, which does not receive public money, is known for its grassroots art programming and has hosted the festival since its inception. \u201cWe\u2019re in a difficult position here. We\u2019re always up against it with somebody,\u201d said director Roger Burton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to The Guardian<\/a> The progressive newspaper<\/p>\n\n\n\n LATEST UPDATES FROM object<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Update 28\/04\/2019: Yesterday, we protested outside the venue of the <\/em>London Porn Film Festival, which was advertised using the hashtag \u2018necrophilia\u2019.<\/em><\/a> Their<\/em> first venue cancelled due to the concerns raised by OBJECT and others.<\/em><\/a> The \u2018rape festival\u2019 organisers informed us that OBJECT caused them a net loss of over \u00a32000! Priceless. Let\u2019s keep up the pressure and stop the glorification of violence against women, <\/em>pornography <\/em><\/a>and <\/em>pros<\/em>titution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update 26\/04\/2019: Today we are outside a Stonewall conference in London, protesting lesbian erasure and the idea that lesbianism is just a sexual fetish for men. We OBJECT! Lesbians are women-loving women. Only women can be lesbians! <\/em>An OBJECT member attended the conference to remind Stonewall that lesbians don\u2019t have penises – read her account here!<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nUPDATE <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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