“Face-sitting without obstructing breathing is unlikely to be prohibited.” These were the words of Labour MP Jess Asato in a now-deleted tweet responding to a sex worker who was concerned new pornography legislation was so vague as to be punitive.
Section 104 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, introduced by Yvette Cooper as home secretary last year, criminalises the possession and publication of pornography explicitly and realistically depicting strangulation or suffocation. The maximum sentences are two years for possession and five years for publication.
In trying to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG), our government has mistaken prohibition for protection. Labour – the party that decriminalised homosexuality, abolished theatre censorship and liberalised divorce – is in danger of becoming the party of Mary Whitehouse, the very figure who led the crusade against the ‘permissive’ agenda in the 1960s and 1970s.
If Labour wants to avoid cementing a reputation as the puritanical party, while creating political opportunities for the right, ministers need a clear and convincing explanation for the trade-offs between safety and freedom inherent in adult sexuality.
