Porn actresses line-up at the opening of the "Venus" erotic fair in Berlin
Porn actresses line-up at the opening of the "Venus" erotic fair in Berlin October 17, 2013. The event, which represents the erotic business in the German capital, is open till October 20, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Adult movies made in the UK are not going to be the same any more. The 2003 Communications Act underwent an amendment and a number of sexual acts were banned.

Several sexual acts shown in adult movies have now been banned in the UK. According to the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014, video-on-demand (VoD) online porn videos will also have to abide by the British Board of Film Censors guidelines which have earlier been applicable to DVD sex shop-type porn. The new guidelines apparently focus more on moral policing about what should be and what should not be watched by adult individuals in the country. The Independent reported that British porn producers would not be allowed to include several sexual acts which had been key components of adult videos so far.

Aggressive sexual acts such as strangulation, caning, spanking and aggressive whipping are now banned. At the same time, the penetration by an object "associated with violence" is also prohibited. In addition, other sexual acts like verbal or physical abuse, even if consensual, are not allowed. Other banned activities in adult movies include urolagnia, face-sitting, fisting and female ejaculation. Among the banned activities, the BBFC considers strangulation, fisting and face-sitting as potentially life-threatening.

The prohibition, on the other hand, comes for adult films made in the UK. The new regulations have apparently no control over films produced overseas. People will still be able to watch unrestricted porn videos made in countries like Japan, Italy and the United States. According to Jerry Barnett from the anti-censorship group Sex and Censorship, the new regulations are based on "no rational explanations." Those merely provide "a set of moral judgements designed by people" who "struggled endlessly to stop the British people from watching pornography," he said.

Feminist porn producer Itziar Bilbao Urrutia said that the amendment was "absurd and surreal." Urrutia could not understand why face-sitting was considered "dangerous" and thus banned. "It's a harmless activity that most femdom performers, myself included, do fully dressed anyway," Urrutia said, "Its power is symbolic: woman on top, unattainable." Mirror reported that the new regulations had made sex workers angry as several "common sexual fantasies" were prohibited.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au