Scotland’s new law against “indecent communication” - Polidicks

[url]http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/reuben-bard-rosenberg/%E2%80%9Cdo-i-have-your-permission-to-say-something-sexual%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-scotland%E2%80%99s-ne[/url] [quote]Scotland, sex and decency. The combination of the three has long been known to generate weird and authoritarian outcomes. The scottish law against “Outraging Public Decency” appears to potentially criminalise anything that people might find a bit icky, and not long ago was used to convict somebody for having sex with his bicycle in the privacy of his own hotel room (don’t ask me about the logistics). The poor man ended up on the sexual offenders register. In October Scotland’s new Sexual Offences Act will come into force. Unlike the 2003 Act that was written for England and Wales, the Scottish act contains a clause outlawing “indecent communication”. It will soon be illegal to communicate with someone sexually – either in writing or in speech – without obtaining their consent, or without the ‘reasonable belief’ that they do consent to it. Quite simply they have taken the standard traditionally applied to rape – to the actual penetration of another person’s body – and applied it to what people say. Thankfully it is fairly normal to ensure that somebody consents to sexual intercourse. This is because putting your penis inside another person can have a serious and lasting affect on them, not least if they do not want it there. More generally people expect to enjoy sovereignty over their bodies and their physical experiences. By contrast we do not have – nor would any sane person require – a general right to be protected from hearing things we don’t want to hear. And that is why, in our culture, it is not normal to ask people for permission to say something sexual during the course of a facebook chat or a conversation in a bar. “Do you mind if I deploy an innuendo” just wouldn’t sound right. And quite frankly it shouldn’t. Whether people get off with each other in bars, or engage in mundane msn conversations that degenerate into bad internet sex, people frequently make the transition from polite conversation into something more erotic. And this very often necessitates somebody saying something on a whim, somebody communicating some sexual feeling in the hope that it will be reciprocated. And sometimes that means saying something under circumstances that don’t quite match up to a “reasonable belief in consent”. People’s styles differ. Some people take little baby steps, fearful of embarrassing either themselves or the subject of their attraction. Other people like going at it full throttle, precociously making their feelings and intentions clear. And some of the latter group might be pricks. Equally some people are better at reading social and sexual signals than others. But acutally criminalising prickishness or a lack of social intelligence - simply to prevent people hearing the wrong thing - is, in this context, unjustified and an overuse of criminal law. And this is not least because every grown man and woman is capable of articulating a two word sentence ending in “off”.[/quote] At least we still have free-education :(

Scottish people won't be allowed to sex chat. D:

Does this mean we can't use sexual innuendo without breaking the law? fuck but still [sp]Free education+universal healthcare[/sp]

Arrested for fucking your own bike in the privacy of your hotel room? wat. Fucking your own bike? WAT [editline]08:33PM[/editline] being added to sex offender list FOR fucking your own bike? WAT. Do they think bikes are people or something?

Fuck this shit i'm moving down to england.

[QUOTE=Leon;23451980]Arrested for fucking your own bike in the privacy of your hotel room? wat. Fucking your own bike? WAT [editline]08:33PM[/editline] being added to sex offender list FOR fucking your own bike? WAT. Do they think bikes are people or something?[/QUOTE] The bike was underage.

[QUOTE=mikeyt493;23451969]Does this mean we can't use sexual innuendo without breaking the law? fuck but still Free education+universal healthcare[/QUOTE] Wow you all have a 1-up on no country but the states.

[QUOTE=The golden;23451977]As usual, it's probably going to be very poorly enforced.[/QUOTE] Of course. I wonder If I make a sex joke near a teacher will I go to jail

Honestly where the hell did freedom of speech go?

[QUOTE=FPChris;23451953]Scottish people won't be allowed to sex chat. D:[/QUOTE] Nice avatar.

And they plan to enforces this how?

This is the worst law we've ever had. Now I could become a sex offender for having the weekly innuendo day in Physics, in which pretty much every single line we would say would contain some sort of Physics pun. Good thing I'm not taking it this year. [QUOTE=mikeyt493;23452037]Of course. I wonder If I make a sex joke near a teacher will I go to jail[/QUOTE] My Physics teacher actually went along with it. Cool guy. Of course, not making any himself, but didn't discourage us, and laughed at our jokes when he wondered what was so funny.

[QUOTE=The golden;23452106]I sometimes wonder if it ever truly existed in the first place. [editline]09:38PM[/editline] They don't. It's called scare-tactics.[/QUOTE] It never did. Not really, anyway.

Outraging public decency? But we Scots live off this!

Fuck.

Social conservatism at its finest.

Looks like Scotland got raped in the ass... ohshi-

This applies to images as well. No more porn for Scots.

Hey look, another unenforceable feel-good soccer mom law

[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;23453558]This applies to images as well. No more porn for Scots.[/QUOTE] Meanwhile in Japan...

[QUOTE=Zeke129;23453604]Hey look, another unenforceable feel-good soccer mom law[/QUOTE] In Scotland you do not say soccer or mom.

Going to word rape some scottish people and there's nothing they can do about it.

And I come home from Scottish band practice to see this. Oh well. The music is nice, and chances are this won't last.

Well isn't that a load of bullshit.

That's fucking ridiculous, I don't see when it would be needed.

So I'm not allowed to verbally rape someone anymore? :arghfist::saddowns:

[QUOTE=mikeyt493;23451969]sexual innuendo[/QUOTE] Sure it's not inn[I]your[/I]endo? :pervert:

And so, Scotland transforms into an even bigger shithole.

Fuck the government and their bullshit.

[QUOTE=Arrows;23456196]Fuck the government and their bullshit.[/QUOTE] wuuaaagh wrong thing to say