Rage Against the Machine. Sexual Freemdom vs The Government

Any branch of government is a machine. Its continued existence is its only goal. In the 1930's the tiny US Federal Bureau of Narcotics was on the brink of being abolished. Its boss hated jazz, it removed racial boundaries. It also gave him an easy target. The Bureau survived by going after (black) jazz singer Billie Holiday. Drugs killed her, but the Federal Bureau of Narcotics played a large part in her early death. Remember that when you think about ATVOD and Britain's extreme porn laws - for your own good that is.

Discovered a new word only a few days after I wrote about the beauty of bondage.

Today Holland celebrates the end of the Second World War, 70 years ago. Having been spared the horrors of the Great War, this is an important commemoration for the Dutch. True to form our government decided long ago not to overdo it, our freedom is worth a bank holiday once every five years. Guess we're cheap after all. Freedom comes in many forms and some of those - especially where it concerns kink - will always be under attack.

The Fifty Shades craze is slowly fading - for now. Those who wanted to, saw the movie - and probably had a terrible Valentine's Day. Now it is back to business as usual: bashing and ridiculing BDSM. Most vanilla people have a hard time accepting alternative sexualities. They find it difficult to take its practitioners serious. (Full disclosure: I don't take my kink too seriously either, but I have a doctor's note.)

Freedom vs Extreme Porn
Last year the UK introduced its extreme porn laws but scolding porn laws is so 2014 so the press moved on to greener pastures, read producing better click bait. It is the same old song: if the powers that be, don't like it, they'll make sure you're not gonna enjoy what they are going to do to you.

The excellent Sex & Censorship blog has several stories that are most likely the tip of the ice berg floating towards us. Obviously the rest of the ice berg is censored, which is why it's under water. Officially I am not allowed to tell you that, need to know, national security and so on.

On April 25 a domme directory webmaster was arrested for tweeting, only to be released after two hours. At some point the word "trafficking" entered the conversation, completely unrelated. If you don't know why that's bad, just look up the four horse men of the infocalyps.

This is just a glimpse of things to come. Most civil servants don't care about BDSM, nor do they understand it. Why should they? What they do know is that they have to pay the rent, besides: the law is the law. Just doing my job ma'am. They'll uproot people's lives for nothing more than being born with different sexual preferences. Once they get home it is just another day's work. Last January Politico magazine published an article on the how the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics fighting for survival, turned on one of its citizens, rather than to serve her.

The hunting of Billie Holiday
Prohibition was on its last legs in 1930. One year earlier Wall Street suffered the mother of all crashes. The Great Depression, one of the causes of WW II, was just around the corner. Hard times, even federal agents struggled to put food on the table. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which previously led the fight against alcohol, was about to close down, when its new director vowed to wipe drugs of the face of the earth, the current war on drugs is his lasting legacy. For that he singled out one woman: the magnificent Billy Holiday, jazz singer par excellence. Drugs were abundant back then, as they are now and according to the author, Mrs. Holiday was chosen because the colour of her skin made Lady Day an easy target. It probably didn't help either that jazz music eliminated boundaries between the races: black and white dancing together. The article, however unbalanced it is, tells of a government machine that stops at nothing to protect its continued existence and the privileges of those who are a card carrying members.

The sign of things to come.

Fast forward 8.5 decades and ask yourself: "why would it be any different this time?" If we are lucky we are exiting the Great Recession but some things clearly haven't changed, just look at Times' magazine recent cover comparing 1968 with 2015. Equality in name only, a police force abusing its powers--selectively--yet for the most part it doesn't have to answer for its actions. And of course it is not just the U.S.A. Just like the Bureau overstepped and abused its powers hunting down Mrs. Holiday almost a century ago, in today's Britain, a web master gets falsely arrested. During the interrogation the word "trafficking", enters the conversation, completely unrelated, words like foul play come to mind.


Good night everyone
Meanwhile the British can sleep safely in the knowledge that banning extreme porn made their isle much safer (please check your local library for acceptable definitions of the word "safe"). But before you go to bed a quick history lesson from the Netherlands.

In 1936 Nazi Germany invaded the Rhineland. In a famous radio speech, Dutch prime-minister Colijn said there was nothing to worry, the Dutch could go to sleep safely. Four years later Holland, like most of Europe, was occupied by the Nazi's. Fijne Bevrijdingsdag!

Update May 08: 

Femdom Resource reports on how two UK pro-dommes have been found at fault and forced to withdraw content.