The regulations that banned “extreme” porn sites in the UK actually came into law two years ago, and led to London’s magnificent face-sitting protest. However, the most extreme thing wasn’t the porn, but the definition of “extreme” as used by the regulators. The legal limits for British porn are defined by the British Board of Film Censorship (BBFC), a private business with government-mandated powers. Their prurient R18 standard draws far tighter lines for sexual content than in most of Europe or the United States. Among other things, it bans depictions of female ejaculation. It also considers many widely practised sex acts to be too dangerous to depict. These include face-sitting, as well as any other act that might conceivably suffocate or otherwise kill someone (though to date, there are no known face-sitting deaths). Also banned are fisting, and any form of spanking, whipping or other fetish act that leaves marks.

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