Offensive Materials Campaign

27 Jun 2006

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, today spoke about her campaign to stop offensive materials being sold in newsagents alongside sweets, crossword puzzles and newspapers. Her comments followed her sponsorship of a Ten Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons calling for better regulation of the sale and display of sexually explicit material.

Clare Curtis Thomas, a fellow Labour MP who has worked with Diane on this campaign, read out the Bill in the House but had been asked by the Speaker to omit quotes from certain publications because they had been deemed “too obscene to be spoken in the Chamber”.

Diane said: “I find it absolutely shocking that material which is deemed too obscene for the House of Commons to hear is being pushed in our children’s faces when they pop into their local newsagent for a comic. It is true that the content of these magazines is often very disturbing and it is therefore imperative to introduce proper regulation of sexually explicit material.”

Diane added: “We have in place film classification, a 9pm television watershed and internet controls that give parents a choice over what their children watch or where they surf. I think it is only right that we should have similar rules that protect women and children with regards to print media.”

Diane went on: “Most of the so-called lads mags are virtually indistinguishable from recognised ‘top shelf’ pornography yet parade as mainstream ‘life style’ magazines. I think this is very dangerous indeed. How are we meant to teach our children about gender equality when they are bombarded with demeaning images of women as if it is the most natural thing in the world? As a mother and a woman this is very worrying. We need to link this issue not only to the harm it is doing to our children but also to the negative impact it has in terms of perpetuating gender inequality.”

Diane added: “There is a lot of commercial pressure on individual newsagents to stock these magazines and papers and there are cash incentives to display them in easy to see and read places. Luckily one of our local newsagents, Mr Hamdy Shahein, has taken a stand against this and has refused to accept these publications in his shop. He has campaigned for 17 years for the rules on this to change but is still receiving unwanted materials. I have asked for a meeting with WH Smith’s management to discuss this matter and ask them to change their practices.”

After the reading of the Bill the Conservative MP for Upminster, Angela Watkinson, rose to oppose the Bill saying that women who feature in pornographic publications are ‘complicit’. Diane said: “I was extremely disappointed to hear this archaic argument from a woman. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the situation of the vast majority of women who end up in this most denigrating line of work and does not help the female cause. There is nothing empowering about being pushed into the porn industry through poverty or lack of choice.”

Diane went on: “Throughout its history the British media has strived to achieve a balance between decency and freedom of expression. Allowing lads mags and certain tabloid titles to be sold in such a matter of fact way without any restraint or warning seriously undermines this tradition.”

She concluded: “I will continue to push for an overhaul of media regulation to ensure that pornographic material is sold appropriately – on the top shelf – way out of reach and sight of children. We need to rework our definition of what constitutes a pornographic publication. I think tightening the rules is the first step towards changing public attitudes and avoid normalising sexual or exploitative images of women.”



back ⇢