What Shall we Do With an Unjust Law?

But before we become despondent I would like to add a few notes on the decision.

In the five years since I began this campaign, the climate of opinion in Britain, regarding SM, has changed immeasurably. This decision may once have had a mandate in public opinion, but it does not now. From the recently updated Criminal Prosecution Service Guidelines to the editorials of The Times; we have seen a marked shift away from pure condemnation of SM and towards a laissez-faire attitude. What we do in private; and what we do with our own bodies is a matter for us to decide.

Whatever the view of the European Court, In Britain we are a long way, politically, from the days when Judge Rant could argue that a role of courts was to make moral decisions about sexual practice. We must remember that it was never the business of the police or the courts to try and regulate our consensual activities or to make moral interventions into our lives - and it is still not their business.

Not only that, but the genie is out of the bottle and it wont go back in. Thousands of people who would have been isolated and alienated by their private SM desires; are now able to directly access information about SM practices., organisations and clubs.

And, I believe we have been successfully in showing to people that whilst many "beautiful" SM practices are now utterly criminal. SM is not illegal in britain - only those activities that cause pain or leave marks. SM can still be practicised - but we must take care not to take photographs; not to keep written records (diaries etc) of events; and to be extra careful in public (club etc) places.

Whatever happens now, whether They ignore the law or whether they implement wholesale sweeps - we must not allow it self-censor our activities. We may have to be more circumspect about where we play but we must not allow them to decide how we play. We must not stop talking, writing or publicising consensual sm.

We must be careful not to allow ourselves to be divided into those that use pain as part of play and those that do not; into the criminal and the respectable; the mild and the extreme.

We must continue to stand, united, as SadoMasochists, strong in the knowledge that what we do IS consensual; it is a human expression of sexual Pleasure; and that we are not alone but part of an international community.

Indeed, we must hold onto, add to and strengthen the networks that have been built both across Britain and internationally - no matter how disempowered we feel as a result of this decision - we must find and keep alive our anger that it happened at all

And we must resist, not only this infringement of our civil liberties but any attempt to further extend the remit of this case to include other aspects of consensual sm practices.

So lets us start now, as we MUST continue. We must make this an unpopular, unworkable law. We must make it an embarrassing law. We must ensure that every attempt to implement this law is met with a chorus of British and International disapproval.

If you are able, please write to your local british embassy/consulate registering your disapproval.

Laws are only successful, IF people consent to obey them. We must not give our consent to this law. Not now. Not ever

— kellan

All Opinions expressed are by ME alone and are not necessarily the conclusions that would be made by the spanner campaign or the spanner trust.