Iceland’s Government is drafting plans to ban print and online pornography in order to protect children from violent sexual imagery.
The proposal is being made Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland’s interior minister.
Pornography laws
Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser toJonasson, said: “When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence”.
“There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the internet?”
Gunnarsdottir says that the proposals will simply uphold the existing law rather than introducing new restrictions.
Pornography is currently illegal in Iceland but because the term is not defined the law is not enforced.
Some of the measures the committee is considering include making it illegal to pay for pornography using Icelandic credit cards and a national internet filter.
Courage
Gail Danes, author of the book Pornland and professor of sociology and women's studies at Wheelock College in Boston, commented: “This is a country with courage.
“Iceland is going to be the first country with the guts to stand up to these predatory bullies from LA [in the porn industry]”.
“It is going to take one country to show that this is possible”.
Concerns
However, there are concerns that those pushing for the ban may run out of time. Elections are scheduled for April, when the coalition Government may be thrown out.
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