If a committee of Scottish lawmakers has its way, porn will be banned in Scotland.
The Equal Opportunities Committee is reported to have supported a petition claiming ties between porn and sex crimes and violence against women and children. The document is said to have been circulated by a group known as Scottish Women Against Pornography.
The SWAP wants Parliament to define porn as an incitement to "sexual hatred" and make it a crime, according to British news reports, which added that the EOC plans its own inquiry on grounds that the issue has been "ignored" for too long.
"I have high expectations," said SWAP spokeswoman Catherine Harper to British reporters. "It was very, very encouraging to see the consensus of the committee that we need to look into this," citing a "wealth of evidence" that ties porn to sexual violence.
A BBC poll showed overwhelming opposition to banning porn in Scotland, with 81 percent of respondents opposing a ban at this writing and only 19 percent supporting a ban.
And members of the EOC themselves admit there are difficulties in defining, never mind passing, such a ban, though they want to try to make it comparable to crimes of inciting race hate.
"I think that, since studies do exist showing the harmful effects [of porn], they should signal to us the precautionary principle, and they should be doing further research into it," said Scottish member of Parliament Elaine Smith of the Labour Party to British reporters. "I don't think we can ignore it any longer."
Her fellow Labour committee member, Marlyn Glen, concurred. "It seems to me," she told reporters, "that the safety of women should be a real priority of the executive and the parliament and what we need is the political will to push that through."
EOC members Sandra White of the Scottish National Party, Shona Baird of the Green Party, and Frances Curran of the Scottish Socialist Party, support the committee probe.
