Two Research Studies and An Update!

Hello once again, folks!

I hope that all of you are in good health, and enjoying what I've produced thus far. I know my blog is very, very infrequently added too, but I simply don't have the time to write something as often as I'd like to.

... And anyway, I prefer quality over quantity!

For those who care, I've just written a new review for Nico Mastorakis' Greek-shocker ISLAND OF DEATH (1978), which can be read  here,  over at the excellent Sex, Gore, Mutants website. Thanks to Alan Simpson, for sending me the review disc!

My next update, which I am hoping to have completed in the next couple of weeks for this very blog, however, is on the perennially controversial and taboo subject of pornography. There is a new British research study currently being undertaken at  www.pornresearch.org  asking for peoples opinions on their own use of pornographic material. The research is 100% anonymous, and the intention is to compile a proper, decent-sized sample of what modern-day Britains use pornography, and more importantly, why they use it and what they think of it.

The results will then be distributed to places like OFCOM and the BBFC, who will hopefully use it when it comes to some of their classification and censorship decisions.

The study is actually being undertaken by two women, Clarissa Smith and Feona Attwood, accompanied by Martin Barker, who was strategic when he undertook research into Video Nasties back in the early 1980's, at Aberystwyth University. So, this could prove to be immensely significant when it comes to classification of Extreme Cinema in the future.

My forthcoming blog entry on pornography, will be examining the many different aspects that make-up this modern-day phenomenon. This behomoth industry, that channels millions upon millions of dollars into its production and dissemination, is as provocative today as it always has been. From the humble beginnings of 8mm reels from the 1920's, through to the big VHS porn-explosion of the 1980's, I will be examining the controversy that surrounds it, the problems (both legal and moral) of working in this field, and why even in 21st Century Britain, pornography is still a very dirty word indeed.

You may have heard that the great pillar of our social conscience, Jacqui Smith (ex Labour Home Secretary), recently produced a radio documentary about the pornography industry for Radio 5 Live, which can be listened again to (until Thursday 10th March) by clicking here. Sadly, the problems with the show, is the lack of actual open discussion about why the sex industry as a whole, is still being viewed in such a negative fashion, when we could move forward with it, and turn-it into something less seedy, if we really wanted too.

Pornography doesn't have to be demeaning, desensitising, or dirty. It could be made legal and moral, if government and society chose to do so. Yet, in Britain, we seem to be hell-bent on keeping the people who work in the sex and pornography industries down, and treating them as the lowest of the low.

And talking of Extreme Cinema, there is a second research study being undertaken at  www.asianextremecinemaresearch.co.uk  that all my blog-readers should pay a visit too. Focusing on the censorship and classification of films from the Far East, such as ICHI THE KILLER, GROTESQUE, or BATTLE ROYALE, Aberystwyth University PhD student Emma Pett wants to know whether you have seen these kinds of works, what attracts you too them, and what you feel defines an Asian Extreme movie.

I would thus politely ask any and all of you, to visit and complete both these studies as soon as you can please, as the research for both is extremely relevant and significant when it comes to censorship issues.
I hope you will enjoy reading my report on pornography, and look forward to hearing your comments upon the subject, very soon. For now though, I bid you a fond adieu!