The new Bonnie Blue documentary has led to the porn taskforce asking for a specific type of content to be banned.
Channel 4’s latest controversial film was hit by backlash before it even aired last week and viewers criticised it for showing ‘literal porn with no filter’.
The broadcaster defended it as 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story explores the 26-year-old’s day-to-day life while also focusing on her notorious stunt from earlier in the year.
Blue, whose real name is Tia Ballinger, was widely criticised, with some in support as she claimed she had sex with 1,057 over 12 hours. And the documentary asks: “Was she dangerously pandering to male fantasies or being an empowered sex-positive entrepreneur?”
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But the recently launched independent pornography taskforce is set to propose legislation aimed at banning a type of ‘barely legal’ content produced by Blue.
During the doc, she is shown in a classroom preparing to film an orgy scene alongside a grouo of models dressed up in school uniform. The performers are aware they’ve been picked out as they look particularly young.
However, the Channel 4 film does not actually show any of the content that was filmed, just behind-the-scenes.
But England’s children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has condemned the doc for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme pornography.
Gabby Bertin, who launched the independent pornography taskforce, said she plans to lodge amendments to the crime and policing bill in autumn for it to be illegal for online platforms to host any content that could ‘encourage child sexual abuse, including pornography filmed by adults dressed as children’.
According to The Guardian, she said: “This content is pushing at the boundaries. We will be trying to address the ‘barely legal’ aspect legislatively.”
Bertin added that the Bonnie Blue documentary would be on the agenda at the taskforce’s next meeting.
“She has become extremely successful; she is an adult and it is consensual, so it may not be harming her, but it has potentially harmful effects on people who think that this is a normal way to behave,” she said.
“We should be asking more about the men who arrive with balaclavas on their head to have sex with her.”
Bertin claimed the documentary risks taking a ‘step back’ after years of fighting to ‘protect children’ from ‘degrading, violent sex’ on social media.
On-Demand Programme Services, like streaming this doc online, are not in the scope of the Online Safety Act. TV regulators Ofcom told LADbible: "We are assessing the complaints against our rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
Regarding the use of graphic content in the doc, Channel 4 told LADbible: “Careful consideration has been given to the content and the way in which it is included, and the final programme is compliant with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
"The explicit content in the documentary is editorially justified and provides essential context; making pornographic content is Bonnie’s job, and this film is about her work and the response to it.
“Crucially, the content is presented in a non-gratuitous and in part partially blurred manner, and viewers are alerted to the sexual content with appropriate warnings to ensure they understood from the outset the nature of the programme.”
Topics: Bonnie Blue, Channel 4, Documentaries
Jess Battison