National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts

Founder and Honorary Director: David Webb, RADA Dip

Committee: Dr Sean Gabb

Ted Goodman LLB (Solicitor)

Clifford Hanley

Dr Philip Stokes

Tuppy Owens, BSc, Dip HS

Fighting Sexual Censorship

What is NCROPA?

What Are Its Aims?

Why You Should Join

How You Can Join

What is the NCROPA

The national Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts was formed in April 1976 by David Webb who gathered together a number of like- minded people who shared both his vehement opposition to censorship and also his concern that a totally unrepresentative minority of the General Public was, or at least appeared to be, becoming increasingly successful in its efforts to force its beliefs and moral standards on others. The NCROPA believes that this is totally alien to the concept of what people in this country have come, quite rightly, to expect of a supposedly free society and presents an intolerable curtailment of individual liberty and the freedom of expression. Furthermore, it is in direct contravention of both the United nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 18 and 19) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 9 and 10).

The NCROPA is organised on a purely voluntary basis and has no paid staff. It relies solely on subscriptions for financial support and none of the members of its Executive Committee, all of whom give their services free, have any vested interest in any business or commercial enterprises which could in any way be regarded as potential material beneficiaries in the event of the achievement of NCROPA's objectives. This is important because it clearly indicates that we are a completely independent organisation and gives the campaign immediate credibility. It means, in effect, that the NCROPA is dedicated to fighting for a principle in which its supporters believe unequivocally and for its own sake.

What Are the NCROPA's Aims?

The NCROPA believes that every adult should have an inalienable right to see, read and hear whatever he of she chooses for him or herself. This country's present out-moded, puritanical and repressive laws on censorship deny for us this right and must, therefore, be drastically reformed.

Virtually no really reliable or credible evidence has been produced that so- called "obscene" material ("obscene" in this context invariably means sexually explicit), of whatever kind, is harmful. On the other hand evidence that it is harmless, and, indeed, often positively helpful, is massive and overwhelming. Every major investigation undertaken into the subject over the past 25 years has come to the same conclusion, including our own country's distinguished Home Office Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship (the Williams Committee) in 1979. They were unanimous in agreeing that so-called "obscene" or "pornographic" or "sexually explicit" material (call it what you will) should be freely available to consenting adults.

The more recent 1990 Home Office Research Report, "Pornography: Impacts and Influences", (by Dr Guy Cumberbatch and Dr Dennis Howlitt), also found no evidence of any link between the availability of "pornography" and sexual crime, and effectively endorsed all previous findings that sexually explicit material is harmless.

The NCROPA maintains, furthermore, that sexually explicit material provides a source of harmless pleasure for millions, is often a very helpful adjunct to sexual relationships, both in and out of marriage, and serves as a most welcome substitute sexual release for anyone when and where a suitable sexual partner is not available or possible, especially among the sexually disadvantaged, deprived or disabled (or differently-abled, as they now often prefer to be regarded).

The NCROPA supports measures for the "protection" of children (without necessarily accepting that children would, in fact, be "at risk" or "in danger", as the word "protection" implies), and also certain very limited measures for the "protection" of those adults who do not wish to be forcibly affronted by material which they would deem offensive.

In practical terms this would mean the complete repeal of the 1959 and 1964 Obscene Publications Acts, as well as considerable amending legislation to a number of other relevant Acts (eg, the Post Office Act 1953, the Customs Consolidation Act 1876, the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, the Video Recordings Act 1984, the Cinemas Act 1985, etc). However, like the Williams Committee, we believe that the very limited censorship legislation we envisage should be contained in one new comprehensive statute. The NCROPA has already produced the draft for such a statute called the "Freedom of Expression Bill".

Full details of our principles and objectives are contained in our written submission to the Williams Committee and in The Williams Report: An Appraisal, NCROPA's subsequent response tot he findings of the Williams Committee.

Why You Should Join the NCROPA

Individual freedom is being daily eroded in this country and in no area more insidiously than that concerned with freedom of expression. The highly- organised, vociferous pro-censorship factions, in their role as self-appointed "guardians of the nation's morals", have for far too long succeeded in forcing their minority opinions on the much more liberal-minded majority, often using highly emotive, dishonest propaganda to spread their repressive, bigoted doctrines. More recently, they have been joined in a n "unholy alliance" by feminist extremists who, just as dictatorially, wish to force their demands for more censorship on everyone else. Parliament has hitherto paid heed to these two dangerous factions out of all proportion to the numbers they represent or the soundness of their logic, and in consequence has done absolutely nothing to bring our censorship laws up to date and in line with those of almost all other Western World countries. Instead, in many areas, we have reverted to the viciously restrictive standards of the past - or even worse.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of harmless books and magazines are being seized by the authorities and destroyed. Thousands more videos and films are also being impounded and confiscated. More and more people are being prosecuted, fined or imprisoned for committing these victimless "crimes". Thousands of valuable and costly police and customs man hours are being wasted on these ludicrous and futile exercises. Often they are carried out by some police chiefs with a fanatical zeal more appropriate to a mediaeval with- hunt. While we may regard their order of priorities with outrage, when real crime is at an all-time hight, and when many women and old people are too frightened to go out into the streets at night, and when most police forces are still claiming to be seriously under strength,, we can remember that they can only enforce laws which are in existence. The NCROPA is campaigning to ensure that in future such laws do not exist and are not at their disposal.

It is an indisputable fact that we now have more censorship in this country than in nearly every other of the so-called free Western World, and lately more even than in East European states, most of which have now satisfactorily dispensed with censorship as we know it. This is not the difficult task some politicians would have us believe. But it is they who will in the end be responsible for deciding this issue and righting this grave wrong. They must be persuaded to do so, and to do so now, so that the trade barriers really can come down within Europe and the 1992 Single Market can become the intended reality. Moreover, they must be persuaded to accept and implement our proposals. These proposals are eminently sensible, patently realistic, provide safeguards for everyone, and are, above all, harmless - and just!

By joining this campaign, you will be doing something positive to help achieve this end and to make this country not simply "more permissive", but more tolerant, more rational, more honest - and more civilised. It is time for all who support the desperately important cause of individual liberty and freedom of expression to stand up and be counted.

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