It seems that never before in the history of Ukrainian parliamentarism have deputies been put on the «jackal express» for not supporting porn. Or rather, its decriminalization.
It seems that never before in the history of Ukrainian parliamentarism have deputies been put on the «jackal express» for not supporting porn. Or rather, its decriminalization.
Since the beginning of the current Rada’s term, thanks to the epic «flight» of their colleague, the people’s deputies clearly remembered that «anal is taboo» and decided that it was better not to stick their noses and other body parts into this area. But, unfortunately, the slippery topic did appear on the agenda.
At the end of May, after the failure of the vote on bill No. 12191 on the decriminalization of porn, not only individual deputies but also entire political forces received their dose of public criticism. By abstaining from voting, they buried the bill, not only not supporting it as a basis, but also not even being able to scrape together the votes to send it for a second first reading or revision. This applies, in particular, to «Batkivshchyna» and «European Solidarity», which did not give a single vote for the aforementioned initiative. And if no one expected anything particularly constructive in this matter from «Batkivshchyna» with its thoroughly populist rhetoric, then the «progressive» «European Solidarity» was quickly forced to look for an explanation for why this happened. It turned out not very convincingly, and the bill somehow ended up in the trash.
However, there is still hope for the authors of OnlyFans, fans of «flirts» on social networks, and all other sane people who do not consider the creation of adult content a reason for criminal prosecution, who are being harassed by Ukrainian law enforcement officers. After the failure of bill No. 12191, another bill No. 15294 was registered in the Rada in early June. In both cases, the main author and «locomotive» of the bills is People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak. But it is worth considering that the co-authors of the new bill are more than 40 People’s Deputies, including Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, which gives this initiative significant chances of success. But the bill’s new name gives it an even greater chance. Why is that? Let’s figure it out.
It is obvious that many deputies are very afraid of the «righteous anger» of their «highly moral» voters. They will somehow survive the fact that an intellectual party will take them on a «jackal express» on Facebook, even though it is unpleasant. And it is difficult for such deputies to find arguments for the people in the so-called «holy Galicia» why their elected representative, whom they believed so much and whom they even saw once in church on Sunday, voted for the legalization of «unholy debauchery». That is why, by the way, during the vote on the previous bill, a huge number of people’s deputies, especially from the «ostentatiously religious» western regions, simply «disappeared», feigning their disappearance from the plenary session.
The deputies here choose the easier path — they do not want to spend a long and boring time explaining to their voters the realities in which the police «feed» on the illegal porn business, covering up webcam studios and blackmailing girls with criminal liability, and are not ashamed to spend budget money on «control purchases» of porn content, in order to then refer cases to court with «significant evidence» of criminal activity. It is easier for the people’s deputies to bury their heads in the sand and «play dead» during an inconvenient vote.
It is, of course, a shame that instead of educating and confronting the prejudices of their voters, MPs are fueling them, but that is the reality. So the authors of the bill on decriminalizing porn seem to have decided to use this to their advantage and came up with a brilliant move.
The previous bill No. 12191 on the decriminalization of porn was titled «On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Improve Its Separate Provisions on Criminal Offenses Against Public Order and Morality.» Something rather abstract and not very obvious, you must agree. Instead, the new bill No. 15294 is titled as follows: «On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Strengthen Responsibility for the Production and Distribution of Child Pornography.» The main goal of both initiatives is the same — to decriminalize the creation of adult content. But the presentation and the main message, which comes straight from the title, are completely different.
Authors' collective No. 15294 decided to kill two birds with one stone (or those same eared «rabbits» from PlayBoy magazine) — not only to decriminalize adult porn (which, far from sin, no one mentions in the title of the bill), but also to increase responsibility for the creation and distribution of children’s. And here this same voter from «holy Galicia» can ask his deputy — «What’s wrong with you, you didn’t raise your finger to press the button for the fight against pedophiles? How is that? We saw you in church on Sunday before…» And such an imaginary deputy himself receives a reinforced concrete excuse — «well, how could I not vote for increased responsibility for child porn? I’m a righteous, highly moral person! Well, at the same time, adult content was accidentally decriminalized, but what’s up there, who doesn’t have it?»
So, during the next plenary sessions, a historic event — the decriminalization of porn within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada — may yet take place, and now this step has perhaps the greatest chance of success. It remains to wish the deputies not to «get lost» during the vote and to firmly press the green button.
