If the government could read my mind, they'd ban it.

Unless something dramatic happens in the next few days, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to classify me as a sex criminal.

Not because of anything I have done, but because of what I like to look at.

Namely, fictional images made by and involving consenting adults, depicting (but not actually involving) rape, sexualised murder, "edgeplay" BDSM and so on and so forth.

Oh, it's fine if I'm one of the adults in the picture - as long as, of course, nothing that contravenes the Spanner ruling (namely that an adult is not legally able to consent to harm against themselves greater than "trifling and transient", even if to do so gives them sexual pleasure).

If you want to see how absurd this is, however, it should be noted that this law that is very close to being passed, will only apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will not apply in Scotland, where the devolved parliament will be able to have its own say on the matter (and to date, no such law has even been drafted there, let alone proposed to the parliament). Furthermore, no similar law has been proposed anywhere else in the democratic world!

Absurd though it may be, I'm still in danger of going to prison for 3 years and being added to the sex offenders register; of being the victim of vigilante lynch-mobs and witch hunts, of being the target of tabloid smear campaigns, of being unable ever to work in the fields that interest me most.

I'm scared. No, scratch that. I'm terrified. For the first time in my life, I am feeling genuinely persecuted and threatened by a government, that believes that the very basis of who I am is somehow illegal.

Obviously, it's a long way from "sex offenders register" to "gas chambers", but the difference is surely only a matter of degree (albeit a very very big difference of degree!) Yes, I know Godwin's Law and all that, but honestly - locking people up because of what happens in their minds, and what turns them on (as long as the generation of said turn-ons doesn't damage anybody) - what does that sound like to you?

I honestly have no problem with people saying that they think extreme porn is evil and harmful - as long as I can say equally forcefully why I believe the opposite. I have no objection to people wanting to keep it out of their homes - I'm not trying to force it on them, I just want to be allowed to have it in my home! I have no objection to people trying to persuade others to shun pornography of whatever type, and saying that in their opinion we are going to Hell or whatever.

What I have a problem with is when you make it a matter of law, when you criminalise innocent people who present no threat to society or to any individual, when you say that I deserve to go to prison and to be ostracised from society by being marked as a sex offender.