New UK Laws Regarding Strangulation, Incest & The Portrayal Of Characters Under 16
One content creator's attempt to explain the new laws
POLITICSUPDATESTHOUGHTS
Alice Mayflower
10/21/202615 min read
What’s Happening In The UK?
If you’ve been online recently, you might have seen that the UK is introducing some new laws for pornographic content. If you haven’t heard about this, buckle up, and I’ll dive into it with you in this blog/vlog.
The new laws that are coming into effect as of the 6th of November 2026 will make it illegal to own or publish/distribute porn which features:
Strangulation/choking/suffocation
“pornography that depicts penetrative sex between persons who a reasonable person would think are related or who are pretending to be related (so-called “incest porn”). This will include depictions of step-incest where one or both of the persons is portrayed to be under-18.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-pornography-factsheet)
An adult role-playing as being under 16 in a sexual context
Now, before I get into discussing the actual laws, I want to highlight three very important things.
First of all, it will be illegal to OWN or to PUBLISH these types of content.
So you might want to go scour your hard drives, old phones, old laptops/PCs and anything else you might have saved porn to. And keep in mind that “publish” also means sending to your partner.
If any video or clip on your devices features any of this content - at all - you could face up to 5 years in prison. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/crime-and-policing-act-2026-offences-relating-to-pornography)
The second thing I wanted to point out before I talk about the individual laws was the particular wording they’re using:
“Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, a person strangling or suffocating another, and a reasonable person looking at the image would think that persons were real. The offence would therefore include realistic AI generated images. …
Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity between family members. The offence is committed if a reasonable person looking at the image would think that the persons depicted were real, and taking into account any sound or information associated with the image a reasonable person would think the person were related or pretending to be related. …
Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity, where a reasonable person looking at the image and taking into account any sound or information associated, would think that at least one person in the image was or was pretending to be, under the age of 16. …” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-pornography-factsheet)
I know that’s a bit of a wall of text, but the parts to focus on are:
“A reasonable person looking at the image would think that persons were real”
and
“Taking into account any sound or information associated with the image a reasonable person would think the person were related or pretending to be related/under the age of 16”.
It’s very vague and leaves it up to an individual to make the decision. So where Person A might say, “it’s all good”, if Person B says, “no, that’s illegal”, then you’ll be likely to face an investigation and possibly jail time. Do you see the problem there?
And the third and final thing I wanted to talk about before addressing the laws themselves is something I noticed about how these laws are being reported.
I kept seeing in the subheadings of the news posts that these new laws were for England and Wales. Which gave me a brief moment of hope that Scotland (where I live) had decided not to go along with this porn panic. Unfortunately, it was just a technicality. Whilst
England and Wales seem to be introducing brand new laws to cover this, Scotland is simply amending existing laws to also cover this.
I’ve struggled to find an easy-to-read answer about what the law is in Northern Ireland. So if you’re based there, maybe seek out a professional? Sorry.
But these laws definitely apply to Scotland, England and Wales as of the 6th of November 2026.
Strangulation
Ok, let’s get into it. First up, let’s talk about the strangulation/suffocation law.
“The term ‘strangulation’ is not defined in the legislation and will be given its ordinary meaning. Whether an image depicts strangulation will be a question of fact for the court in each case. We consider that strangulation generally means one person applying pressure to another person’s neck.
The term ‘suffocation’ is not defined in the legislation and will be given its ordinary meaning. Whether an image depicts suffocation will be a question of fact for the court in each case. We consider that suffocation will generally mean depriving a person of air in a way that affects their ability to breathe. Unlike strangulation, this does not require pressure to the neck. It could, for example, involve covering someone’s mouth and nose or compressing their chest.” (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/crime-and-policing-act-2026-offences-relating-to-pornography#what-we-mean-by-strangulation-and-suffocation)
So, once again, they’re using broad strokes and vague language. Now you might read this and go,
“Alice, come on now, it’s pretty clear what they mean.”
But for someone who makes content for a living, this is in no way clear enough. Take “one person applying pressure to another person’s neck”, for example: how would I prove that pressure wasn’t applied to the neck if a hand/limb came into contact with it?
Does this mean that someone wearing a collar that is pulled on would count? After all, if you’re wearing a collar and someone pulls on it, then it will put some amount of pressure on your neck. So do I have to make sure I never feature collars being interacted with in my content?
And what about my wrestling content? Which is already under fire on so many platforms. Headlocks are a wrestling staple, but I guess now I’ll have to avoid them entirely? Will wrapping my legs around someone’s chest count as “compressing their chest”?
If I’m deep-throating a toy or penis and happen to be breathless afterwards, does that count as suffocation? Or if I’m eating someone out whilst they’re sat on top of me, will that be seen as suffocation? (Keeping in mind that they tried to make face sitting illegal but repealed it a few years later when they realised how ridiculous it was)
But let’s put aside the lack of specific guidance and the vague wording for a minute.
Breath play is dangerous. Choking/strangulation/suffocation is dangerous.
I’m not going to lie and pretend that it isn’t. I’m not stupid.
What I will say is that making something illegal doesn’t make it safer (e.g. drugs, abortions, etc). If you remove access to this type of content, you also remove access to education about this type of content. People can’t learn the safest ways to participate in this kink that they’re interested in, so they give it a go without knowing what they’re doing and that can end very badly.
Do I think all porn featuring strangulation/etc. is showing it in an educational and safe way? No.
Do I think the industry could do more to be more transparent about what we do to make the things we’re doing safer? Probably, yes. But that feeds into an idea that there is some sort of organised “industry” when nowadays it’s mostly independent creators figuring everything out as we go along, with a few studios (of varying size and professionalism) spread out around the UK.
Do I think that people will still buy my content if every video comes with a 10-minute lecture added on? Absolutely not.
Do I think schools and parents should take more responsibility in teaching young people that porn is entertainment and a fantasy just like other media/movies? Yes, absolutely.
Oh, and this is all coming into effect after Age Verification (AV) has been made mandatory in the UK, by the way. So there’s no possible way that anyone under 18 is accessing this content, since AV was 100% foolproof and not flawed in any way (sarcasm). So this law is fully dictating what adults are allowed to watch and enjoy as pornographic media.
So why are they making it illegal? If I have such a strong case against making it illegal, then what possible reason could they have to justify making it illegal?
And this is where I’ll lose some of you; it’s also where they expect everyone to back down.
It’s being made illegal to protect women and girls and to prevent/reduce sexual violence.
Which is obviously a good thing to be trying to do.
But it’s just the “violent video games create violent people” argument repackaged.
I’ve seen quotes or snippets of articles that feature women (varying ages) talking about times they’ve been intimate with someone and then, without consent or discussion, that partner has attempted to or successfully choked/strangled/etc. them, and they have stated afterwards that they saw it in a porn video. Now, obviously, that is bad and wrong. You should never do anything to anyone without their consent.
But why is it porn’s fault that people aren’t being educated on consent and how to talk to their partners about their sexual desires and fantasies?
I don’t watch a movie where the actor lies to their crush about being trapped together to force a relationship to manifest and think that’s an acceptable way to try and start a relationship with someone. (How many movies can you think of with this plot line? I bet it’s more than one)
I know that the things that happen in movies aren’t real. I know it’s for entertainment. It’s a fantasy.
Media literacy is an important skill and one that most of us have been taught in some way or another. Maybe your parent told you that not everything you see on TV is real when you were a kid? A teacher taught you not to believe everything you read online after you copy-pasted half your essay from the most sus website in existence (we didn’t have ChatGPT when I was in school).
So why are we focusing on blaming porn and creating vague laws, instead of looking at how we can better educate our population and increase everyone’s porn literacy?
Why do I now have 16 days (at the time of writing) to go back through literally hundreds of my own videos as well as hundreds of thousands of photos to try and find and remove anything I think might be illegal under this new law?
All whilst I’m still actively maintaining my websites, social media, going to shoots, travelling, doing my housework and just generally living my life. Oh, and writing this blog to explain to all of my followers/fans/fellow content creators/curious readers what exactly is going on (plus probably making a vlog about it too).
And we still have two more laws to cover…
Incest
Ok, now this one is going to have a lot of people celebrating, and I get it. On the surface, to some people it seems like it’s just a gross genre that should never have existed in the first place.
So before I say anything else, I’m going to remind you all that we are talking about fully consenting adults who are role-playing being related to each other in some way. It’s not real. Real incest is awful and should be condemned. But this is a fantasy.
You don’t have to like it, but do you have to criminalise it?
If someone watches step-sibling or step-parent or some kind of relation porn at an “impressionable age” (whatever that means to you, but keeping in mind that the UK has AV, so you can’t watch porn unless you're 18+), does that mean they want to participate in actual incestuous activities?
I’m also going to ask you all a question about the wording because I’m struggling:
“The meaning of relation includes stepparents, stepsiblings and foster parents where one of the persons is portrayed to be under the age of 18 – mirroring sexual activity that would be illegal in real life.”
Does this section mean that as long as the characters being portrayed are all 18+ then step-relation content is ok? I’m hoping there will be more clarification at some point.
Now I know this one is going to be more of an uphill battle, and frankly I don’t have the time or energy. Not to mention, I have no strong feelings about step-relation content. I’ve made some, but it’s not something I make a lot of.
What I’m more worried about is whether I’m going to be able to say “Mummy” (Mommy if you’re from outside the UK) or “Daddy” in my content.
“But Alice, isn’t that exactly what you just said you don’t make much of?”
Ah ha, no. I can see why you’re confused, though. I’m one of those stereotypical content creators with a mummy/daddy kink, so occasionally in my content I’ll use one or the other to refer to either the person who is acting as my Dom/Domme (it’s a kink thing; if you don’t understand, don’t worry) or myself as I play the Domme for the viewer.
So sometimes in my content I refer to my filming partner as Mummy/Daddy, or I refer to myself as Mummy.
But with this new law, I think that’s going to be flagged and labelled as illegal.
After all, the wording is that any “reasonable person would think the person were related or pretending to be related” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-pornography-factsheet), so by that argument someone could claim that me referring to someone or myself as Mummy/Daddy was me pretending to be related to them. Which would therefore make that content illegal.
Do you see my problem now?
And just a reminder: I now have 16 days (at the time of writing) to go back through literally hundreds of my own videos as well as hundreds of thousands of photos to try and find and remove anything I think might be illegal under this new law?
All whilst I’m still actively maintaining my websites, social media, going to shoots, travelling, doing my housework and just generally living my life. Oh, and writing this blog to explain to all of my followers/fans/fellow content creators/curious readers what exactly is going on (plus probably making a vlog about it too).
So let’s move onto the final law.
Portraying Someone Under 16
Again, with this one it makes sense that your initial reaction will be to celebrate.
“Of course we’re happy that people aren’t pretending to be under 16 in porn! That’s disgusting!” - you might say.
But hopefully by now you’re realising it’s not that simple.
So one last time I will remind you that the UK has AV in place, therefore anyone accessing porn needs to be 18+. To create and upload porn you have needed to prove you were 18+ for longer than the UK has been age verifying.
There is a kink referred to as age play that in its most simplified terms involves an adult role playing as a child and that can be in a sexual or non-sexual context. Frankly it’s a very niche kink and deserves a proper discussion some other time so I’m not going to get into it right now.
Once again, you don’t have to like it but do you have to criminalise it?
I don’t have time to try and defend something this niche so instead I’ll focus on how this law might be applied to me specifically. My hope being that will illustrate why it’s not so simple.
“Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity, where a reasonable person looking at the image and taking into account any sound or information associated, would think that at least one person in the image was or was pretending to be, under the age of 16.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-act-2026-factsheets/crime-and-policing-act-2026-pornography-factsheet)
Now I am a curvy 30 year old woman (at the time of writing this) with tattoos and piercings, it’s very clear that I am an adult. However, my personal taste leans towards pastels, cute aesthetic, plushies and other things which some would label as “childish” or potentially label as things that prove I’m pretending to be a child/under 16.
It’s already an issue I’ve run into on FapHouse. Several of my videos have been flagged as having items portraying a minor or something like that, because some of my plushies have been visible in the background. So they’ve been removed or prevented from being published at all.
My hair is very long and I like to wear it in braids or bunches in my content from time to time. Will that be deemed as me pretending to be under 16? Because some people will claim that certain hair styles are only for people of certain ages.
I wear a bow in my hair practically every day and probably in 98% of my content. Will that be flagged as pretending to be under 16?
Will all of the sites I post my content on ban plushies from being visible in content once this law comes into effect?
Some of my clothes feature Care Bears, My Little Pony, Sanrio characters and other characters from “children’s” media. Will that get flagged as me pretending to be under 16?
What if my bed, bed sheets or bed room are deemed “childish”? Will that mean I have to redecorate my bedroom to be able to keep making content? Whilst having to delete all of my old content?
Do you see how seemingly “good” laws can so quickly become a way to punish those who like to do things a little differently?
And for the final time I’ll remind you: I now have 16 days (at the time of writing) to go back through literally hundreds of my own videos as well as hundreds of thousands of photos to try and find and remove anything I think might be illegal under this new law?
All whilst I’m still actively maintaining my websites, social media, going to shoots, travelling, doing my housework and just generally living my life. Oh, and writing this blog to explain to all of my followers/fans/fellow content creators/curious readers what exactly is going on (plus probably making a vlog about it too).
Closing Thoughts
So here we are. If you read all the way through then thank you for your patience and well done for getting through my ramblings.
If you skipped to this point, that’s fair, the TLDR is that the new laws seem good but their vague wording are awful and as always we should focus on education rather than prohibition and punishment.
I do not think this was the way to handle this. I think the UK Government has slid further down this slippery slope and each day we are getting closer to living in a panopticon reality. If this keeps up I won’t be surprised if gay/trans/queer porn becomes illegal again. Or maybe we’ll get to the point where there’s only 3 legal positions to do in porn and you can only look a certain way. Who knows.
I know some people will respond to this by pointing out that they haven’t made it illegal for me to do these things off camera and I can still enjoy my kinks in my personal life. But imagine if videos of baking cakes became illegal, I can still bake a cake myself at home as long as I don’t record it. What if I don’t feel like baking myself but I want to watch someone else bake? What if I don’t have all the ingredients so I can’t do it myself? What if I wanted to bake a cake and record me doing it to send to my partner to show them that I was making them a tasty treat?
This war on porn is really getting old.
Is the porn industry perfect? No. Show me an industry that is.
Is the porn industry really an industry? Better question and one you might not understand straight away. If you’ve never been involved in porn you might have some idea about how it works. You might think that performers go to studios, film content and make lots of money. You might think that women film themselves in their bedrooms and upload it to a fan site and get rich whilst they sleep (I wish). You might think that vulnerable/impressionable young people (you probably assume women) are pressured into porn by partners or bad people. You might think there’s some kind of organising body that oversees everyone in the industry and enforces standards and regulations.
You might be surprised when you find out what it’s actually like and that what it’s like for me will be completely different from what it’s like for someone else.
But that’s another blog.
I’ll finish up by saying that if this type of content offends you, don’t watch it. If this type of content brings up memories of trauma, I’m sorry you had to go through that and I hope you find the healing you need. If you have no strong feelings about this type of content and think this has nothing to do with you then you need to go re-read “First They Came” by Martin Niemöller.
Now some of you might be wondering what you can do to support the Sex Workers impacted by this. The shortest and easiest answer will always be to give them money. That’s the reality of living under capitalism.
Want a different answer? You’ll have to ask each person individually to see what they most need. And don’t get upset if you don’t get a response.
Sources/Further Reading
Contact
contact@asking-alice.com
07542175349 (TEXT ONLY)
Alice Mayflower's Last Sexual Health Check-up: 13th October 2026
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