Off Air... with Jane and Fi - The spirit of Bonnie Tyler is with us...
Episode Date: August 11, 2026It's Wednesday and Fi and Eve have already had a meeting, a pre-meeting to the meeting, and a pre-pre-meeting conversation - but they're not all chatted out just yet! They cover getting distracted at ...work (ironically), there's news on Cheltenham, an update from our early-rising jeweller Harriet, and Fi gives us a song... Plus, Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law at Durham University, discusses her new book 'Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back'. You can check out our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@OffAirWithJaneAndFi Our most asked about book is called 'The Later Years' by Peter Thornton. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: janeandfi@times.radioFollow us on Instagram! @janeandfiPodcast Producers: Eve SalusburyExecutive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Eve and I've had a pre-meeting and then a meeting.
We had a semi-meeting before the pre-meeting by the lift.
And now I just think I've said too many words today already.
We've had a lot of conversations already today.
Do you find that some days, because you're quite good, Eve,
at winding in your social battery at work when you need to be concentrating on stuff?
If I may say so, you've got a very definitive,
force field around you sometimes. Have you always been able to do that? No. Well, actually, I think
starting this job, and you must have found this at some point as well, it's a massive learning curve,
learning to read and write with lots and lots of noise around you. So there's obviously the outputs
going with the radios on. People are having interesting conversations around you all the time.
And sometimes they're playing pub quizzes. And sometimes they're not that interesting. And you have to really learn to
tune things out and then sometimes it's too resistable so you tune them back in and then you join in.
We have a very chatty, lovely, lively office so I think you have to pick your battles.
But I think you do manage it quite well because sometimes I'll look over at you and I think
no, she's absolutely, this is not the time to say e-hee.
And I think that is a good thing. Working in offices with the level of noise that now exists,
I think is a massive, massive change in my lifetime.
Oh, really?
God, yes.
When I first started way back in the day in local radio stations,
you would have the output on in the newsroom,
but there'd be very little noise accompanying that.
You really didn't chat, chat, chat through the day.
In fact, it would be quite odd if you walked into a room
and people were having a conversation about something non-work-oriented.
And I'm sure lots of officers are still like that,
But I think radio, are we allowed to say radio anymore?
Should we say?
Audio.
Audio.
I think now it is quite buzzy, but then it's weird as well
because everyone's got headphones available.
So maybe that just makes people talk even louder.
Do you think it's social media and people bringing more of themselves to work?
So there's the chat flows freer.
I think that's a very good point.
I think all of our kind of guardrails of different bits of our lives are down these days.
So it is very loud.
And we all try and keep quiet for a very important part of the schedule.
Like the quiz in the mid-morning show, which happens at 10 to 1.
It's called Can You Get to Number 10?
And we all like to play along with that, don't we?
Yes.
But it's the only time that everybody's concentrating on just the one thing.
It's weird.
Because of the way the radio is structured, people have different points of their day
where they need to focus.
And that doesn't always align with everyone around.
you. So we go on hour up two. So one o'clock is supposed to be quite a concentration stations.
Yeah, we tried that, didn't we? That just lasted about a week. Me and Rosie had a very long,
boring conversation yesterday about 20 plus one about whether we snooze our alarms and how many times
we snooze them. And I did think, God, we're going on now. I don't know if you tuned into that
competition.
Company time.
Company time.
I'm going to give you some emails.
That first email is about when we're at Chelten.
Now I know that we can't give away.
We cannot give away our guest.
We're going to wait for the announcement from Cheltenham
and for that website to go up.
But can we at least say the day that we're appearing
so people can book their traveller they want to?
I can say definitively that we can share that information
from tomorrow after 10 a.m.
Oh my word.
So is it Gita?
who has written in. So I'm sorry about this. You're going to have to wait until tomorrow.
And then all...
Can we give the name of the person?
We can share everything from tomorrow.
Okay. Well...
So tomorrow's podcast, we will have news of Cheltenham.
Geita, your best years are definitely ahead of you.
Currently, we cannot confirm what to know whether we'll be there.
And there was another lovely email in there, I think, as well, from somebody who had been to North Berwick.
Yes, this comes from Wendy. I'm sitting in Sunny North Berwick.
after a weekend at Fringe by the Sea.
Just wanted to report back
that while we were disappointed not to see you both,
we thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Jan Ravens.
I was looking out for wait for his backs but didn't spy any,
but I did notice that all of us women of a certain age
had all turned up in sensible footwear, not a heel in sight.
Thank you for your podcast.
It keeps my mind preoccupied in a worrying world.
She also says her husband was one of the few men in the big tent
and he laughed loudly.
Well done, sir, because there are usually only about three of you
in there. We do appreciate that. We do very much so. You've been dragged along and sometimes the arms
are folded but sometimes by the end of it you're a convert. I hope that everybody who went
along to North Berwick thoroughly enjoyed Ruth Davidson and Jan Ravens and our apologies
again that we couldn't make it but we do very much hope that we'll be there next year.
The early morning register needs a name added to it. It's Nicola who is joining us from
Hartfordshire and I'm sorry it sounds like you had a really
terrible 20 years in a relationship there, Nicola,
and Solidarity, sister.
You've now found yourself a late in life, love interest.
And I very much, very much hope that it is going well.
We also heard from our jewellery designer Harriet yesterday.
Yeah, and we were wondering why she appeared on the radio.
She had to get up at 4.30 in the morning to go on the radio as a jewelry designer.
But it is because she's also a business founder.
They like to call me an entrepreneur and retailer with four branches.
I've been lucky enough to blaze a few trails over the years,
both in creative business and jewellery ethics,
so I sometimes get asked to put my business hat on
and talk about the real world of running a business these days.
Interesting question from Eve about what time I go to bed,
I own for 10 to 10.30, but in reality,
I rarely managed to turn the light out before 11.30.
Tell you what, Harriet, you should just pop into the office at around 120
and joining the conversation with Eve and Rosie
about what time they set their alarms for
and how often they put it on snooze.
on radio days continues Harriet
I'm much more disciplined
and usually managed lights out by 10.30
I used to lie awake worrying
that I wasn't getting enough sleep
but these days I don't worry about it
I sleep well but for less time
get up and get on with everything else
work kids
well young adults now
three cats and six chickens
bloody hell
I'm worried that you have three cats
and six chickens
and I wonder whether those numbers
were ever different Harriet
do the cats just ignore the chickens
sometimes I think cats
can be scared of cats.
I wouldn't be surprised if the chicken's actually terrified the cats slightly.
That's true.
At least one of my cats would just run a mile.
That's Miss Barbara.
She's not interested.
Not interested at all.
Harry, I tell you what, we're going to keep you on file
because quite often we need a business leader who's actually out,
you know, someone who's out in the field who's actually running a business.
And definitely, when budget time arrives,
maybe we could persuade you away from a rival radio station that you're appearing.
on very first thing in the morning. You might like to come and join us on Times Radio.
Can you take some singing from me, Eve, or is that a bit too much?
I might turn my headphones down, but go for it.
Okay, it's Sean in Caterham.
Hello, Fee and Eve, as Fee once sang the theme tune to Champion the Wonder Horse
with accompanying, naing noises. I don't recall doing that.
Nor do I, thankfully.
When reading a previous message of mine, I'm hoping that she'll find her inner Bonnie Tyler
during this email, and that Young Eve knows who the Welsh Belt or outer.
of songs that she is.
You're aware of Bonnie.
Why don't you remind me?
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit restless
and I dream of something wild.
Turn around, bright eyes.
Earlier in the year, you held my hand through some pre-holiday jitters.
Do you know what?
There's a little bit more coming.
You've got some pipes on you.
Eve, that is the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
It's only Tuesday.
Christy, girl.
I tell you what, the really embarrassing thing is,
only if I sing in a very, very low key.
So when everyone else,
I only ever sing out loud in public at Carol services now
due to the restraining order.
And everybody else, you know,
women are singing in a top octave,
and I do have to lower the octave.
You can imagine it's the same for me.
Of course, you'd be in the baritones, wouldn't you?
Yep, no discounts for us.
Earlier in the year, you held my hand through some pre-holiday jitters
before I embarked on a blustery ferry ride to Normandy.
We lived it with Sean, didn't we?
Absolutely lived it with you.
Now, should you read this during Tuesday's podcast, we're doing it?
It's probable that I'll be listening while trapped in an endless European entry exit system,
that's the EES, queue at Palmer Airport, against my usually better judgment.
I'm travelling to a sweltering high season, Mayorka.
I've booked pricey but not ideally time flights, a relatively expensive hotel
and an evening boat trip that should afford me a clear view of the West-Northwest horizon.
Now, Eve, why might Sean and Katerham have done this?
Does it have something to with Bonnie?
If all of those elements come together along with cloudless skies,
I will get to experience an eclipse, not of the heart, but of the sun.
A bucket list wish achieved.
However, this holiday's success depends entirely upon witnessing just one.
one minute and 36 seconds of totality at 8.31pm on Wednesday evening,
it could so easily all go awry.
Encouraging words in the face of what I acknowledge is entirely self-imposed stress will be much appreciated.
And the end bit, I really need you tonight.
Amazing.
Forever's going to start tonight.
Once upon a term I was falling in love.
Now I'm only falling aboard.
That's enough.
I did, didn't I? I certainly did.
Sean, I mean, that is an amazing thing to do.
I hope that New Yorkers calm down a bit
because they've had some very, very big protests
against tourists, haven't they, this week?
And I don't know what you feel about it, Sean.
But it's complicated that, isn't it?
I'm very much with the Myalkians,
but also I've really loved visiting your island
and I've been one of those tourists quite often.
And Sean seems nice.
Sean seems lovely.
I don't think.
He's not going to do any harm.
And by the sounds of it,
you're not renting out an Airbnb that actually used to be somebody's flat.
I think that's what they're trying to stop, as is Barcelona.
But away from all of that stuff, I really hope that you do catch a glimpse of it.
I really hope you've got the correct glasses.
There's been quite a thing, hasn't that?
People selling glasses that don't use them.
Are you doing anything special for it?
No, are you?
No, but I sort of wish I was.
Just don't use the 3D glasses that you use when you go and see toys.
story that those aren't going to help at all. We don't get the best view of it, do we,
in this country, which is why Sean's heading off. But I tell you what, mate, send us some
pictures and I really, really, really hope that you don't see the eclipse through other people's
pictures of it on their phones while you're still waiting in an EESQ. Because it does sound like
that's a possibility, and that would be extremely infuriating, wouldn't it?
So pictures of the eclipse
Yeah those would be
Actually they would know
They'd be very boring wouldn't they
If somebody sent us one
We wouldn't want to see many many more
No especially not yeah
I'd rather no
No okay keep them to yourself
It'll come round again
We don't want to see them
In about 40 years
Short stories for summer
Etty's in Stratford upon Avan
And she's still using the MNS disinfectant
Good for you
I've changed fragrance now
In the tea tree and burgomot
I've gone to, I think it might be
sandalwood and seed or something.
It's very sophisticated.
No, it's disappointing.
Oh, you're going to go back?
I'm definitely going to go back.
Don't mess with a good thing was the message that I ignored.
I've just read and couldn't put down
the fabulous Persephone book of short stories
published a couple of months ago.
It's book number 100,
and as per usual, Besefone,
do I'm saying that right?
Besefony.
I thought it was Pessephanine,
but what do I know?
Persephone, you know a lot of books have published a stunning summer read.
It's a collection of 20th century stories by women writers from 1909 through to 1986.
The stories are as varied as the women who've written them with some interesting themes usually related to men.
Persephone shine a light on the detail of women described as domestic feminism.
I learnt this term recently, which perfectly describes the richness of women's lives,
so often hidden, much like the authors they discover and publish.
I read it in a couple of days. I wasn't even on holiday, but it transported me to so many different places and periods of time that I felt like I had been away. Well, that's a great recommendation. Domestic feminism, I've not heard that term myself either. So I'm going to use it a lot now. Oh, God.
Yeah. On that tip, actually, I know that we're not putting the interview that we're about to do in this very studio and an hour's time out today. But can we talk about it?
I don't see why not.
Bonnie Garmus is coming in.
She's downstairs.
Is she?
She's arrived already.
Okay, right.
So we need to wrap this up quite succinctly.
No, we've got a little bit of time.
Now, you read lessons in chemistry.
I did.
What impression did it leave on you?
Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, I really loved it.
I thought it was so readable.
It built really well.
It was quite a frustrating read at times,
but then it had a great payoff.
What did you think?
Oh, I loved it.
Yeah.
Really, really loved it.
and I think as a very, very readable, dramatic, sometimes traumatic exploration
of how a woman deals with her frustrations.
I thought it was just beautiful.
And also quite funny, which is hard to do in a book that does have traumatic bits in it.
I thought it was a bit weird that sometimes you heard from the dog.
Okay, yes, I know what you mean.
But I got into it eventually. It was a very smart dog.
Very smart. 6.30.
Yep.
Which is just such a funny name.
But one of the things that we definitely have to talk about in this upcoming interview with Bonny Gamas,
who has a new book which is out in October called Peck and Peck, which is all about a poetry magazine
and a young man called Bata, who believes that his chosen path in life is to be a poet.
I didn't realize that Bonnie Gamas had a greyhound, so we're going to have to talk about that.
My apologies in advance.
but also her dog's name was a was numerical and I've just never come across that before
so I chucked that out to the hive do you have any pets who you've called 37 or 5 or
212 it's a completely new concept I like it though yeah 630 works because it's not it's a time isn't it
but just the number I think her current greyhound is just
called a number. So one of many, many facets, and you'll be able to hear that interview in
October after the book is published. It's quite a big tease. It is a very big tease, isn't it?
Yeah. I think Gita's doing better with just listening to Moran. What have you got? Do you have
another email? And then we will introduce our guest today, who we really need to have a chat about
this one too. I've had an email from Barbara, a hair loss follow-up. You did the email with Jane.
from Barbara. She'd been experiencing alopecia.
Yes, and it started wearing a topper, which had been very effective.
Barbara says, Jane asked how I am now after my alternative hair epiphany.
So here goes. It's going well. I sent the link to the podcast to friends
as a way of telling them about my hair loss and what's been going on with me
and have a support and kindness in return. Sometimes when I'm detaching the hair clips
from my meagre hair to remove the topper, I feel momentarily sad that it's not my real hair.
but I tell myself it's okay to grieve
and the feeling passes quickly.
Reflections on wigs versus hair extensions.
I think the distinction is that hair extensions
are viewed as an enhancement
but wigs are seen as something diagnostic for a deficiency.
Thank you for reading out my email.
It's really appreciated, Barbara.
Okay, yeah, it is a good point.
Hair extensions, you need quite a lot of still healthy hair
to attach them to, don't you?
So they do have a different connotation.
Barbara, we do have quite a few other emails about hair loss
and some of these things we will save until Jane and I are back together again
just so that she doesn't miss out on conversations that she very much wants to be a part of too.
A quick one on word faux pass comes in from Happy Days Helen Manley.
Today's trailing labia email may be laugh out loud
and reminded me of many years ago when a colleague was telling us all in the office
about a wedding shed attended that weekend.
Apparently the bride had walked down the aisle looking all vaginal.
I've been to weddings where they do.
Lots of ruffles.
Eve.
Eve Salisbury.
Oh my word.
Very, very shocked at that.
Has it suddenly got too hot in here for you?
What happened?
We've got a really important interview for you to listen to next,
but it does have to come with a warning
because we completely get it.
Claire McGlynn has written an extraordinary book called Exposed,
which is a very careful investigation into and consideration of the effects of extreme pornography
on all of us, not just people who come across it or deliberately go out to find it
or have been victims of it themselves.
So we've been very careful in this interview not to be too graphic
about some of the things that Claire has seen and is writing about.
So please don't think that suddenly you're going to.
to have terrible, terrible imagery in your head.
You won't, but what we've definitely tried to keep in
is as much relevant material as possible
to convey the true nature of what it is
that she has been investigating.
I hope that makes sense.
I would say that our guardrails are good in this interview
and it would be great if you could listen to it
and let us know your thoughts afterwards.
Here she is.
You say early on in your book,
the problem is not with porn itself,
the problem is patriarchal porn.
Let's start there.
What do you mean by that statement?
So I use patriarchal porn to describe the mainstream porn,
you know, on the likes of porn hub, X videos, X-Hamster.
In other words, the material that's targeted at heterosexual men
that's viewed by millions every day.
That's what I really wanted to focus on
because that's what's having the most impact on all of us.
And that is what's underpinned by this kind of patriarchal values, really.
And can you also just set out the stall for modern pornography?
I mean, how many people are using it?
How often people are using it?
Is it possible to ever know?
Well, we have some information.
Pornhub itself tells us that 130 million people every day worldwide are watching Pornhub.
But the media regulator in the UK, Ofcom, tells us that 10 million men a month are watching.
porn and mostly porn hub again. And then another study, for example, of under 35s by Ladd Bible last year,
76% of young people were watching porn every week and one in five men were. So it's being viewed
all the time in millions. So this is why it's having, I think, such an impact on all of our lives.
And where are the women in all of those statistics? Yeah, well, women are watching, are watching porn.
And many younger women say they're doing it in terms of, well, it's an education.
isn't it? That's the sex education these days. And women as well are learning about sex. You know,
what's expected, what's normal, what are the boundaries. And of course for sexual pleasure as well.
Although some studies, my colleague Fiona Vera Gray spoke to lots of women about their viewing of porn.
And some of them so uncomfortable about what's there. But that's what's there. You know, that's what's easily accessible.
One of the arguments that runs through the book is a challenge to people who say if you are
illiberal about pornography. You are denying people a basic human right. You are prudish,
you are sensorial, and you're just not really on everybody's side. This is what's been said to us,
isn't it, to shut us up for years. And I do try and turn that on its head, because if I think about it
from a perspective of women, particularly younger women, my point is we have to regulate
this mainstream patriarchal porn if we're actually going to free women up to have sex.
freedom. Because at the moment, this dominant narrative that prioritises men's rights, men's
pleasure, women are there for, you know, men's play things, that's not about our sexual pleasure
or our sexual freedom. So I actually think this is about liberating our desire by regulating
this patriarchal pornography. So it's the exact opposite of those arguments. Very early in the book,
you do say that there is hope on the horizon. And actually, I'd quite like to talk about that
before we talk about all of the terrible, terrible stuff,
because sometimes I think we lose people
when we start talking about the reality of porn
because it's very difficult to hear.
So I don't want anyone to switch off,
I want to do hopeful stuff.
And just to warm people,
we were then talking a bit more depth
about some of the terrible, terrible content that's out there.
So set out the hopeful stall for us, please.
Well, so when I describe patriarchal porn,
that is about, yeah, men's rights and men's dominance.
But the point there is that's changeable.
You know, patriarchy isn't set in stone.
It's very dominant, but we can change it.
So my, you know, I try and set out in the book
how we can regulate this pornography to free us
and have better, you know, lives all round.
And so that is hopeful.
And we can actually do it.
You know, it's not, I think,
the writer Rebecca Solnott,
talks about hope being a radical act that we have to hold on to. Because if we give up hope,
you know, we let those who, you know, the tech platforms, the porn platforms, we let them do what we want
because we just decide there's nothing we can do. So, yeah, hope is a radical act because we can
make a difference. How has it come to be the case that if you start watching pornography,
very soon you are taken to quite disturbing pornography? Is it true that as humans,
We will only stay interested in something if we feel uneasy about it.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the case, doesn't it?
Like we know with social media, we are attracted to what's, you know, more humiliating,
what's more shocking, what's more polarising.
Despite what we might like to think, that's what attracts us and draws us in
and we click on that material and then we get sucked in.
And it's really important to remember that the porn platforms are just like
the large social media platforms in this.
So they want to keep us engaged.
So they feed us more extreme content, more boundary pushing, more shocking.
And that's how we get sucked into this, you know, more and more horrific material.
How is the horrific material currently being regulated?
Well, so, and we've just had some recent legislation actually adopted in the UK just over the last year.
much of that awful stuff like say stuff of non-consensual say rape porn
is not actually supposed to be there on the platforms anymore
it still is because the law's not enforced yet
but we're taking steps and soon the strangulation porn should not be on there either
but again we've got to wait to see if that's going to be properly enforced
so in the UK we have taken some steps over the last couple of years
to try and get rid of some of the sexually violent material online
not yet happened in practice.
And who is doing the enforcing?
So in the UK it's the media regulator ofcom.
And the challenge there is we can persuade the government to act
because many of us in public, we'll write to our MPs,
we'll campaign and we get a legal change.
It then goes to the regulator ofcom to enforce.
And, you know, who knows who they are?
Who knows what they're doing?
It's very difficult to hold them more accountable.
And unfortunately, it's not just me,
there's many people that offcom has been disappointing, shall we say,
and how it's been enforcing some of this.
Yeah.
I mean, presumably one of the massive problems,
and you do talk about this in the book,
is the idea of people being able to stop themselves
from watching very harmful stuff.
And also the idea that people who have grazed across something
that is very, very wrong,
feeling confident enough to report it
because there would be a fear attached to that.
that you had gone in search of that yourself?
I mean, it's a very, very difficult area to police.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it should be on individuals
to be governing this material and to be reporting it, etc.
I just don't think that's, it's not, well, it's not that our fault
because it is being algorithmically produced and presented to us.
And so I really think it is the platforms that we have to hold accountable for that.
It's not up to individuals to try and individually challenge.
these massive corporations.
A warning would come up, though.
Is that the case?
It depends what you're searching for.
You're right.
You can't type into most of the mainstream platforms,
something like rape.
But you can find it otherwise.
You know, you can find force.
You can find don't.
You can find no.
So you can find it in other ways.
Similarly, with child sexual abuse material,
you can't type in some of those terms.
But very recently, you couldn't type in young girl,
and that wouldn't bring you up anything,
but you could type in girl young, and it did.
Okay, and there are many, many more examples that you point out.
So just, you know, to really make sure that people understand this,
what's the difference between typing in strangle and typing in strangulation?
That's another one, isn't it?
Yeah, I suppose it's an example of when you get in,
it's a difference between sleep and ass sleep is another one.
So sleep on porn hob, they did block after the judge.
Giselle Pelico, you know,
well, convictions.
But asleep, you can still find, and it's the same on Google.
And I suppose what it just shows to me is that these companies,
whether it's Google or the porn platforms,
they do listen to the public and they'll block some turns,
but they don't do it, you know, they don't do it in a wholehearted way.
They're not actually trying to reduce this.
The prevalence of this material, they're just trying to stop us, you know,
finding some of the worst stuff. Yes, and a cynical person, Claire, would say that they are
doing that on purpose to keep making money because it is absolutely within their power and their
expertise and understanding to be able to put together every single term that would take you to that.
Yeah, 100%. Of course they could, because they can block stuff when they want to. And we even know
this from whether, you know, if you look at whether it's copyright, etc. You know, if you try and
share some copyrighted piece of material online, you can get, you know, you can get emails,
very quickly and it will get taken down instantly.
But we're not yet doing that, whether it's deep fakes of women,
you know, sexual deep fakes or some of this pornography.
They're not yet doing it, no.
You have many, many fantastic lines in the book.
One of the things that really stayed with me
is a piece that you write that is under the heading,
it stains your brain.
Now, can you unstain a brain?
Because so many young people are coming across some really,
horrendous extreme pornography out of genuine adolescent curiosity and they have images in their
mind that are harmful. Is there evidence that they can be helped to remove that? What do you think?
So it stains your brain was a comment from a young boy, a young teenage boy who, yeah,
was describing the horrific material he'd been seeing online.
and just, yeah, couldn't get out of his head.
And I can understand that.
I can think of some of the videos I watched
when doing the research for the book,
and they're very visceral.
You can feel them.
In terms of, can we change?
I mean, you know, young people's brains,
we're always talking about how fluid and plastic they are.
So I think we have to hope that we can shift those ideas
that are implanted very early.
But that takes action.
You know, that requires active public campaigns,
it requires different forms of material, it requires education.
So we can do that, but again, it would need, it needs a national conversation.
So actually it needs more people to be realising what you're just saying about what,
what's going into young people's brains and how do we change that?
And how do we change that for the better?
We've talked about this subject and particularly on our podcast before.
And we have acknowledged the fact that very few adults, very few parents,
want to go and search out horrendous pornography on the internet
in order to be better informed about what their children might be watching,
it is completely understandable.
But would you advise people to do that?
I mean, you've just said you can't unsee some of the things that you've seen.
It's very tricky.
I don't know if it's about, well, I was going to say,
I don't know if it's about going online and watching it.
Although, having said that when you do do that,
I think many people, you know, do have quite, if you've not been on some of these sites,
quite a visceral, strong reaction to it just because one of the comments that's been said to me
over the last few months since the book came out is people know, they've known it's gotten more extreme
and they know, you know, a lot of it is sexually violence, but they hadn't realized quite how bad it was.
But I don't think parents have to go online, but I think, yeah, educating themselves,
well, that sounds too fancy, but just understanding more about what's,
out there. And even some of the children's commissioner reports explain that in detail. So they are
telling us that under 18s, you know, more than half of them have seen strangulation content,
have seen incest content, have seen forced content. So, you know, that's what the young people
are seeing and viewing. And what happens with the advances in technology, if AI can make
pornography that is completely illegal, so it's incest or it's extreme violence,
or it's child abuse, the simple fact that there haven't been real humans involved in that,
does that mean that it's not illegal to have made it?
Does it exist in a different place? What's that?
Well, so if any material, so for under 18s, there's very specific laws
and any AI-generated child sexual abuse material is unlawful, completely unlawful.
If you make, say, let's talk about something like rape pornography, and it's AI generated,
if it's realistic, so it looks, you know, like humans,
which, of course, a lot of AI does now.
Yeah, that would be illegal as well to possess and to share.
Yeah, because it's depicting rape.
I think the really important thing to remember about the AI generated material
is that AI can only generate it because that's what exists on the internet.
So I've had conversations with people who try and say,
oh, well, AI generated child sexual abuse, you know, it's fine because it's not real children.
And I have to point out, it's only possible to make that stuff
because there is real child sexual abuse material.
And so it's the same with rape porn or incest porn or what have you.
It's a reflection of what's on the internet.
And that's why it's also still problematic.
Do you think that enough is being done to help exactly those people
whose lives have been ruined,
not because they've watched the pornography,
because they are the pornography?
Well, we're certainly with sexual deepfakes.
Yeah, women are, women feel very violated when sexually explicit deepfakes are made of them without their consent.
And it's a kind of threat, actually, that hangs over all women.
I speak to young students and they're saying, you know, this now is one of the things they're having to deal with in their everyday lives.
You know, the risk of being deepfaked.
And I don't think society yet takes that seriously enough.
Yeah, and it impacts on women's actions online as well.
It restricts our actions online.
So if we go right back to where we started, if patriarchal porn is the problem, how can you get men to watch feminist porn, to watch a different type of less harmful pornography?
Well, yeah, it's a difficult thing, isn't it? If you say that in fact, you know, because pornography has always been around, hasn't it? You know, people want to engage in sexually explicit materials. And yeah, the challenge is how do you get them to engage in stuff that isn't patriarchal?
frankly you're going to have to probably pay for it
you know a bit like
you know you have to pay for your journalism
you have to pay for your you know if you want
quality material that's
not harmful you have to make a bit
of an effort and you'll probably have to pay for it
and that's what
that's what we would have to do the only thing I'd say
about the quote feminist porn is that
there is that material
and of course that that should be
encouraged but it's still a tiny
part of what's out there
the majority of material there
is still that what's accessible on these mainstream sites.
Now, can we talk about two very specific terms?
And I'm just going to do this right at the end
to enable people who want to leave the conversation
or have little ears listening, God forbid.
So you know that you can go
and it's been an absolutely fascinating conversation so far.
I think just for people who are curious
about what exactly it is that we're talking about,
can you explain two things to us?
Can you explain public toilet,
which was a kind of, I think we'd call it a viral sensation piece, wasn't it?
What is that?
So that, now that interestingly is a video I came across just towards the end of writing the book,
and it was actually on X.
And so that's a very good point to make,
because although I've been talking about the mainstream sites so far,
all of this type of material is on X,
and actually X has even fewer content controls on some of the mainstream sites.
Public Toilet was a video with this woman literally,
has a public toilet, a toilet seat rather, round her head. Men urinating into her mouth and into
her eyes. She's smiling at the camera, which is also one of the challenging things that
trying to convince you that she's enjoying it. And in the end, she's actually forced to lick
the floor and the urine off the floor. And I think one of the things for me about this video is that
it's obviously deeply misogynistic. I think it shows the loathing by
some men of women in porn. And it's not illegal and it probably never will be. So although I've
been talking about regulation and extreme porn, that's a type of video that's possibly always
going to be there until society itself becomes less patriarchal. And can you explain the term
blacked, what being blacked is because there's a terrible racist element in all of this,
isn't that? Yeah. So although we've had more conversations in the last couple of years about
pornography very little actually about racism. You're absolutely right. Blacks is basically where
white women are having or being forced to have sex with black men. So and there's various variations
of that, but it's a very, very popular genre, as is some of the interracial material. And, yeah,
you know, some of the black men as well, three times more likely to be portrayed as being forceful.
and aggressive, you know, kind of reproducing these sorts of stereotypes of black men.
So that's about the only time in porn that you actually know who the men are
is when they're black because they're labelled as such.
Claire, I think you do absolutely remarkable work.
And, you know, it is such disturbing stuff to talk about.
You know, we fully, fully understand that.
But it's also so helpful to know because it informs our voice, our opinion, all of that.
So I suppose I just say thank you for writing it.
You know, you've gone there when many of us are fearful too.
So thank you.
Well, thank you for being so willing to talk about it
because I know it's a common topic on your show and pod.
Claire McGinn and her book is called Exposed.
I do think as a writer and an academic,
you've just got to give her so much credit
for going to places that most of us just can't go to.
I just don't want to go in search of things
that I probably should know more about
in order to do interviews about them in my job.
But, you know, the stain on the brain is a very, very true thing.
You can't unsee things that you've seen.
So she has done all of that work,
so we can benefit from all of her knowledge.
Eve and I will be back tomorrow.
We're loving your emails just to tease you
with some of the titles,
ones that we haven't had time to do today,
but we will definitely get to tomorrow.
Chicken and biscuits.
A loquacious liver puddley and blockage.
More bizarre dolls names, some TV recommendations, and, oh yes, no, we've had Sean's turn around.
Total eclipse, not of the heart, but with thanks to Bonnie Tyler, we'd need an update.
So plenty, plenty to look forward to tomorrow, and we hope that you can join us then.
Congratulations, you've staggered somehow to the end of another off-air with Jane and Fee.
Thank you.
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