Kai Graf von Pahlen

Kai Graf von Pahlen WQ8

Personal Information; 

I am a Solicitor and I have an interest in Entertainment Law. I have previously written articles on the legal implications of inflicting consensual bodily harm on television, and my articles were published in the Solicitors Journal and the Entertainment and Sports Law Journal. See Kai’s LinkedIn profile

WikiQuals Aim;

WikiQuals is helping me to expand upon my previous research on the legal implications of inflicting consensual bodily harm on television, and to create a new piece of academic legal commentary.

WikiQuals Activity;

Outline of Issues to be addressed; There is a new and profitable market for the infliction of real pain on television, most notably in the British reality television shows ‘Balls of Steel’ and ‘Dirty Sanchez’, which involve two men, known as the ‘Pain Men’, who deliberately inflict consensual pain on each other in order to entertain their television audience. The law says that the consent of the ‘victim’ to an infliction of actual bodily harm does not usually prevent criminal liability of the ‘perpetrator’. The leading case authority is R v Brown where bodily harm was inflicted for sadomasochistic pleasure. In the words of Lord Templeman, ‘[The] violence of sadomasochistic encounters involves the indulgence of cruelty… Society is entitled and bound to protect itself against a cult of violence. Pleasure derived from the infliction of pain is an evil thing’. My research asks the question whether the ‘Pain Men’ have committed crimes. It could be argued that consensual infliction of bodily harm ‘for entertainment’ should be exempted from prosecution as a ‘lawful activity’ (like boxing, horseplay or bravado). Channel 4 argued that the ‘Pain Men’ were exercising their right to freedom of expression which is protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. I must therefore consider the impact of the Pain Men’s activities on public health and public morals with reference to the trend towards liberalism in the UK television culture.

WikiQuals Publications;

None

Wiki Quals Support;

Fred Garnett

URL for this page; bit.ly/WQ8Kai

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