Australia's adult industry claims the Customs seizure of American ''dwarf porn'' titles is setting a dangerous new precedent in the classification wars.
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Brisbane officers prevented two new titles, Midget Mania volumes 7 and 8, from being allowed into the country last month. The film's importers have not succeeded in having the films returned.
The EROS Association is now claiming the episode is a ''new benchmark'' and proof that Customs officials are pre-empting classification decisions that should be left to the experts.
Under Australian classification laws, films that portray ''offensive fetishes'' cannot be granted an X-rating, and must be refused classification or given an RC rating. The Australian Law Reform Commission released a discussion paper on the national classification scheme last month, and is taking submissions on the review until next month.
EROS Association chief executive Fiona Patten yesterday called for a moratorium on seizures of adult material - except child pornography material - while the review is under way.
She said the dwarf pornography seizure could be in breach of federal discrimination laws. ''It appears that Customs are trying to insinuate that when a large male adult actor has sex with a female dwarf or midget, that there is an element of coercion involved because of the size difference,'' MsPatten said.
''Large numbers of dwarfs and midgets are happily married to persons of normal height around the world.''
Ms Patten said it was not appropriate for Customs officers to block the importation of adult films from overseas that they considered could be refused classification if submitted.
She said this would deny Australian distributors the chance to edit a film to meet Australian standards.
A Customs spokeswoman was unavailable to respond to The Canberra Times before deadline.