4 ms·

People like to give America shit for anti-porn activism and laws but it really seems like America is just trailing behind the rest of the anglosphere. This cas

People like to give America shit for anti-porn activism and laws but it really seems like America is just trailing behind the rest of the anglosphere. This case for instance, of Australians imposing their prudish values on American companies that were content to tolerate these naughty games. And those porn ID laws that Texas/etc get flack for are just on the path already trail blazed by the UK.

rstuart4133 1y ago
I can say as an Australia our governments have always been very enthusiastic about controlling what we can read, see, and hear. It was true 60 years ago with our movie rating scheme ("not given a rating" was the newspeak for "banned"), 30 years ago with games, and lots of books. The internet has more or less rendered these efforts moot in recent times. This was highlighted when they tried to impose a rating system on games a couple of decades ago. I asked a school kid about the effect on him. He said it didn't effect him, as he downloaded his games from the internet. It all fell apart about then. Consequently we had the opportunity to see seen the flood of porn would do to society, and noticed nothing of consequence. The flood of conspiracy theories for life hacks on the other hand was completely unanticipated and it's impact badly underestimated. Collective Shout is an excellent illustration of the effect. It's effectively a one girl band, yet her shouting on the internet about her desire to force her Baptist pro-life maternal morals down everyones throats has now been heard across the world.
gjsman-1000 1y ago
[flagged]
- ted_bunny 1y ago
  It's also an ideologically motivated misframing. It ignores any arguments about the actual harms of this sort of media and pretends it's all about pearl-clutching.
  - nemomarx 1y ago
    I don't think that's ignoring so much as most people do consider that pearl clutching censorship. You should at least cite some studies on the harms for discussion, but I've not been convinced by it in the past when I looked.
  - js8 1y ago
    What are the harms of pornographic media? To me it seems pretty clear that they help reduce sexual violence (why risk jail if I can safely indulge in a fantasy), and I wouldn't be surprised that countries with pornographic bans are more misogynistic.
    - gjsman-1000 1y ago
      [flagged]
    - gjsman-1000 1y ago
      This is like arguing legalizing prostitution prevents rape; and actually, it should be mandatory to allow it for that purpose. If we had a brothel in every city and in the back of every gas station, surely this would work out better for everyone.
      - js8 1y ago
        No, it's not the same thing. Legalizing prostitution still involves real people which can be harmed during the act; replaying depictions in media does not.
        gjsman-1000 1y ago
        If they consented and signed up for the job, you’re now disinterested in their consent? You’re now saying they can’t consent to this? And besides, it’s not like OF stalkers exist.
        js8 1y ago
Mistletoe 1y ago
Not surprising, that’s where they came from! >The Puritans were a group of English Protestants who originated in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. They sought to purify the Church of England by removing Catholic practices and beliefs. Driven by their religious convictions and facing persecution, they eventually migrated to North America in the 17th century, establishing colonies in New England.
autoexec 1y ago
I remember having to download the Australian version of Fahrenheit because the US release (renamed as Indigo Prophecy) was censored. In my experience the US loves violence while the rest of the world is more likely to censor it, but the US hates sex, alcohol, and anything else that might possibly offend Christians (including religious references and iconography like how Final Fantasy was censored to rename the spell "Holy" and the Tower of Prayers). Germans censor anything nazi related in the same way, banning swastikas like the US removes crosses. Japan seems the least likely to censor artistic works, and when they do it's often for violence.

rstuart4133 1y ago

I can say as an Australia our governments have always been very enthusiastic about controlling what we can read, see, and hear. It was true 60 years ago with our movie rating scheme ("not given a rating" was the newspeak for "banned"), 30 years ago with games, and lots of books. The internet has more or less rendered these efforts moot in recent times. This was highlighted when they tried to impose a rating system on games a couple of decades ago. I asked a school kid about the effect on him. He said it didn't effect him, as he downloaded his games from the internet. It all fell apart about then. Consequently we had the opportunity to see seen the flood of porn would do to society, and noticed nothing of consequence. The flood of conspiracy theories for life hacks on the other hand was completely unanticipated and it's impact badly underestimated. Collective Shout is an excellent illustration of the effect. It's effectively a one girl band, yet her shouting on the internet about her desire to force her Baptist pro-life maternal morals down everyones throats has now been heard across the world.

gjsman-1000 1y ago

[flagged]

ted_bunny 1y ago
It's also an ideologically motivated misframing. It ignores any arguments about the actual harms of this sort of media and pretends it's all about pearl-clutching.
- nemomarx 1y ago
  I don't think that's ignoring so much as most people do consider that pearl clutching censorship. You should at least cite some studies on the harms for discussion, but I've not been convinced by it in the past when I looked.
- js8 1y ago
  What are the harms of pornographic media? To me it seems pretty clear that they help reduce sexual violence (why risk jail if I can safely indulge in a fantasy), and I wouldn't be surprised that countries with pornographic bans are more misogynistic.
  - gjsman-1000 1y ago
    [flagged]
  - gjsman-1000 1y ago
    This is like arguing legalizing prostitution prevents rape; and actually, it should be mandatory to allow it for that purpose. If we had a brothel in every city and in the back of every gas station, surely this would work out better for everyone.
    - js8 1y ago
      No, it's not the same thing. Legalizing prostitution still involves real people which can be harmed during the act; replaying depictions in media does not.
      - gjsman-1000 1y ago
        If they consented and signed up for the job, you’re now disinterested in their consent? You’re now saying they can’t consent to this? And besides, it’s not like OF stalkers exist.
        js8 1y ago

Mistletoe 1y ago

Not surprising, that’s where they came from! >The Puritans were a group of English Protestants who originated in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. They sought to purify the Church of England by removing Catholic practices and beliefs. Driven by their religious convictions and facing persecution, they eventually migrated to North America in the 17th century, establishing colonies in New England.

autoexec 1y ago

I remember having to download the Australian version of Fahrenheit because the US release (renamed as Indigo Prophecy) was censored. In my experience the US loves violence while the rest of the world is more likely to censor it, but the US hates sex, alcohol, and anything else that might possibly offend Christians (including religious references and iconography like how Final Fantasy was censored to rename the spell "Holy" and the Tower of Prayers). Germans censor anything nazi related in the same way, banning swastikas like the US removes crosses. Japan seems the least likely to censor artistic works, and when they do it's often for violence.