| Revision as of 14:54, 24 November 2010 editNathan Johnson (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Pending changes reviewers12,381 edits result was keep← Previous edit | Revision as of 14:54, 24 November 2010 edit undoGigs (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers15,455 edits another attempt to make the polemic asserts more reasonable, please consider before revertingNext edit → | ||
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| *'''It is not a good thing for young people to be viewing these images'''. Other images on the Misplaced Pages may also be problematic, but these images are especially problematic since they depict extreme sexual situations, and they depict events that occur in pornography but not (at a verifiably notable level) in real life. A picture being worth a thousand words, this point may be lost on impressionable viewers. | *'''It is not a good thing for young people to be viewing these images'''. Other images on the Misplaced Pages may also be problematic, but these images are especially problematic since they depict extreme sexual situations, and they depict events that occur in pornography but not (at a verifiably notable level) in real life. A picture being worth a thousand words, this point may be lost on impressionable viewers. | ||
| *'''Many |
*'''Many consider these images misogynistic and degrading to women'''. A significant portion of readers view pornographic genres as intentionally misogynistic and degrading to women. While it may be appropriate to display images depicting the degradation of women in certain historical or sociological contexts, its not appropriate to use them in what is a least a borderline "fanboy" context. In the war between the sexes, the Misplaced Pages should not be taking sides. | ||
| ==Scope and definitions== | ==Scope and definitions== | ||
Revision as of 14:54, 24 November 2010
Essay on editing Misplaced Pages | This is an essay on the Misplaced Pages is not censored policy. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Misplaced Pages contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. | Shortcut |
 | This page in a nutshell: The Misplaced Pages shouldn't include images of hardcore pornography |
Articles about hardcore pornography subjects should not contain images which are, themselves, hardcore pornography.
Because: on the one hand, these articles are mostly about obscure sub-genres of pornography. They could be described as "fancruft", although this is perhaps unnecessarily harsh. The point is, these are not vital articles. They are marginal articles, and any images in them are, perforce, images in a marginal article.
On the other hand, in return for the extremely small encyclopedic value imparted by these images, we have that:
- There is a considerable cost to the encyclopedia to host these images. These few images are among the most contentious materials hosted on the Misplaced Pages, degrade the Misplaced Pages's reputation, create a political vulnerability for the Misplaced Pages, and drive away customers (including women; Misplaced Pages has a serious deficit of female readers and editors, and that is a problem, and this sort of thing doesn't help).
- It is not a good thing for young people to be viewing these images. Other images on the Misplaced Pages may also be problematic, but these images are especially problematic since they depict extreme sexual situations, and they depict events that occur in pornography but not (at a verifiably notable level) in real life. A picture being worth a thousand words, this point may be lost on impressionable viewers.
- Many consider these images misogynistic and degrading to women. A significant portion of readers view pornographic genres as intentionally misogynistic and degrading to women. While it may be appropriate to display images depicting the degradation of women in certain historical or sociological contexts, its not appropriate to use them in what is a least a borderline "fanboy" context. In the war between the sexes, the Misplaced Pages should not be taking sides.
Scope and definitions
Scope
This page is solely concerned with those activities which are primarily notable as occurring in hardcore pornography. It does not address the use of images in articles covering real-life human sexuality where the behavior in question occurs among populations at a notable level, and this is verified, and there is sufficient material for a worthwhile encyclopedia article, and the image depicts this real-life behavior.
Definition
"Hardcore pornography" is a fairly well-defined phrase. Wiktionary, the free dictionary, defines "hardcore pornography" as "Pornography featuring sexual penetration and other sexuality explicit acts". ("Explicit" is further defined as "very specific, clear, or detailed" and (in the pornographic sense) as "containing material that might be deemed offensive or graphic".) Our article on hardcore pornography (contrast with softcore pornography) discusses this in more detail.
It is true that at the limits, the application of the term "hardcore pornography" may be debated (as is true of many English terms, at the limits). Reasonable people may disagree over whether a particular article or image is hardcore pornography or not. That doesn't mean the term has no meaning, and in most cases the application of the term is uncontentious.
The disclaimer
The Misplaced Pages:Content disclaimer doesn't mention that we display hardcore pornography. The closest it comes is this statement:
- Misplaced Pages contains many different images, some of which are considered objectionable or offensive by some readers. For example, some articles contain... depictions of human anatomy.
The implication is that "depictions of human anatomy" are an example of objectionable material to be found herein. But hardcore pornography images go quite a very good bit beyond that. True, some non-hardcore articles (such as List of sex positions) also go well beyond what is described in the disclaimer, but illustrations in hardcore pornography articles are among the most extreme and egregious of these disclaimer violations.
Misplaced Pages:Advice for parents gets a little closer, writing;
- You may consider such material, present in a small percentage of articles, to be pornography.
To be disingenuous, dishonest, or even to accidentally mislead, in our disclaimers and advice pages would presumably be criticised by all, but we're falling into that trap - largely through omission. Were Misplaced Pages to eschew the display of hardcore images, the disclaimers would more represent reality - perhaps the reality the wider community already believes is the case.
See also
- Essays/Writeups
- Proposals
- Page Modifications
- Policy/Guidelines/Information