I realize there is nothing new about censorship, but for some reason I have been reading more and more about it over the past few weeks. Not so much the censorship of adult or mature material, but more specifically, the suppression of the shaft.
Accounts of artists having their work removed from social media are not new, but now it seems to have filtered over to even sites which have in the past always supported and promoted adult material. What is so alarming is that for the most part, the artists being censored are ones who focus on the male form. Many of these sites house thousands upon thousands of images of the female form, some much harder in focus than the images of men being removed.
When photographer Hans Fahrmeyer first sent me this series a few weeks ago, it came came with a link to a video of the work. If you have followed Sunday With Hans, you know there are often accompanying videos, beautifully edited together by Hans featuring his images and a usually exquisite piece of classical music. By the time I went to post, the video, along with the last few I had posted, had all been deleted by Vimeo.
Hans is an artist and these videos were simply compilations of his photographic images. Graphic... maybe, but no actual acts of sex or violence were ever depicted within any of them. Most sites who host adult material have filters to ensure anyone viewing understands adult material is included.
I do understand that sites like Vimeo don't want to be overrun with homemade sex tapes and bedroom images from anyone with a camera. There has to be however, a way to distinguish what is and what is not pornographic. Sadly, this line seems more often than not to always come down to a penis.
1 comment:
This is definitely a frustrating problem for any artist trying to get their work out there. I constantly find myself having to justify my work as "erotic art" and not "porn"...even to people who should know better like studios.
I understand the predicament their in, but it really is a shame that the few seem to always ruin it for the rest of us!
Oh, and HUGE fan of Hans' work! If he sees this comment: keep up the great work! Your images are beautiful, sensual, and are one of the highest bars of male erotic photography!
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