Nudity, Is It Sexist In This Forum?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I understand, and I apologize if I didn't make it clear that I don't agree with or associate myself with that charge. I don't, and won't. I post here at AF on the premise that the Staff are acting in good faith. Seeing  some of the behavior in this thread is for me a bit disheartening, is all. I think her basic point is that satisfyng the law is understandable and necessary, but the resistance from staff on considering a higher standard than that seems a little odd to me. There's value to holding free-speech as the sine qua non of a freethinking forum. There's also value to considering how the forum's policies might well be furthering an attitude that no doubt we all -- except for a couple of chauvinists here -- find unpleasant.

But we did consider it. There is an entire thread in the Staff Area of the forum dedicated to this topic. We actually discussed it earnestly for a bit, as well. I will admit the immediate accusation of sexism on the part of the staff in the OP colored our attitude from the offset, but we did discuss it.

We decided that there is no real benefit here other than a weird sense of solidarity that isn't entirely genuine. The staff (pardon me for speaking for everyone) agrees that the definition of 'pornography' should change and should not include female breasts/nipples. That is the fight, and rather than restricting posts any more than we have to in order to protect the forum owner/servers from liability and protecting our ad revenue on the guest site, we decided that if individual members want to show their solidarity by not posting pictures of bare chested men, they could do that.

I get that. I am responding, however, to the continual rebuttals here inside this thread (not the moderator's thread) which address only the legal dimension (understandable as it is) but ignore the larger point. I find it frustrating that people for whom I hold such high opinions wave the law around even as that point of contention has already been addressed.

If the Staff don't wish to make it an equal point, in order to represent a higher understanding than that provided by the law, great. But her point is that that also says something, and you cannot then say "I'm for equality" as you retreat into the trenches of a law which is inherently unequal. By standing pat on what the law says, and not working to go past it, what is the message the Staff is delivering?

If you're fine with the way the law reads and feel no need to be better than it, great. But own it -- own that buy-in that you're wielding in your own defense. If you want to be better than the law, you can be.

I'm thinking that is the point of this thread, to make us think about what we take for granted. It's making me rethink my positions on gender issues, and that isn't a bad thing. I was joking about not posting my own nips -- it's more a matter of not scarring the eyes of these youngsters with some old guy's flat tits -- but seriously, what sacrifice is being requested?

I really don't get the line-drawing and digging-in that's going on, outside of the context of emotions being bruised ... and that's not really a good way to moderate a forum, is it?