On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:26 AM, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
Here's something to discuss: a) Do you think an amateur photo is necessary to explain the concept of "woman masturbating"?
If it's a free photo and a good photo, who cares if it's shot by an amateur or professional.
You know, I once heard of this Internet Encyclopedia, where they let just *anyone* write stuff in it! It's so weird, you don't have to be like a professor or anything!
(ok, so that was a pretty lame attempt at sarcasm, but you get my point. 90% of wikipedia is written by amateurs)
b) How many images do you think is enough?
Commons doesn't work that way. It's simply a collection of free media. Should we complain that we have too much free media?
c) Are there any limits to how far your logic should be applied? Should we provide graphic images of felching, squicking, or for that matter, decapitating?
Ok, I made this point before, but perhaps it didn't register: there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with female masturbation, and to suggest that putting up photos of female masturbation is comparable to putting up images of someone being brutally murdered is something that I find very offensive.
There are a lot of people who are ashamed of their sexuality, and there are a lot of girls (and boys for that matter) who have been taught that it is "dirty" to give yourself pleasure and their lives have been so much poorer for it. If we are able to teach the message that a vagina is not something dirty or shameful, that masturbation in healthy and pleasurable, and that safe, consensual sex is something that should be applauded, then we have done a lot of good. Being prudish and self-censoring is supremely damaging to what we are trying to accomplish.
--Oskar
PS. And it's not like we shy away from putting up pictures that deal with executions, if they are relevant. Look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gunpowderhdq2.png
or for that matter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Saddam_execution.jpg
You can probably guess from the URL what that second one depicts.