[WikiEN-l] So, why do we provide porn?

[Oskar Sigvardsson]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:26 AM, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at 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.