[Foundation-l] Reflections on the recent debates

[William Pietri]

On 05/08/2010 10:23 AM, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
> Editors are saying, with a straight face, that there is "no implied sexual activity" in BDSM images like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angel_BDSM.png and that images like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BDSM_Preparation.png are not pornographic.
>    

I'm going to stay quite thoroughly out of 99.9% of this discussion, but 
that last link is from a well-known local art gallery and performance 
space, Femina Potens, [1]  that happens to be just a few blocks from my 
house.

At least by local community standards, the event depicted was indeed not 
pornographic. San Francisco's long history as a home to both artists and 
people with different takes on sex and gender means that a lot of local 
art works with sex and gender as key themes. As they mention in their 
mission statement [2]:

> Since 2003, Femina Potens organized almost 450 performing, visual, 
> literary, media arts, educational and public arts programs that have 
> authentically explored the experiences of queer, women, transgender 
> people and others living outside the female-male gender binary. [...]
> We provide the lgbtqik community with a comfortable and inviting 
> environment to engage and learn about all facets of art, sex and 
> gender through cutting edge art work, literature, and media that 
> explores one's gender, sexuality, social issues, wellness, creativity 
> and kink.

You'll note that the explicitly mention education, art, and learning. I 
have no reason to think they're anything other than sincere; if one 
wants to make porn in San Francisco, one doesn't have to go to all the 
trouble of creating a well-regarded non-profit art gallery.

I bring this up only because it's a good example of how easy it is to 
see something that's educational or artistic in nature as porn. I'm sure 
by some community standards it would be thought obscene, but hereabouts, 
that's just another day in The Castro. [3]

William


[1] http://www.feminapotens.org/
[2] http://www.feminapotens.org/index.php?Itemid=62
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castro