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My journal. Thus, my rules.
Feb. 25th, 2004 02:28 pmA user commented on my 2/23 entry ("Now With More Sodium!") with an icon featuring a picture of a woman who is mostly metallic except for her face and her exposed breasts. I feel that nudity can have a place in art, but I didn't care for this particular image, and found it offensive. Rather than try to show the beauty of the human form (to my mind, an acceptable use of nudity in art), this image seemed to me to focus too much on her breasts. If it was saying anything at all, it seemed to say "Even though I look like a machine, I'm still a woman because I have breasts." I think that much of our culture judges women more by their breast size than their minds, and I felt that this image reinforced that situation.
I don't really want naked people showing up on my comments page regardless of whether the images are "artistic." However, I particularly disliked this image. I considered simply deleting the comment, but that didn't feel right. I don't think it's actually censorship, since this is my forum and not theirs. I should get to decide what is and is not appropriate. Still, it seemed to dance on the line of being censorship. Seeking another solution, I decided to appeal to the user.
So...I'm not sure how to say this in the most diplomatic way, so I'll just be blunt - if you comment in the future, could you please not use an icon featuring nudity? That's not something I want to see when I look at my comments page.
Alas, they replied using that same icon (and yes, they do have others), and with the message:
this is art by a famous artist. so sorry you are so close minded. never fear I will take you off my friends list.
I could have done without your rude comment it had nothing to do with parsley.
That bit about the parsley refers to the fact that I failed to update the subject of my reply, so it still said "Re: parsley projects" Anyway, I can't say that I was very surprised by her reply, but I was disappointed. I don't care if the picture is by a famous artist, I don't want to see it on my comments page. That's all I asked. I don't feel that my comment was particularly rude, either.
This whole incident has left me rather annoyed. I don't know why I felt that I needed to defend myself on this issue. It's my journal, and I shouldn't have to make allowances for things that I don't want here. Perhaps I'll go back and delete the comments after all. I haven't decided, yet.
I don't really want naked people showing up on my comments page regardless of whether the images are "artistic." However, I particularly disliked this image. I considered simply deleting the comment, but that didn't feel right. I don't think it's actually censorship, since this is my forum and not theirs. I should get to decide what is and is not appropriate. Still, it seemed to dance on the line of being censorship. Seeking another solution, I decided to appeal to the user.
So...I'm not sure how to say this in the most diplomatic way, so I'll just be blunt - if you comment in the future, could you please not use an icon featuring nudity? That's not something I want to see when I look at my comments page.
Alas, they replied using that same icon (and yes, they do have others), and with the message:
this is art by a famous artist. so sorry you are so close minded. never fear I will take you off my friends list.
I could have done without your rude comment it had nothing to do with parsley.
That bit about the parsley refers to the fact that I failed to update the subject of my reply, so it still said "Re: parsley projects" Anyway, I can't say that I was very surprised by her reply, but I was disappointed. I don't care if the picture is by a famous artist, I don't want to see it on my comments page. That's all I asked. I don't feel that my comment was particularly rude, either.
This whole incident has left me rather annoyed. I don't know why I felt that I needed to defend myself on this issue. It's my journal, and I shouldn't have to make allowances for things that I don't want here. Perhaps I'll go back and delete the comments after all. I haven't decided, yet.
