"My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it's very open-ended; every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do." -- Ani DiFranco

What Makes a Site Offensive?

So many sites - fanlistings, groups, webrings, etc. - have as one of their rules a note how they won't link sites containing certain material, generally bigotry and pornography.  I often find the choice of wording to be vague, however.  For good, or ill, or more likely both, our culture has imbued words with varying meanings.  The same word can mean different things to different people.  For instance pornography - many sites say they will not link to a site that contains pornography.  Well, what is pornography?  How are they using the word?  Do they mean they won't link to sites that have any sexual content?  Do they mean certain forms of sexual content, like pictures, or do they also mean sexually explicit stories?  Do they define pornography as something separate from erotica?  In short, just saying "I won't link your site if it has porn" seems vague to me.

So, I thought I would make a little page just dedicated to explaining what I consider offensive, and just link it to wherever I say I won't link to a site that has offensive content.  This way there's no confusion as far as my rules go.  You may not agree with me on what makes an offensive site. That's okay - you can be offended by what you don't like, I can be offended by what I don't like.  This is my domain, so this is what I consider offensive, and I won't link to sites that I'm offended by.

I. Bigotry, Hatred & Prejudice

Offensive: anything or anyone promoting or promulgating hatred, bigotry or prejudice against another group of people or against animals. Examples would include the promotion of racism, sexism, homophobia, ethnic or religious hatred, or animal abuse - basically stuff like the KKK, The American Family Association, or anyone involved in the fur industry.

Not Offensive: hatelistings, hating stuff like ice cream or pop music, or promoting the hatred of Barney the Dinosaur.

II. Evangelism

Offensive: using religion to promote or explain hatred, using your religion as a reason for your bigotry, promoting your religion as the best and only religion, encouraging the conversion of others to your religion. Basically, I find anything offensive that doesn't recognize the validity of myself and every other person to choose their own religion from all the alternatives out there.

Not Offensive: discussing your religion, giving information about your religion, telling us how much your religion means to you, discussing other religions - even potentially negative discussion - so long as it is respectful and does not promote the hatred of those who are adherents to that religion.  Basically anything that still recognizes the validity of all religions.

III. Politics

Offensive: a lot of conservative politics and pro-life sites, because they are often explicitly anti-women and/or anti-gay. Yes, those fall under the other categories, but I'm saying it separately just in case. Also, anything promoting George W. Bush, who is the worst president in our nation's history and if you want to know why I think so, e-mail me and I'll be happy to explain it to you.

Not Offensive: anything else.

IV. Censorship

Offensive: anyone telling me that I don't have the right to say whatever the fuck I want to (or anyone else, for that matter). You don't have to link to sites you don't like (I mean, I won't), but don't tell me what I should or shouldn't put up on my domain.

Also anyone promoting the sanitizing of the internet in the interest of making it "child friendly." If you're that concerned about what your child might see, monitor their internet use.  I am not your child's keeper.  Frankly, I'd rather a child of mine read explicit slash than the American Family Association's website, but that's me.

Not Offensive: anything else

V. Sexual Content

Sex, and therefore adult content, is not offensive in and of itself.

I agree with the separation of pornography from erotic that is given by Diana E. H. Russell in Defining Pornography from Dangerous Relationships: Pornography, Misogyny, and Rape.  She defines pornography as "material that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behavior."  Russell also defines erotica as "sexually suggestive or arousing material that is free of sexism, racism, and homophobia and is respectful of all human beings and animals portrayed."  I include these quotes and this citation because these two definitions are the clearest differentiation between pornography and erotica that I have found, and the one with which I most agree.

I, however, separate live action from animation and fiction in what I find offensive.

Offensive: material that is live action and combines sex and/or nudity with non-consensual abuse and/or degradation in a manner that appears to condone such activity - examples would include rape, bestiality and child porn. Basically anything condoning or encouraging activities such as this in real life.

Not Offensive: material that is animated, fanfic, consensual, or erotic - examples would be artistic or erotic nudity, erotic stories, slash, consensual BDSM, hentai, yaoi, yuri, shota, loli, and chan.  I do not consider shota, loli, or chan to be child porn because they do not contain actual people.  You cannot abuse a drawing or a fictional character.