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jadedmusingsHere we go again.
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fanficrants is a community that is dedicated to...well, ranting about bad fanfics. Most of the rants are along the lines of grammar snark, out-of-character Mary Sues/Gary Stus, and gemstone-colored orbs eyes. Given that it's fanfiction, there is inevitably a few rants about bad sex scenes, which per community rules are always placed behind a cut (and if they aren't, mods are quick to step in and ask the poster to place behind a cut or face deletion). This method seemed to work out really well, and FFR has been around since 2002. That is until someone flagged it as being sexually explicit and LiveJournal changed the settings on the community and labeled it as containing "explicit adult content."
It was first mentioned here by one under-eighteen member (and yes, this is the post for which I was metaquoted, so now you know what I was on about). Today, an FFR mod confirmed that LiveJournal had indeed flagged the community as adult and that there was nothing they could do about it. No chance to change their rules, no chance to delete any "offensive" material, nothing. After eight years without a problem, suddenly anyone under the age of eighteen cannot so much as view a single post in FFR.
There are so many things wrong here that I don't even know where to begin.
First of all, yes, there are laws in place that prevent children from being exposed to and/or participating in pornographic material. Those are great laws and when applied properly, they do help prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. I will never try to say that these laws don't serve a purpose or try to negate their necessity. However, there is a huge difference between an abuser trying to lure a minor into a sexual situation and a minor participating in honest and frank discussion about sex and sex-related matters in a community with their peers and adults -- even if that discussion is to laugh and/or cringe at the use of Tiger Balm as a lube in a fic. There is also a difference between a minor being forced to watch/read sexually explicit material and a minor seeking the material out of hir own volition. One is abuse and the other is healthy sexual exploration (I'm not the only person in the world who was looking at her parents' copies of Playboy and Penthouse in my youth).
Making communities likefanficrants and its ilk off-limits to minors (at least those minors who are honest about their birthdates when creating their journals in the first place), doesn't make the threat of predators go away, nor does it erase a minor's ability to access material that some may deem inappropriate -- even now the mods have set up a Dreamwidth community and that community has been given an RSS feed that users can access via their LiveJournal friend-list. Plus, I don't have to point out that there are countless sites for both fanfiction and erotica that don't require an age verification before you view their material.
You know what else this ban and others like it isn't going to do? Stop teenagers from talking about or having sex. And, let's face it, this is ultimately what it always comes down to. Teenagers are going to have sex and they are going to talk about it with their friends. There is nothing you or I can do about it. Nothing, that is, except accept this fact and do our damndest to provide honest information about the risks and safer sex practices that lessen the risks, and that includes allowing them to have spaces where they feel safe and comfortable enough to talk -- and laugh -- about sex in all its various forms with their peers and knowledgeable adults who can steer them away from bad ideas (like using Coca-Cola as a douche).
Of course,fanficrants is hardly what I'd call a sex community, which makes the ban even more ridiculous and ineffective.
Finally, where are the parents in all of this? As a parent I fully recognize that if I don't like the material my child is viewing/reading, I can prevent him from viewing/reading it. There are a plethora of ways of protecting my child from the dangers of the internet, and as he gets older, I can stay involved with what he's doing online and informed of who he is talking to. I can make a list of rules and provide consequences for breaking those rules, which can and should include my ability to take his computer access away. It won't kill him, and if it will keep him just a little bit safer, I'll accept his anger in exchange for keeping him healthy.
fanficrants is a community that is dedicated to...well, ranting about bad fanfics. Most of the rants are along the lines of grammar snark, out-of-character Mary Sues/Gary Stus, and gemstone-colored It was first mentioned here by one under-eighteen member (and yes, this is the post for which I was metaquoted, so now you know what I was on about). Today, an FFR mod confirmed that LiveJournal had indeed flagged the community as adult and that there was nothing they could do about it. No chance to change their rules, no chance to delete any "offensive" material, nothing. After eight years without a problem, suddenly anyone under the age of eighteen cannot so much as view a single post in FFR.
There are so many things wrong here that I don't even know where to begin.
First of all, yes, there are laws in place that prevent children from being exposed to and/or participating in pornographic material. Those are great laws and when applied properly, they do help prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. I will never try to say that these laws don't serve a purpose or try to negate their necessity. However, there is a huge difference between an abuser trying to lure a minor into a sexual situation and a minor participating in honest and frank discussion about sex and sex-related matters in a community with their peers and adults -- even if that discussion is to laugh and/or cringe at the use of Tiger Balm as a lube in a fic. There is also a difference between a minor being forced to watch/read sexually explicit material and a minor seeking the material out of hir own volition. One is abuse and the other is healthy sexual exploration (I'm not the only person in the world who was looking at her parents' copies of Playboy and Penthouse in my youth).
Making communities like
fanficrants and its ilk off-limits to minors (at least those minors who are honest about their birthdates when creating their journals in the first place), doesn't make the threat of predators go away, nor does it erase a minor's ability to access material that some may deem inappropriate -- even now the mods have set up a Dreamwidth community and that community has been given an RSS feed that users can access via their LiveJournal friend-list. Plus, I don't have to point out that there are countless sites for both fanfiction and erotica that don't require an age verification before you view their material.You know what else this ban and others like it isn't going to do? Stop teenagers from talking about or having sex. And, let's face it, this is ultimately what it always comes down to. Teenagers are going to have sex and they are going to talk about it with their friends. There is nothing you or I can do about it. Nothing, that is, except accept this fact and do our damndest to provide honest information about the risks and safer sex practices that lessen the risks, and that includes allowing them to have spaces where they feel safe and comfortable enough to talk -- and laugh -- about sex in all its various forms with their peers and knowledgeable adults who can steer them away from bad ideas (like using Coca-Cola as a douche).
Of course,
fanficrants is hardly what I'd call a sex community, which makes the ban even more ridiculous and ineffective.Finally, where are the parents in all of this? As a parent I fully recognize that if I don't like the material my child is viewing/reading, I can prevent him from viewing/reading it. There are a plethora of ways of protecting my child from the dangers of the internet, and as he gets older, I can stay involved with what he's doing online and informed of who he is talking to. I can make a list of rules and provide consequences for breaking those rules, which can and should include my ability to take his computer access away. It won't kill him, and if it will keep him just a little bit safer, I'll accept his anger in exchange for keeping him healthy.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:12 pm (UTC)Problem is, next time they come across a limit that actually does make sense, they're now primed to think breaking it is fine.
Livejournal is undermining internet limits by setting the bar for the limits ridiculously low.
Bottom line is, I will parent my children. I will deal with their access to information, and I will gradually release that responsibility to them. I can do this, because I can enforce my restrictions and I have a relationship with my kids. Livejournal? Not so much.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:24 pm (UTC)If you read the metaquotes entry, you'll see people saying "What? People are honest about their ages on the internet?" The consensus seemed to be that those teenagers who were honest when creating their account were foolish for not lying.
Bottom line is, I will parent my children. I will deal with their access to information, and I will gradually release that responsibility to them. I can do this, because I can enforce my restrictions and I have a relationship with my kids. Livejournal? Not so much.
Exactly, and it's offensive that a corporation or group behaves as though I'm incapable of determining what material my child can handle.