Image by Aaron Hawks, via erofantasian.
Friend and colleague Rachel Kramer Bussel has a new book out — I just got my hands on a copy of Spanked: Red Cheeked Erotica (it’s great), and she’s is full promo mode, with a fun spanking blog, virtual book tour and she even made a relatively safe-for-work video to go with it. There’s no nudity in the video, but Vimeo and Flickr pulled it — while other sites who know how to sensibly apply content ratings (or rather, have users self-moderate because we’re all adults here), are keeping the video up. That Blip allows the video to remain is no surprise as they carefully moderate the self-moderation of NC-17 content (and no, they do not allow pornography), and do a terrific job of it; that YouTube is an example of sensibility in this arena is, well, surprising to see given their reputation for pulling *anything*. Cool. Silicon Alley Insider tells us,
Nearly all online video sites (except those purpose-built for porn) have policies in place against uploading “adult” content. So what exactly qualifies as “adult”?
Based on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s experiences, that depends on what site you’re visiting.
Last week, the Penthouse Variations editor uploaded a promotional video for “Spanked”, an upcoming book of erotica she’s edited, to four different sites: Flickr (YHOO), Vimeo, Blip.TV, and YouTube (GOOG). The video is mildly racy, but there’s little in the way of naughty language. And unlike some of the advertiser-supported clips on Hulu, there’s nary a naked body in it.
It may be NSFW, but that depends on where you work. In Rachel’s mind this is clear cut: “I wanted the video to appeal to as many people as possible, I wasn’t making pornography.”
Two of the sites disagreed. Within two hours, she got a note from Flickr… (…read more!)
There needs to be guidelines around the difference between NC-17 content, and straight-up porn — but as usual, it’s that “porn or not?” conundrum facing community sites and user-generated content. Here’s the video:
i’d like to suggest that as the net continues to proliferate more and more graphic content, even on regular community sites, the walls are going to have to be moved slightly anyway. As far as i’m aware you can host birthing videos on youtube without problem, so the above should be more than acceptable. Who’s going to be first to initiate the shift, and push for redefined boundaries of acceptability though, I’ve got no idea.
Since when does NC-17 = not porn? The MPAA, owners of the trademark for the NC-17 rating provide no such guidance. Any film containing explicit sexuality would be given an NC-17 rating, even a Max Hardcore films found to be obscene in his recent conviction.