God Save the Porn (and the Games)! and Other Censorship Musings

If you read my article last week entitled “Moral Panic: Pornography and Gaming”, I examined the current social trend toward censorship. When written, the article was largely referencing the conversations that I had been observing on social media and mainstream news platforms regarding censorship, but I had no idea that the article would hit so close to home, and so quickly be relevant, even prophetic. In the week following that publication we saw both the censorship of pornography and of gaming, events I shall examine below.

On December 2, 2014, the UK decided to censor certain forms of pornography. This has not been the first time the UK has ventured into censoring porn, however it’s certainly a step backward in an era that, given our technological progress, would seem to be socially progressive. In fact, the list of banned activities in UK porn reads like a mandate from the Victorian era and appears to target specifically activities that women would traditionally derive pleasure from such as female ejaculation and face sitting. Further, It also targets “kinky” and traditionally “queer” activities such as spanking, fisting, and caning. But most potentially problematic is the interesting inclusion of the provision: “Penetration by any object ‘associated with violence”. Given prior radical feminism attempts to equate all penis in vagina sexual activity as rape, the inclusion of such provisional language is exceedingly worrisome given the recent trends towards feminist extremism. Is this legislation a precursor to banning all forms of penis in vagina pornography? While such a question may seem like an absurd idea, the banning of largely benign femme-domme activities such as face sitting leads to the question: who is behind the ban and why? And what is the endgame of this social trend?

Additionally, this week both Target and KMart Australia decided to pull Grand Theft Auto 5 from their shelves. Citing an online petition with 40,000 signatures, Target AU folded to pressure from the petition citing GTA 5 as “…a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women.” The omission of the petition to reference the violence against men is particularly egregious, and makes it easy to deduce which moral policing group was behind the push for censorship. While the violence depicted in GTA5 might not be to everyone’s liking (as caning and fisting may not be everyone’s cupp’a tea), there is a tremendous chasm between being offended by a product and denying said product to other people based on one’s own matter of taste. However violent GTA might be (and indeed, there are scenes of brutality and violence, hence the controversy over the series since it’s inception), the more pressing issue is that of censorship creep. Another interesting overtone of this level of moral policing is the perception that women as a whole are unable to handle scenes of violence and men are unable to separate video games from reality. And if this in fact the case, or at least the perception from some specific members of agenda focused lobbying, then would it not seem that their next step will be further censorship of games, then media, and eventually books, art and academia, all in the name of “protecting women”?

Well, in the case of the latter, it’s already happening. According to the previous article:

“What do a students’ ‘pole fitness’ society, the song ‘Blurred Lines’, the Sun newspaper, a poster advertising a summer ball, and lads’ mags have in common? They’ve all been banned from UK universities on the grounds that they promote the sexual objectification of women. Suggesting that something objectifies women seems to be the No.1 justification for moral outrage among a vocal minority of student activists, and it nearly always results in campus censorship.”

Evidently the need to feel ‘comfortable’ is more important to modern students than allowing for discourse. In fact, even more than going silent, this article aptly describes them as “Stepford students”. In fact, author Brendan O’Neill, has this to say about this generation:

“Sitting stony-eyed in lecture halls or surreptitiously policing beer-fuelled banter in the uni bar. They look like students, dress like students, smell like students. But their student brains have been replaced by brains bereft of critical faculties and programmed to conform […] anyone who’s spent more than five minutes in their company will know that these students are far more interested in shutting debate down than opening it up.”

Somewhere along the way in society, presumably due to the millennial generation practice of “participation trophies” and the entitlement complex that accompanies such activities, the youth culture of traditionally rebellious thought is now mute. In history, it was taken for granted that youth culture would push the limits of prior generations, socially, economically and technologically. However, the millennials driving current cultural ideals are much less rebellious than prior generations. Some, such as this author, claim that poor economic markets and lack of employment lead millennials to be more focused on entrepreneurship and collectivism. Some would argue it’s simply a result of weakness due to excessive coddling at the hands of baby boomer parents.

Whatever the reason, the overall trend in society seems to be toward ensuring that nobody is “offended” by materials, and this trend is spreading its tentacles into creative fields. For years academia has kowtowed to the preferences of social liberals, so a tendency to attempt to relate to the lowest common denominator and cater to those easily offended has been expected in that arena and become progressively worse over time. And, given what we see in the UK recently, while it’s a surprise that moral conservatives have determined that attacking pornography is more important than addressing issues of social inequity and bankruptcy that currently plague the UK, it’s not surprising that lawmakers obscure real issues with moralistic ones.

What is most interesting however is this current social squeeze resembles closely the Horseshoe theory commonly discussed in political science. This theory holds that the extreme left and the extreme right are extremely similar in social ideology. By having such inflexible moralistic lines, the extreme groups on both sides have very little tolerance for free or dissenting thought and opinions. Both ends of the spectrum also are authoritarian in nature and desire greater government control (ie censorship) to achieve the aims of quieting discontent.

Observing history we find societies ebb and flow and authoritarian elements are in fact cyclical in nature. As H.L. Mencken most insightfully mused:

Off goes the head of the king, and tyranny gives way to freedom. The change seems abysmal. Then, bit by bit, the face of freedom hardens, and by and by it is the old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and another. But under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent — the basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free. — H.L. Mencken, The American Credo: A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind

Therefore, the real concern here is not the violence of a video game or the lewd nature of various forms of pornography. The concern is that it is becoming increasingly socially acceptable to impose one’s own preferences and feelings onto others, and to dictate what goods may be available to society in a commercial marketplace. When we determine to police the thoughts, and art, of others rather than to educate people to make responsible choices for themselves, we end up with nothing more than a dependent society of mental deficients. As a result of the restriction of liberty, freedom of thought and expression, we shall be left with a society in which stagnation has taken hold, rooting in every field be it commerce or academia. Be aware my friends: if the events of this week are an indicator of our future, we must battle against such tyrannies at home and abroad. This time, these battles will not be for parcels of land or gold and silver, but for the last remaining freedoms within the recesses of our minds.

About Mercedes Carrera:

A card carrying member of the Illuminaughty, Mercedes is often known as: High Priestess of Depravity, BasedMILF and Social Media Slut. She’s a card carrying engineer, gamer, pornographer, whore, good-time girl and all around irritant to anti-sex radicals. She enjoys chess and can drink absinthe like nobody’s business.

Follow Mercedes on Twitter.

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