Blue?

And now we finish our mini series about nudity and women in fiction by exploring the sixty-nine shades of diversity called censorship...umm....personal taste.

Tongue is not planted firmly in cheek. And if you really want me to go there, I will. Just not on this blog.
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No, not that kind of blue, although I haven't been that in a few years, but the kind of blue that people would say as a clean substitute for smut, and I'm not talking about the organic kind that is a bane to most wheat farmers.

I thought I would talk about how one can get banned without even knowing about it.

The other day I was on Facebook, trolling thru other people's conversation threads and checking out my notifications, when I came across one from someone who happened to invite me to an event that he created, in which one could share their book trailers.

I clicked on the notification and found myself reading a comment put forth by the creator of the event that contained the following guidelines.

1} No nudity, except classical art.
2} If it contains even a slight hint, a warning/disclaimer must be posted.
3} He reserves the right to remove any book trailer that he deems offensive.

As you can imagine, this did not go over very well with a few people, including myself, since it would virtually eliminate everyone in the erotica genre. It certainly eliminated me, because the only nudity contained in my book trailer is my book cover.

As for posting a warning or disclaimer, I think not. If I thought something of mine was obscene for Facebook, chances are excellent that you wouldn't see it on Facebook. I have a tendency to treat people as adults (the horror!) and thus responsible for their actions. If someone doesn't like something because they think its obscene, then they don't have to watch it.

By the flip of the coin, I don't like it when someone tries to censor me because they don't approve of what I have to say. Censorship and uneven enforcement of the rules were some of the reasons why I left the chat rooms and moved over to the blogs. And by saying that you reserve the right to yank my video if you're offended by it, kind of sounds like political correctness.

In any event, while I didn't go nuclear over this particular issue (and I really couldn't because I was invited to this event), I did voice my opinion about this little hitch in the giddyup, mostly because of the censorship/sanitizing of the event.

I did mention the fact, rather emphatically, that it is very hard for someone who writes quirky erotica to find a marketing opportunity for their work. A good chunk of the time people are a little leery in allowing a person to pimp their erotica.

In the end, I politely declined the invite and gave the reason why as being the rule about nudity that was instituted.

So how about you? Have you experienced something similar to what I went through? If you've created an event such as this, would you have the same rule in place?