Ok weighing in on this whole Tumblr NSFW purge for a moment: It’s both the concept and implementation that is concerning. As you all know, I do not reblog or upload sensitive material that is pornographic in nature, and Tumblr swears that artistic use of nudity or other such ‘sensitive’ themes will be protected, however as of right now post that have been flagged on my blog include:
Viktor Vasnetsov’s Shroud of Christ, painted 1901
Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse’s Time Showing the Ruins that He Causes and the Works of Art He Brings to Light, painted 1822
James McNeill Whistler’s Sketch for “The Balcony”, painted 1870 and so abstract that I cannot fathom how it has been tagged as NSFW
The post collecting some of Franz Stuck’s mythical scenes
The post collecting some of Franz Stuck’s portraits of Classical figures
A detail from John William Godward’s Mischief and Repose, painted 1895
Joseph-Désiré Court‘s Achilles Introduced to Nestor, painted 1820
Sir Edward John Poynter’s Diadumenè, painted 1893
Laszlo Neogrady’s Witches scene, painted 20th century
Any system that sees art like this as obscene to an almost puritanical degree is nothing more than the officious state censor, even if it is accidental and regardless of if these issues will be fixed later. If a Orthodox icon of Christ from early 20th century Russia is too erotic for Tumblr, I suppose education and interest in art history and material culture has no place on this website.
as a general rule. if what we’re calling ‘cultural appropriation’ sounds like nazi ideology (i.e. ‘white people should only do white people things and black people should only do black people things’) with progressive language, we are performing a very very poor application of what ‘cultural appropriation’ means. this is troublingly popular in the blogosphere right now and i think we all need to be more critical of what it is we may be saying or implying, even unintentionally.
There is nothing wrong with everyone enjoying each other’s cultures so long as those cultures have been shared.
Eating Chinese food, watching Bollywood movies, going to see Cambodian dancers, or learning to speak Korean so you can watch every K drama in existence is totally fine. The invitation to participate in those things came from within those cultures. The Mexican family that owns the place where I get fajitas wants me to eat fajitas. Their whole business model kind of depends on it, actually.
If you see something from another culture you think you might want to participate in, but you don’t know if that would be disrespectful or appropriative, you can just…ask. Like. A Jewish friend explained what a mezuzah was to me, recently. (It’s the little scroll-thing near their front doors that they touch when they come into their house. It basically means “this is a Jewish household.”)
“Oh, cool,” I said. “Can I touch it? Or is it only for Jewish people?”
“You can touch it or you can not touch it,” she said. “I don’t care.”
“Cool, I’m gonna touch it, then.”
“Cool.”
It’s not hard.
You want to twerk, twerk. I’ve never heard a black person say they didn’t think anybody else should be allowed to twerk. Just that they want us to acknowledge that they invented that shit, not Miley fucking Cyrus.
this is a good post.
Thank you, I was trying to sort this out in my head but you explained it very well.
came up with a new pointless kink identity. it’s called friend dom. it’s when you have to come up with every activity for hangout sessions cuz your friend is too indecisive or laid back and never decides on what they wanna do
To those who have swept or have blown the leaves from the walk, have rinsed the dishes or dusted their screens, Hestia looks on you from beneath her veil. She smiles, then wraps a shawl made of sunlit October air around you.
To those who remain in bed, who are on the edge of crying, who have turned on the tv to drown out the world, Hestia sits on the edge of your bed, patting circles on your back. I know, my love, she says, I know, I know. It can be so hard. My sweet, it’s time to get up. I need you, she says. Let’s make this home a sanctuary. Light a candle. Make your hands to care about this place. Let out the work of love.
Hymns; 