Censorship - Yes or No

[Sharon]

Once again the question of censorship has reared its head and heated discussion abounds. But nowhere do I hear the word "responsibility" in conjunction with freedom to put forth or spew forth all in the name of art.

As a former artist and performer myself I completely get it with respect to being free to express one's view of the world as they see it and to have it recorded. However, art is in the eye of the beholder, but what appears to be missing from the equation is the reality that young and impressionable people along with those that are genuinely offended by some forms of art, are also part of the population who have a right not to be bombarded with art they don't like or isn't good for them or society at large. And in today's world its hard to escape. To me its similar to the common practice of unsolicited faxes, telemarketing, etc. Why should I have to get them to stop bothering me?

Just because violence and sex abounds, its not a reason, in this middle aged ingenue's mind, to "record" it under the name of "art". In this technological and social revolution we're all being swirled up in, some sanity, good judgement and common sense must prevail (especially when it comes to influencing the influential - the young and uneducated). And to say that parents are completely responsible for their children's exposure is clearly naive. What about the "village" approach to our youth, or the bombardment of info you definitely don't want.

So there it is - my POV that has long been bubbling under the surface on this debate. Its not my intention to offend, but rather not to be offended.

[Joëlle Laramée]

Hi Sharon,

Communication is important and artists are communicators, this said, i do think that not all is good to communicate. Violence and cruelty don't need to be expressed in every which way in order for society to ' get it '.
I just heard of an artist in Europe somewhere who actually tied a poor dog to a leash in an art gallery and placed food at the other end of the space and people would visit this so called exhibit and not demand that the dog be released, eventually it died of starvation. If this " art " is acceptable for some, it certainly is not for me. I am an artist and a communicator, i know that not all communications are art, much of what passes as communication/art today is simply rants and cries for attention, the Andy Warhol sydrome ( 15 minutes of fame ? ).
Recently, my series of paintings about vaginas were censored by a local art event because they were afraid my art would insult some people's sensibilities. I think there is a difference between good art with a touchy topic and cruelty towards animals in the name of art.

[Sharon]

Greetings Joelle,

Thanks for you input - it is a touchy subject and often, I fear, people are afraid to strike out and say what you and I have. Nevertheless, its important to bring it out and make discussion hash of it.

I think you are right on about art vs rants (and, in my mind, rants are now turning into tantrums with no real value behind what's being said - Ann Coulter for example). I feel sick about the dog you describe but what bothers me even more, if that's possible, is that people just let it happen - too afraid to question or take action. Our wars and corruption are built on the "follow like sheep" syndrome or "the Emperor's New Clothes" disorder.

And I think many are too afraid to look at real art honestly - isn't it interesting that your art of vaginas was censored, yet soft porn abounds on every billboard, newspaper and tv ad out there. It appears that its either peoples' militant stupidity, clear uneducated fundamentalist, or just lack of plain old common sense that allows them to follow along with whatever is dictated and not question. And so unfortunate, often the few who do should be muzzled for their own brand of insanity.

The question is - what do we do about it and how?

Thanks again Joelle

[Desirée Baker]

I agree very much with Joelle.
Artists are all about the shock factor now. And I think a lot of it distorts truth rather than exposes it. Art opens up truth. I think censorship is needed but people suck at knowing when to use it!

[Joëlle Laramée]

Hi Desirée,
Last week, at our local group art festival in St. Alphonse, some of my paintings were not allowed on the pretext that there would be children present and that my vagina art would traumatize them. It didn't matter that other artists were showing nudes without any problems but because i wanted to show a couple of vagina paintings i was told to remove them.
What i did instead was to turn them around and tape sheets of paper on them with a great big * CENSORED * written. People were stopping to ask what was it all about and i allowed them to look at my art. Not a single person was offended, and the children whose's parents allowed them to look thought the art was beautiful and didn't understand why they had to be hidden away.
I never thought of trying to shock anyone, i only wanted to speak out against the violence that is done to women and young girls the world over. I think this type of censorship was a form of violence.
Thank you for speaking on this topic, all our voices are important and valued.

[Desirée Baker]

Good call with the censorship signs! That was clever.

Vaginas are great! Love them! Along with the rest of the human body! I always thought we should be more open with our bodies. But I guess the reason we aren't is because fear is created due to sexual exploitation in the media. If we could censor things like men slapping womens asses in music videos then maybe we would be getting somewhere. Sexuality is meant to be beautiful, not vulgar. And your paintings I am most certain captured that beauty.

[Joëlle Laramée]

Right on and totally with you on the censoring of men slapping women's asses or even beating on them.

[Sharon]

Slapping asses and other body parts, myriad vulgar sexual innuendo, fashion editorial supported child/women fantasies, mini skirted private school uniforms on 12 year olds, etc., etc.

And even though vaginas are beautiful as are other body parts unfortunately it feeds into the voracious sexual objectification game and until there is mass education and re-aligned of attitudes, it will only continue to in this vain.

We women can certainly put a stop to lots of this crap - individually and collectively by what we refuse to buy, ignore and step up to the plate on. Talking is one thing but what's really being done???? Not much I fear.

We need an action plan - like suggested earlier in this stream.

[Desirée Baker]

Well, let's see. This all comes down to marketing as a means of getting money. The audience is the key to solving this problem. The audience is mostly the younger generation who have been socialized into this environment.

I think the most practical way of dealing with the issue is teaching parents to really be there for their child when they are young and get them involved in arts or sports. Often good ideals are fostered within these children when they partake in such activities and enjoy them. Don't force your child to be in something! With good ideals they can make better judgments when they find themselves in a media swamped environment. Many parents get sucked into the drama of hormones and try to act as the cool parent in order to please their child. It's very important that parents talk to their kids about what they are looking at- not in a lecturing way but in a "let's have a nice conversation that isn't forced" way. I know from experience that when my mom expresses a negative view on something when we are just having a friendly chat, I often side with her. It is when she is trying to make a point that I run to the other side of the argument just to defy her. :P

Sooner or later, when enough people become aware we will be able to make change. The Dove commercials representing real beauty, for example, show that we are taking steps in the right direction. I think some more ad campaigns would be good. Oprah did a show on this once and it really got nowhere because it all came down to money. And everybody was all talk, no action.

[Sharon]

My point exactly about "no action". And the rearing of kids is a whole other topic, except as a collective we have a collective responsibility not to fill young minds with crap and socialize them inappropriately on a number of levels. The topic - censorship - is about how we can take action to stop inappropriately uncensored crap/art/media/etc. from infiltrating young, growing, forming minds till they get to the point where they can discern with responsibility, maturity and ownership of their own thinking.

[Cyril Butler]

Hi Sharon,

I don’t believe in censorship, simply because I don’t believe there is any way you can give an elite group of people the power to control what the rest of us are allowed to ‘see’ without that group serving only their best interests. I think history proves this.

I believe in the sharing of ideas and intelligent discussion. If you see a work of art that offends you, then you have every right to talk about why it offends you, but I don’t think any of us has the right to remove, hide, or destroy that work.

As I follow this debate, it seems to break into criticisms of art and advertising. I don’t see art and marketing as the same thing. Advertising, no matter how creative and interesting it may sometimes be, is still meant to sell me a specific product. Art is meant to provoke though, convey ideas, express emotions and sometimes, help bring about social change.

As for our children, I think too often we underestimate the intelligence of kids. I think children are clever and imaginative enough to understand complex ideas even if they lack the vocabulary to express them. The problem is, we don’t talk to them about it.

I don’t think you’ll ever stop advertising, no matter how sexist and conflicting the ideas it presents are – unless of course you can somehow hurt the sale of products. What you defiantly can do is start a discussion with your kids about it.

Just because a particular work of art offends you, doesn’t mean it won’t invoke a different reaction from your child, maybe open their mind a little. After all, that’s the beauty of art – we take from it, what we will.

Cyril

[Sharon]

Hi Cyril:

We do disagree, and that is the wonderful luxury of living in this country. Having raised 2 kids and responsible for my own siblings I bring some well founded experiential expertise to the topic at hand. Kids are sharp as hell that's true, but they are also immature, maleable, and deserve responsible adults to constantly be on the lookout for their best interests in safety while still allowing for their personal exploration and healthy growth. Porn, as one example, in all its forms is just not appropriate or fair to inflict on kids.

And kids are not the place to start doing the defiance dance - that's just shifting the responsibility that belongs to adults onto them.

And offending art when its shoved in my or anyone else's face who doesn't want to see or experience it is an assault on the receiver. Like the fax war where nowadays you have to call the offending sending and try desperately to be removed from their list. Why should the victim have to do the work here? Well its the same with crap, junk, porn and deviance maskerading as "art" that for many is offensive and they shouldn't have to justify that either.

[Cyril Butler]

Hi Sharon,

I’m feeling a little lost here. You’re talking about many different things; art, advertising, porn, unwanted faxes. I don’t think you can apply the same standards to them all.

I don’t think kids should be allowed to purchase porn, simply because – like so much advertising, it doesn’t, in most cases, promote healthy self-image. That said, kids will get their hands on porn, because it exists and their parents own it. I think then it defiantly the responsibility of the parents to explain porn to their kids – not to make them feel “dirty” for finding it/being curious about it.

I’m not saying kids should be encouraged to do “the defiance dance” (I’m really not sure what that means), but I believe we should give them the benefit of the doubt and engage them in conversation about these uncomfortable topics.

I don’t have kids, but I can speak from experience having been a child once upon a time, specifically a queer, effeminate boy. Absolutely everything (advertising, porn, tv talkshows) and everyone (my parents, my teachers, my peers) tried to impose a set of hetronormative (very conflicting) christian vales and ideals on me. Something I could never possibly live up to, so of course I was very depressed. It was art, specifically certain progressive music videos and late night movies and documentaries (on CBC) which showed me that there was another (perfectly okay) way of being/thinking, which at the time was crucial to my survival. All of these things made other people, my parents included, very uncomfortable, but I’m so thankful they never tried to censor it because it was so important for me to experience that art at the time.

I’m curious to know what art is being shoved in your face. In my experience, I have to actively look for art. Either in an art gallery, experimental theatre venue, the internet, or on special interest cable channels (no more on late night CBC I’m afraid). There have been rare occasions when I’ve come across instances of art in the street, but it’s never been offensive and I can tell you that I don’t see art outside of an art venue as much as I see instances of people being cruel, belligerent and generally terrible to each other. But then again, I can only speak from my own personal experience.

Freedom of speech and expression is not wonderful luxury of living in this country, it's a right! But if the kind of censorship you’re talking about existed, I’m afraid it would be a right no longer.