Josie Soho® Published on August 19, 2008
by Josie Soho®

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Loose Cannon? I Refer To Myself

Tuesday August 19, 2008 at 02:10PM

Or Not

I'm the distant relative of a patriot. Ethan Allen. He stood down the British with only his word and reclaimed Fort Ticonderoga. Conviction did the job. Perhaps I take my heritage too seriously. Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker which said a true patriot has to be ready to defend himself against his own government. Absolutely.

Also true is that sometimes we also have to defend our rights from fellow citizens who abuse the very same rights we fight for. Someone on iper has spoken out very bravely this morning against the pornography she and I have seen on this site. I am not going to link her. I didn't ask her permission to link. It's rude to hotlink a person. Though the rudeness is generally overlooked. That's a part of our erosion as a society, overlooking small rudenesses. It makes the day easier but can also pave the way for further problems.

In her case it could go beyond rude to dangerous. I don't ever want to endanger another fellow human being. I do want her to know I admire her bravery in speaking out.

She and I have noticed some exploitative photography among our members. I have been frustrated by this ongoing behavior for some time now myself. I was only offended by the crass, housewife porn I was seeing. My friend looked further and saw activity she knows is illegal. I hadn't seen it.

There is talk afoot that ipernity will do something about this matter in the next few days.

In the meantime I have created a group called: Against Pornography On Ipernity. As a forum.

Please join me in taking a stand for our rights as artists. I will not be sending bulk invitations to this group as I do not wish to offend anyone. Thank you.

There will be no photos in this group.

16 Comments / add your comment?

Stardrifter says:
Wow thats a difficult topic...

Of course there should be no place for really illegal stuff like for example childporn on ipernity. On the other hand there is a just a small step from banning really "bad" stuff to censorship as we all saw on flickr. Or on the Internet ,where at least in Germany words like "childporn", "terrorism" or Nazi stuff are way to often misused to justify censorship and to abolish our civil rights.
In fact the censortship on flickr was the reason why so many people from Germany and other countries came to Ipernity.

So, without pictures to allow people to build their own opinion it will be difficult to talk about that topic imho.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
Your points are very valid and well taken Stardrifter. I have no intention of forcing my beliefs as to what's porn and what isn't. My thoughts were to gather a group of like minded people for discussion. I am frustrated at the idea that many of these people who are exhibiting this questionble artwork are mostly fellow American citizens. When I think of an iper US meetup I shrink from the prospect because only a handful of serious artists who are US based come to mind.

I feel less and less a sense of community on this site. I never felt welcome at Fickr because of it's big box mentality. Now I question my membership here because I truly am beginning to believe this is not my niche either.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Midwesternstock ©pro says:
i guess im rude. dont worry its down. i was under the impression it was a public post if i was wrong then im glad i took it down.

i will gladly risk my own neck for such a cause. in fact if you have the links to such "ipernity members" please forward them to me and i will post every single one. and make damn sure you all see it.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
i believe that was a public post. i have been rude in a similar way at times. i'm rethinking my position on lots of things these days. i know you to be thoughtful and sensitive jc. i don't think you would be intentionally rude. it's my personal belief that the people in the links featured might retaliate.

retaliation is another reason i made a group with no pics allowed. as well as the idea that if we don't all speak up our screens may very well go blank .

you don't have to look far to find these wife swappers in disguise. i was actually approached on one of my sites and asked if i would like to join (in sharing private pics). Virtual Lover is not a swinger!

while soliciting me for private pics is not illegal i personally find it disgusting.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® edited this comment 14 months ago.
Virtual Lover 1™pro replies:
Absolutely Josie. The very idea that that man admitted it would be titillating for he and his wife but that they were not swingers was vulgar. I think the world sees enough of who we are without private requests from strangers.

There may be work on All Around The Universe which might be construed as pornographic or sexual in nature depending on the viewer . But all those works attempt to make a point which has nothing to do with sexual arousal.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Midwesternstock ©pro replies:
i concur.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink / translate )
Josie Soho® replies:
thank you. fellow american. and world citizen.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Manic replies:
"while soliciting me for private pics is not illegal i personally find it disgusting".

Nicely put.....and pretty funny.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
p.s. i've met the founders of this site as well as forty other members in Germany last February. I do believe this is not just an anonymous site.

I'm discouraged that the larger group of Americans here who have banded are self claimed 'artists' who are really sub par.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® edited this comment 14 months ago.
Manic replies:
If they are artists......that makes me sub sub sub sub sub par. hahah...ooops...choked on that last "a".......thoooo .........-----------> a.................. there it is.. ;) < (wink)
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Manic says:
"That's a part of our erosion as a society, overlooking small rudenesses. It makes the day easier but can also pave the way for further problems."

You said it right there Josie......too many people have looked the other way for way too long and we have become a modern day Sodom and Gemorah. Just watch.....look and listen to the radio, tv, these photo sites...it's getting quite sickening. I commend you AND your friend for speaking out.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
It's very nice to meet you Manic. I'm pleased you like my writing. You've caused me to rethink my definition of myself. I am a blogger. that is a journalist with illlustrations. thanks for joining in. josie
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Iljuschinpro says:
Hm, practically I did not see any porn here, those members using ipernity to publish their sometimes crude obsessions tend to mark them as to be published for friends and because the filter issue is still in programming, it seems they collect "friends" to publish those pics to this nonpublic community. No problem for me. I do not have to declare myself as friend if I dont want to see this.

Same with the filter, we discussed hardly in www.ipernity.com/group/36490, there is a 3 week old statement of what to be implemented.
Seems all fine, because I can switch off the filter, if I want to.

All in all I do not see, that ip is developing to YouPorn in any case, even there are somewhere some members posting "houswife" porn. Btw: What the hell is "housewife" porn, I must confess to be curious: does there exist a member posting "business woman" porn too?
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
First, I would like to say I never know such groups as you've mentioned are in existence. I feel very much out of the loop here on iper at times. Secondly, I don't feel the help tab at the top of the page really answers questions sufficiently. I just learned more from you in five seconds than I ever have looking at the help section. Third, some contacts of mine are connected themself to these people. Perhaps this is why i am seeing more of this activity than some other members.

I don't suggest this is turning to you porn. that's a funny reference tho!

I lifted the term Housewife porn from Manganite. I'm not sure of his interpretation. Mine refers to headless pictures of wives in anonymous looking motel rooms. Even if these pics are not exploitive they certainly look it.

I'm not against erotica or arousal. I'm against exploitation.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® edited this comment 14 months ago.
Iljuschinpro replies:
Fine, that I could help you. This group was in heavy rotation some months ago as iper-team announced to implement a filter; some german users are highly irritated 'cause of well known facts and history...

Maybe it will help to send those members a warnig mail to put those pics to private of for friends. You will be freed of them, if you do not declare directly yourself as friend of those members. If it does not help, mark it as offending, iper team will close the account if they do not react on official complaint.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )
Josie Soho® replies:
I'm very aware of the previous experience many people had and realize it's a delicate issue.

Thank you very much for all your help, Ilju. I will check my settings.
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )

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