Does Your Deviation Contain Mature Content?

"Does your deviation, More Riches, contain mature content?"

No. No, it does not as defined by the submission policy. I even made it a point to say as much when I posted the image. There is no nudity, there are no sexual themes, no violence or gore, no strong language, and if anything about this computer generated woman is ideologically sensitive, well then I can't bring myself to care about your ideology. Go review some Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition covers, a magazine sold and prominently displayed on many newsstands, then think long and hard on whether or not your argument against my lesser quality work has merit. If you are ideologically offended by a woman (let alone a fictional one depicted in art) there's something very wrong with you, something detrimental to the continuation of the human species.

Taken directly from the DeviantArt FAQ topic: What is Mature Content? as it appeared on January 18th, 2018 - "Nudity: This flag is appropriate if your work contains explicit nudity; revealing the genitalia of a model or fictional character or revealing a full female breast including nipples."

The character depicted here - my original, fictional character? Her nipples are covered. End of discussion.

Wait. It's not the end? What's that you say? There's a bit of areola showing above the linen wrap? And your point is... what? Nipples and areola are not the same thing. They are connected, true - one surrounds the other - but they are separately defined. I've read lately some people making the argument that a woman's breasts (and thus all parts of it) are sexual. No, they are "sexualized" as a result of certain cultural beliefs. In other words: it's a fantasy. It's made up. It's all in your head.

Do female breasts exhibit certain temporary changes during arousal? Sure. So do many other parts of the body belonging to both genders. If you'd like to make the argument that female breasts are "erogenous zones" and that's what makes them "sexual," well, you could be right from a certain point of view, but still wrong in this instance. Erogenous zones vary from person to person. The breasts, nipples, lips, tongue, neck, and inner thighs are commonly shared spots by women and men. How we react to stimulation of these areas can be different from person to person and depending on the relationship and situation. Again, a lot of it is in our minds. If you try to restrict depictions of the major erogenous zone possibilities then you have to insist that every character on DeviantArt - male and female - dress like a ninja. Or, at least like whichever Doctor Who wore that ridiculous scarf.

The bottom line is: if I wanted to use a Mature Content tag I'd have just rendered More Riches and More Riches II (which, oddly enough, I didn't get a notice for) without the linen wrap, without the slightest concession to modesty, and I'd have never received this silly "correspondence." But I did make that concession. I did it in accordance with DeviantArt's submission guidelines and policies. Funny how that worked out.

And as a side note: "correspondence" is the wrong word for something that appears to be generated automatically and provides no means of actual correspondence. I'm guessing that it's just an auto-report feature where anyone can click that little Report flag under the picture and a passive-aggressive message is sent. I despise features like that; they enable and encourage that anonymous, cowardly behavior generally associated with online interactions. If you're going to use it at least have the courage to make a comment explaining why under the artwork you intend to report. You don't have to be mean. Just say your piece, make your point, and that's that. Treat people the way you want to be treated even if you don't like what you see. It's just images and words on a screen. It can't physically harm you. One of the real advantages of an internet community is that you can think about what what you want to say before you say it. You don't often get that option in everyday life. I'm actually much nicer online because I stop and think about something before I send it. You have no idea how much I deleted from this journal entry. In reality I can be a pretty mean son-of-a-bitch if the situation calls for it.

Censorship and hypocrisy are among those things that bring it out in me.

UPDATE: So... I just woke up to find that a Mature Content tag was forced onto the image anyway. It takes a lot to offend me. This does the trick. Congratulations. I'm disputing it.