armaina

Hi I'm tried of constantly explaining this to people on a numerous amount of websites so I'm making a journal on this I can link people with current information.

So your non-sexual, nude art, body studies, or other casual nude art has been flagged by DeviantArt, or Tumblr or Twitter ect as being 'mature', mature meaning only people that have claimed to be over 18 can see it. You think to yourself 'but there's nothing sexual going on here, why is it being flagged' or 'it's just breasts, they're not a sexual organ' Even if you're absolutely correct in your assessment of the work, it doesn't change the fact that if the website you are using is hosted in the US, they are bound by US Law, which states that certain content must be filtered from access to minors if you know that minors have access to your site and you know the content is there. Warning for sites that don't require a log-in, such as those 'I agree I am 18+' splash pages on websites - yes while someone can still lie, it makes the website not responsible for someone lying about their age because they made the good faith effort to warn for the content. If there's no warning, it could be argued that they are knowingly curating their content to minors which can get them in trouble with the law.

Getting into where I have this information, here are the current, active policies themselves, COPPA and CIPA:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children…
(Wiki pages are not an exhaustive list of all the terms and policies, you can use them to get a review but you will have to look at the wordage of the policies themselves to get all the details.)

In just one cursory glance, according to these acts, content must be filtered from minors if:
"Any picture, image, graphic image file, or other visual depiction that – (i) taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion; (ii) depicts, describes, or represents, in a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals; and (iii) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to minors."

If it seems like that even by this verbiage a lot of mature flagged art could still be un-flagged because you could argue it as being Artistic or Academic, you would be right. There could be cases where a blanket flag wouldn't necessarily be the way to go, but the thing of it is, not everyone feels that way. A website itself might even be on your side, but if the person that decides to bring litigation into the ruling thinks otherwise, it doesn't matter what you or the host thinks. This flimsiness of the state of Obscenity laws has been a long standing issue for decades, it's the whole reason why similar laws to COPPA have been through cycles of revisions, so if you think this is frustrating, believe me, it's even more frustrating for hosts like DeviantArt, because they're the ones that have to deal with the actual litigation in the long run.

As a result, many websites instill personal policies that calls for a blanket flag on any nude image to be marked for 18+ viewership. They don't have the time or resources to argue for and keep track of, every single nude piece that could be considered of artistic or academic value, should the threat of litigation ever arise. It also prevents potential in-fighting of people arguing whether or not their art can be seen as artistic because the eyes are sultry or not, or whatever little nitpick a person might have. Some websites even instill filtration policies for the whole site for mature flagging in order to comply with other international laws, so the site won't be filtered or their viewers from other parts of the world won't get into trouble.

At the end of the day, the point is a website makes it's policies both to comply with the law of the location it is set up in and also be smoother with international laws. It isn't about them personally telling you what has value or what does not, DA of all places won't argue schematics of Artistic Intent, it flags based on what is visible in the image as well as what's in the description and that's it. And their policy states that anything nude needs to be flagged as 18+, regardless of artistic intent. It's as simple as that. And before I get this comment: If you know something that is nude but not flagged as mature, instead of complaining about it, report it. Someone reporting your content only means you were caught, it doesn't mean DA has a bias.

And if you're upset that your life art studies have been relegated to the 18+ filter, a requirement and policy clearly stated in the DeviantArt TOS? Then you know what? Make your own dang website.
neocities.org/