After an entire day wrestling with my PC, including having the power supply coincidentally die at the same time, I finally have a working computer. And with Windows 7 and a new hard-drive to boot!
By the way, here's the story behind the small breasts thing:
The internet has its “outraged” face on over news that the Australian Classification Board plans to refuse classification to films depicting A-cup breasts in case it encourages pedophilia.
The story was kickstarted by a press release on Wednesday from the Australian Sex Party on the censorship of female ejaculation in film, which included the statement:
The Board has also started to ban depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. This is in response to a campaign led by Kids Free 2 B Kids and promoted by Barnaby Joyce and Guy Barnett in Senate Estimates late last year. Mainstream companies such as Larry Flint’s Hustler produce some of the publications that have been banned. These companies are regulated by the FBI to ensure that only adult performers are featured in their publications. “We are starting to see depictions of women in their late 20s being banned because they have an A cup size”, she said. “It may be an unintended consequence of the Senator’s actions but they are largely responsible for the sharp increase in breast size in Australian adult magazines of late”.
The piece was seized upon by website Somebody Think of the Children (“discussing censorship and moral panic in Australia”), blaring the headline “Australia bans small breasts”:
The Australian Sex Party (ASP) said Wednesday that the Australian Classification Board (ACB) is now banning depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. It comes just a week after it was found that material with depictions of females ejaculating during orgasm are now Refused Classification and Australian Customs directed to confiscate it.
The post quickly went viral around the likes of Twitter and Reddit, and was picked up by popular UK tech site The Register and snarky feminist blog Jezebel, prompting even more fist shaking and outrage.
But it looks like the critics are the ones guilty of “moral panic” in this case. As an apparently more level-headed member of the Australian anti-censorship movement found after a bit of investigation:
One publishing company mentioned, no specific decisions cited, no basis for the story other than the an unconfirmed statement by a leading figure of a political party.
…
There is no information from the Classification Board on any specific ban, only a general statement that publications with depictions of persons who appear to be under 18 must be refused classification (that is, banned).
The second article also says Ms Patten attended a training session at the Censorship Board where she was shown material that had been refused classificiation due to the size of women’s breasts in the material. The article says Ms Patten says some of the banned titles include “Barely Legal”, Finally Legal” and “Purely 18” - the links go to the Classification Board’s database showing the bans on each of those publications.
However, one of these bans was made in 2008, one in 2003, and the rest in 2001 or before.
For its part, the Australian Classification Board has responded to the original Somebody Think of the Children post:
A spokesperson for the ACB told me today that publications which contain offensive depictions or descriptions of persons who are or appear to be persons under the age of 18 (whether they are engaged in sexual activity or not) must be classified RC. They said the Board classifies publications on a case by case basis, in accordance with the Guidelines for the Classification of Publications, the Code and the Classification Act and that the Publications Guidelines do not specify breast size.
Not that the internet seems to have taken notice, as the original story continues to gain traction around the web.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good trending Twitter topic.
UPDATE 12/02: Given this topic is continuing to generate interest — particularly due to the recent cyber attack on Australian government websites over the issue — here’s the latest from Somebody Think of the Children:
The Australian Classification Board (ACB) has confirmed to Somebody Think Of The Children that a person’s overall appearance is used by the Board to determine whether someone appears to look under the age of 18 in a film or publication.
…
Asked whether breast size was considered by the Board when determining age, McDonald said he had no further comment to make.
is australia the most prudish place in the universe?
you guys have banned a bunch of games, now you're banning a-cup porn
meanwhile in the states, videos of dog fights are perfectly legal.
seems sort of weird to me.
My impression was that this sort of thing happens because the legislators get elected and lobbied on by old crotchety people, while the rest of the population is all, "noice waves today."
(It's kinda weird dropping the Kate Beaton reference in your direction when you're like all IRL BFFs now.)
is australia the most prudish place in the universe?
you guys have banned a bunch of games, now you're banning a-cup porn
meanwhile in the states, videos of dog fights are perfectly legal.
seems sort of weird to me.
Oddly, the capital territory where Paliament is, and all the politicians work, is (I think) the only place in Australia you can legally buy fireworks and XXX porn. I think.
But yeah. Did you hear about the Bill Henson thing here? A photographer who shot photos of naked children with the permission of their parents had his exhibition closed down and banned because OMG PEDOFILEZ. I didn't see the photos, but you know, apparently they were pretty classy and were entirely un-pornographic.
Meanwhile Anne Gedde's naked-babies-inside-pumpkins-n-shit calanders sell like hot cakes to the suburban mothers who probably complained about Henson's work in the first place.
Also internet filters lols.
I get the sense that mainstream America is pro-violence and anti-sex in the same sense that mainstream Australia is.
is australia the most prudish place in the universe?
you guys have banned a bunch of games, now you're banning a-cup porn
meanwhile in the states, videos of dog fights are perfectly legal.
seems sort of weird to me.
Oddly, the capital territory where Paliament is, and all the politicians work, is (I think) the only place in Australia you can legally buy fireworks and XXX porn. I think.
Nah, they've restricted the fireworks now. But porn and brothels are still ok.
I have a funny story about the latter. Two, kinda.
is australia the most prudish place in the universe?
you guys have banned a bunch of games, now you're banning a-cup porn
meanwhile in the states, videos of dog fights are perfectly legal.
seems sort of weird to me.
Oddly, the capital territory where Paliament is, and all the politicians work, is (I think) the only place in Australia you can legally buy fireworks and XXX porn. I think.
But yeah. Did you hear about the Bill Henson thing here? A photographer who shot photos of naked children with the permission of their parents had his exhibition closed down and banned because OMG PEDOFILEZ. I didn't see the photos, but you know, apparently they were pretty classy and were entirely un-pornographic.
Meanwhile Anne Gedde's naked-babies-inside-pumpkins-n-shit calanders sell like hot cakes to the suburban mothers who probably complained about Henson's work in the first place.
Also internet filters lols.
I get the sense that mainstream America is pro-violence and anti-sex in the same sense that mainstream Australia is.
I'm actually against this, but not because of pedophilia or the pornography angle.
I mean, c'mmon, if we hid everything that people jacked off to, we'd have to cover all the windows on shoe stores.
No, my problem is that people tend to see kids as posessions instead of people and forget that they might be fucking embarassed at being displayed in such a manner. But instead of making the taking of the pictures illegal, I think an acceptable defense for beating your parents to death with a tire iron should be producing a picture of yourself on the toilet at four years old or anything of an equally embarassing nature.
I once had to separate two 13 year old girls from fighting. I think the experience is probably very similar.
Oh and one punched me in the process. She apologized afterwards, but the rumor had quickly spread out to the rest of the high school that I'd gotten knocked out by two little girls.
I once had to separate two 13 year old girls from fighting. I think the experience is probably very similar.
Oh and one punched me in the process. She apologized afterwards, but the rumor had quickly spread out to the rest of the high school that I'd gotten knocked out by two little girls.
Did I mention that I was an adult at this time?
New Jersey, man....
Bebarce, I didn't know you were from NJ. One thing that people don't usually know about this state is that its different parts can be completely dissimilar. A lot of places here are rural or forested. It's not all turnpikes, and industrial parks.
Also, is recording dog fights legal in the US? The Supreme Court just ruled that taking videos of animal abuse is legal, but does that apply to taping animal fights?
Bloody hell. I am not any happier. Why does she have a coat on?
And somehow the article writer made the original movie SOUND like Twilight, not its antithesis:
"the original 2008 film is a delicately told preteen horror-romance revolving around a lonely 12-year-old boy who discovers that the sweet, shy girl next door he has become smitten with is also a vampire"
Being a man who has tried to separate two fighting dogs, I can safely tell you that no, dog fights do not feel funny, at all.
Yeah, I had to separate two dogs when a neighbours dog attacked mine. I wound up with bites on both my wrists and the next day at school people looked at me weirdly.
One of the bites severed a tendon that connected to my right pinkie-finger, so I can't bend it independently of my other fingers. Doesn't affect anything but I can gross people out by asking them to flick it. It's like a dead piece of meat, utterly flaccid.
I got into the shower and noticed that the steam had helped a bit, but that now I could taste blood. And then all of a sudden this giant clod of blood just oozed out of my sinuses and into my mouth.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
0
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
The next one he's going to blow it off with a fan, and the fourth he's going to rub dirt on it.
You don't want to know what he's going to do if he needs to use "heart"
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
That's gotta be really scary when it first happens. Blood just keeps on pouring and pouring. Did it hurt when it bled??
ZEROID on
0
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
That's gotta be really scary when it first happens. Blood just keeps on pouring and pouring. Did it hurt when it bled??
Mine didn't. I had no idea what was going on. One second I'm sitting there, the next my hands/shirt/pants are coated in blood.
One of these Once sprouted at the tip of my nose. We all thought it was a freckle and very funny that it would appear at the tip of my nose.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
That's gotta be really scary when it first happens. Blood just keeps on pouring and pouring. Did it hurt when it bled??
Mine didn't. I had no idea what was going on. One second I'm sitting there, the next my hands/shirt/pants are coated in blood.
At least you were at your friend's place? I can think of lots of awkward places for that to happen, like say, a job interview, during school presentation in front of giant classroom, on your first date, etc.
ZEROID on
0
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
At least you were at your friend's place? I can think of lots of awkward places for that to happen, like say, a job interview, during school presentation in front of giant classroom, on your first date, etc.
Haha, that is really true- though I was in about 6th grade so it was still shocking.
Posts
By the way, here's the story behind the small breasts thing:
The story was kickstarted by a press release on Wednesday from the Australian Sex Party on the censorship of female ejaculation in film, which included the statement:
The Board has also started to ban depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. This is in response to a campaign led by Kids Free 2 B Kids and promoted by Barnaby Joyce and Guy Barnett in Senate Estimates late last year. Mainstream companies such as Larry Flint’s Hustler produce some of the publications that have been banned. These companies are regulated by the FBI to ensure that only adult performers are featured in their publications. “We are starting to see depictions of women in their late 20s being banned because they have an A cup size”, she said. “It may be an unintended consequence of the Senator’s actions but they are largely responsible for the sharp increase in breast size in Australian adult magazines of late”.
The piece was seized upon by website Somebody Think of the Children (“discussing censorship and moral panic in Australia”), blaring the headline “Australia bans small breasts”:
The Australian Sex Party (ASP) said Wednesday that the Australian Classification Board (ACB) is now banning depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. It comes just a week after it was found that material with depictions of females ejaculating during orgasm are now Refused Classification and Australian Customs directed to confiscate it.
The post quickly went viral around the likes of Twitter and Reddit, and was picked up by popular UK tech site The Register and snarky feminist blog Jezebel, prompting even more fist shaking and outrage.
But it looks like the critics are the ones guilty of “moral panic” in this case. As an apparently more level-headed member of the Australian anti-censorship movement found after a bit of investigation:
One publishing company mentioned, no specific decisions cited, no basis for the story other than the an unconfirmed statement by a leading figure of a political party.
…
There is no information from the Classification Board on any specific ban, only a general statement that publications with depictions of persons who appear to be under 18 must be refused classification (that is, banned).
The second article also says Ms Patten attended a training session at the Censorship Board where she was shown material that had been refused classificiation due to the size of women’s breasts in the material. The article says Ms Patten says some of the banned titles include “Barely Legal”, Finally Legal” and “Purely 18” - the links go to the Classification Board’s database showing the bans on each of those publications.
However, one of these bans was made in 2008, one in 2003, and the rest in 2001 or before.
For its part, the Australian Classification Board has responded to the original Somebody Think of the Children post:
A spokesperson for the ACB told me today that publications which contain offensive depictions or descriptions of persons who are or appear to be persons under the age of 18 (whether they are engaged in sexual activity or not) must be classified RC. They said the Board classifies publications on a case by case basis, in accordance with the Guidelines for the Classification of Publications, the Code and the Classification Act and that the Publications Guidelines do not specify breast size.
Not that the internet seems to have taken notice, as the original story continues to gain traction around the web.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good trending Twitter topic.
UPDATE 12/02: Given this topic is continuing to generate interest — particularly due to the recent cyber attack on Australian government websites over the issue — here’s the latest from Somebody Think of the Children:
The Australian Classification Board (ACB) has confirmed to Somebody Think Of The Children that a person’s overall appearance is used by the Board to determine whether someone appears to look under the age of 18 in a film or publication.
…
Asked whether breast size was considered by the Board when determining age, McDonald said he had no further comment to make.
Source: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/01/29/has-australia-really-banned-small-breasts/
Twitter
Such as the "Australia banning a-cups" plotline?
[tiny]Totally been waiting an excuse to use that. Sleep now.[/tiny]
you guys have banned a bunch of games, now you're banning a-cup porn
meanwhile in the states, videos of dog fights are perfectly legal.
seems sort of weird to me.
My impression was that this sort of thing happens because the legislators get elected and lobbied on by old crotchety people, while the rest of the population is all, "noice waves today."
(It's kinda weird dropping the Kate Beaton reference in your direction when you're like all IRL BFFs now.)
Twitter
Oddly, the capital territory where Paliament is, and all the politicians work, is (I think) the only place in Australia you can legally buy fireworks and XXX porn. I think.
But yeah. Did you hear about the Bill Henson thing here? A photographer who shot photos of naked children with the permission of their parents had his exhibition closed down and banned because OMG PEDOFILEZ. I didn't see the photos, but you know, apparently they were pretty classy and were entirely un-pornographic.
Meanwhile Anne Gedde's naked-babies-inside-pumpkins-n-shit calanders sell like hot cakes to the suburban mothers who probably complained about Henson's work in the first place.
Also internet filters lols.
I get the sense that mainstream America is pro-violence and anti-sex in the same sense that mainstream Australia is.
Nah, they've restricted the fireworks now. But porn and brothels are still ok.
I have a funny story about the latter. Two, kinda.
I'm actually against this, but not because of pedophilia or the pornography angle.
I mean, c'mmon, if we hid everything that people jacked off to, we'd have to cover all the windows on shoe stores.
No, my problem is that people tend to see kids as posessions instead of people and forget that they might be fucking embarassed at being displayed in such a manner. But instead of making the taking of the pictures illegal, I think an acceptable defense for beating your parents to death with a tire iron should be producing a picture of yourself on the toilet at four years old or anything of an equally embarassing nature.
Thanks!
You'd get a million hits if you uploaded that story on youtube.
And everyone has british accents! EY WOT!
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
It's often been suggested that my life would make a great tragic comedy.
Also, I can't be the only one who thinks breast implants all look kinda funny, am I?
I've seen good ones and bad ones. my only regret is not having the opportunity to find out if they feel funny or not.
Dogfights?
[tiny] sorry, I couldn't resist [/tiny]
Oh and one punched me in the process. She apologized afterwards, but the rumor had quickly spread out to the rest of the high school that I'd gotten knocked out by two little girls.
Did I mention that I was an adult at this time?
New Jersey, man....
Bebarce, I didn't know you were from NJ. One thing that people don't usually know about this state is that its different parts can be completely dissimilar. A lot of places here are rural or forested. It's not all turnpikes, and industrial parks.
Also, is recording dog fights legal in the US? The Supreme Court just ruled that taking videos of animal abuse is legal, but does that apply to taping animal fights?
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-letmein-20100509,0,7840254.story?page=1
Bloody hell. I am not any happier. Why does she have a coat on?
And somehow the article writer made the original movie SOUND like Twilight, not its antithesis:
"the original 2008 film is a delicately told preteen horror-romance revolving around a lonely 12-year-old boy who discovers that the sweet, shy girl next door he has become smitten with is also a vampire"
Rest in peace.
Argh! Goddammit!
Yeah, I had to separate two dogs when a neighbours dog attacked mine. I wound up with bites on both my wrists and the next day at school people looked at me weirdly.
One of the bites severed a tendon that connected to my right pinkie-finger, so I can't bend it independently of my other fingers. Doesn't affect anything but I can gross people out by asking them to flick it. It's like a dead piece of meat, utterly flaccid.
...anyway.
I just hacked up something that looked like a blood clot cut from a raw chicken breast.
Buuuuuuhhhhh
I got into the shower and noticed that the steam had helped a bit, but that now I could taste blood. And then all of a sudden this giant clod of blood just oozed out of my sinuses and into my mouth.
Then one day I was at a friends house playing some games when all of a sudden blood started pouring out of it- it took about 3-4 paper towels to soak up all the blood. We then went to the hospital and had it lasered off.
Good times
I still wake up screaming sometimes.
I had one of those on my back! Freaked me the fuck out. I thought I had cancer or something. Doctor took it off with liquid nitrogen but it grew back. The second time he burned it off.
The next one he's going to blow it off with a fan, and the fourth he's going to rub dirt on it.
You don't want to know what he's going to do if he needs to use "heart"
That's gotta be really scary when it first happens. Blood just keeps on pouring and pouring. Did it hurt when it bled??
Mine didn't. I had no idea what was going on. One second I'm sitting there, the next my hands/shirt/pants are coated in blood.
At least you were at your friend's place? I can think of lots of awkward places for that to happen, like say, a job interview, during school presentation in front of giant classroom, on your first date, etc.
Haha, that is really true- though I was in about 6th grade so it was still shocking.