Bonjibon is an online sex toy business based in Toronto, Canada. It was recently warned by the US Department of War not to send “pornographic items” to the US military base in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where they are illegal. A package containing a butt plug and bullet vibrator, detected by Bahrain Customs, was returned […]
Plato Censored in Texas
Numerous organizations, including the American Association of University Professors and PEN America, have condemned Texas A&M University (one of the state’s two flagship campuses) for instructing Prof. Martin Peterson to remove Plato’s Symposium from an introductory philosophy class because its open discussion of ancient Greek sexual ethics violates the university’s vague policy prohibiting undergraduate classes […]
Meta Censors Sex Activism
Meta was criticized by sex worker activists in the UK for deleting the Instagram accounts of sex-worker led art collectives, including Sexquisite, Cybertease, and UK Sex Worker Pride. Advocates say these accounts, with over 52,000 followers, were fully compliant with Instagram’s rules, but were deleted without notice. This appears to be part of a larger […]
International Suppression of Sexual Fantasy Material
A new report released by the Center for Online Safety and Liberty is the first international survey of the legal status of “fantasy sexual materials,” i.e. fictional or artistic representations of sexual acts or relationships that involve no real persons in their production. This category is becoming a growing concern with the advent of highly […]
China and Gay Dating Apps
As of this week two of China’s most popular gay dating apps were unavailable for download, although it appears they still work for those who had already downloaded them. Founded in 2012 Blued is the most popular gay app in China with more than 40 million global registered users. Considering the closure of Shanghai Pride […]
When It’s OK to Call Someone a Pedophile: Part 2
Merely weeks after a similar case we reported on, a federal judge has dismissed another defamation suit based on unsupported use of the “P-word.” This case involved the rap star Drake’s ongoing verbal battle with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar. In the Judge’s ruling, she concluded, “‘Not Like Us’ is replete with profanity, trash-talking, threats of […]
Will Michigan Declare Trans Visibility “Obscene”?
Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R) introduced a bill, the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act, that proposes banning pornography and depictions of transgender people, real or imagined, under very broad terms. This pushes criminal penalties, heavy fines, possible sexual-offence charges. Critics argue that the bill is unconstitutional and say it conflates trans existence with obscenity […]
China Erases Gay Marriages
The Hong Kong legislature, packed with pro-Beijing loyalists, voted 71-14 to reject a modest bill recognizing same-sex partnerships that had already been registered abroad. This vote defies a ruling by Hong Kong’s highest court that the government should recognize such unions. In a similar move, gay marriages in Western-produced films are now being converted by […]
Virtual panel explores sexual expression in games
If you’re interested in sexual representations within gaming platforms then you’ll want to check out this juicy event: “Sex, Money, and Censorship: Battles Over the Deplatforming of Sexual Expression in Games”, a panel discussion with researchers, advocates, and designers. The panel is sponsored by the Canadian Game Studies Association and co-hosted by the Institute for Research […]
China cracks down on gay fiction as “obscene”
Dozens of young Chinese women writing manga-style fiction about androgynous gay male characters have been arrested, fined, and in some cases imprisoned for obscenity, on the grounds that homosexuality is a “sexual perversion.” Once relatively tolerant of low-key gay sex when their concern was to limit the birth-rate, Chinese authorities have become increasingly hostile to […]