Wipeout Homoerotica Writers on Facebook?

Today was an entirely too stressful day. Not because of anything that happened to me, but because of what happened to my friend Daniel Skinner. I have changed my profile picture as a tribute to his work as a legitimate photographer, whose subjects often showcase male love. In the past several weeks, four of my friends who write, photograph, and showcase male male fiction and art have been attacked or reported  by 'friends' for displaying "pornography." 

I am sick of the double standard. For my entire life, women have been portrayed as sex objects, breasts and ass cheeks on display for entertainment purposes. Don't believe me? Turn on the football game any Sunday afternoon and checkout the boobage on display. And how does that add to the contest on the field? Oh, right. It doesn't.

Yet, a beautiful piece of art that enhances the beauty or drama of a work of fiction is deemed pornography. The glorious standard of "I'll know it when I see it," decrees that it is obscene or porn.


Here's the rule that we have agreed to abide by as users of Facebook:
You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

'Contains nudity'...a rather nebulous term, don't you think? Where do we draw the line? As we learned with GA's cover, apparently we draw the line for a male at the pubic hairline. Unless it was the man nipples or navel that offended. According to the man who reported this cover, it was the exposed penis. I kid you not…he looked at this picture and saw a penis. Probably says something very unflattering about him.

 How about a mother nursing? Would that pass the nudity test? Beach volleyball for women in sports bras would be okay, how about a shirtless male torso?

I bet that would pass muster. But what if another male hand was touching that sweaty male torso? Red card violation! Damn…stepped over the line. 

Okay, how about a Sports illustrated swimsuit model whose nipples faintly show through the two inches of fabric that cover the center of each breast. Long expanse of torso, all the way down to her denuded pubic area, so that the other scrap of fabric covers the pubic bone. Sometimes this shot is shown from behind and we discover the thong cut of the bottom piece. Fabric is measured in square inches, but by golly she’s not nude. Or even better...look, she forgot her top...Bet FB would let this one stay...

On the other hand, a male draped in another man’s embrace and a bath towel? No…he’s with another man and a towel isn’t clothing, therefore he’s nude. If it was a group of men wrapped in towels, standing in the locker room, they’re not really nude- because it’s part of the sport. Hmm…I’m sensing a trend.

Dan Skinner is my friend. He creates beautiful homoerotic art. He photographs men, glorious photos that move me and others through the stories he captures with both his imagination and his lens. I have many friends who tell wonderful stories of love and romance and the main characters are both males. I write gay fiction. Say it any way you want. 

If you want to follow me on Facebook, you will see and read about manlove. Get over it or get off my page. Through my warnings and the privacy settings on my posts, I have done what I can to protect you – the rest is up to you. If you don’t like what I write about, what I talk about, what I share with my friends, please act like a responsible adult and leave.