Check out today's most popular photo (contains nudity)

[ralphandkylie]

Two points to clarify.

1. When I say liberal and conservative I'm talking about MORALLY liberal and MORALLY conservative. As far as I'm concerned this has nothing to do with politics. I have edited my posts to reflect this.

2. Dutroux has nothing to do with The Photo. I use him as an extreme example of a moral liberal. Sure he's a psychopath but he's also a paedophile. Paedophiles are moral liberals who want to have the same sexual rights as everyone else.

[offtheradar]

But I have to ask, if a majority can make it #1, why can't a majority ask for it to be taken down?

every day i learn something new here on pbase, did not know by now that there can be two majorities at the same time

If there were a lot of emails asking for it to be removed, the "new" thing you get to learn today is that you never really new who the majority was to begin with. Nobody said two majorities existed at once. But if you want to try to slam me for having an opinion, go ahead. It doesn't reflect poorly on me.

[erichmangl]

If there were a lot of emails asking for it to be removed, the "new" thing you get to learn today is that you never really new who the majority was to begin with. Nobody said two majorities existed at once.

i now (see, i learn quick) that the picture had a few thousand viewers before bob started his witch hunt - i bet he asked some of his friends to support him and write to abuse@pbase.com too since his single voice is worth nothing. for sure nobody wrote to slug at this time "hey, i like that picture on first page of popular photos":
your breathtaking fuzzy logic is right, the majority complaint

[vanderstouw]

the problem is that bob doesn't know how to keep the discussion on pbase...

he was going to ray's blog (completely unrelated to pbase) to talk sh!t.

[yippee2000]

someone was good enough to send me a link for the photo in question (as I was unable to see it in the artist's gallery, and I understand it has since been removed....)

as to what is "porn", I don't have a definitive answer but here are my random thoughts.....

the clarity of the image and the lighting are very good.

and because it's such a close up shot, the photo ends up being sorta abstract. some people might not even know "what" it is at first.

I think perhaps some people are bothered by the fact that the image is so "up close and personal".

it's entirely possible that a guy with dormant pedophile tendancies could look at someone else's entirely innocent family photo of a little girl in the bathtub and consider it "porn". Does that mean it is?

what if someone with a foot fetish looks at a closeup photo of a woman's manicured foot and masturbates to it. does that make the photo "porn"?

what if in the photo in question, the woman had pubic hair? would that make the image less "porn"?

[simplephotography]

2. Sure he's a psychopath but he's also a paedophile. Paedophiles are moral liberals who want to have the same sexual rights as everyone else.

(off topic)He's just a paedophile because little girls will easily believe him, not because they're young. If older women would not offer resistance either, that would have been fine for him too. He doesn't believe anything, he just knows no limits to anything. He's not a moral liberal, because he has or knows no moral, and he doesn't want any sexual rights. That's just not keeping him busy at all.(end of off topic)

Bottom line: it's perfectly okay not to agree to certain things, but it's not okay if you make your moral standards those of Pbase by starting a manhunt. End of story.

[ralphandkylie]

My 2 cents worth on what constitutes porn, quoted from a post of mine from another similar thread a few months ago.

"Pornography, dictionary definition: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO CAUSE SEXUAL AROUSAL.

The problem we have here is that we have differing views on what constitutes "sexually explicit" For some people this means pictures of sexual intercourse, for others pictures of breasts and it wasn't too long ago where pictures containing KNEES were deemed sexually explicit. The other key point is the statement "whose purpose is to cause sexual arousal". So by this definition if you find breasts arousing then pictures of breasts can be pornographic for you EVEN IF THE PICTURE WASN'T TAKEN WITH THIS PURPOSE IN MIND. Also, for all we know a thread that is started with "Let's post pictures of donkeys" is posted by someone who is aroused by donkeys and is looking for pornography!"

Ralph.

[ugot2bkdng]

Dang Ralph. Did you have to go and reveal that just when I was about to make my post?

[ethicalheretic]

... Dutroux has nothing to do with The Photo. I use him as an extreme example of a moral liberal. Sure he's a psychopath but he's also a paedophile. Paedophiles are moral liberals who want to have the same sexual rights as everyone else.

Since when does psychopathology mean "morally liberal"?

[ethicalheretic]

"Pornography, dictionary definition: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO CAUSE SEXUAL AROUSAL.

The problem we have here is that we have differing views on what constitutes "sexually explicit" For some people this means pictures of sexual intercourse, for others ...

So if someone posts a photo of a woman eating a banana it could be banned from Pbase because someone might find it arousing....

It's a silly world we live in.

Oh, and by the way... what's so bad about something being arousing?

[reflectionsbyruth]

In case any of you idiots are wondering lol.. thats a close up of a rose.
I know the person on pbase that took those photos. I've commented on a few of her pictures in her gallery.

[simplephotography]

It's not about any of hers. It's about another photo.

[mmcculloch]

If you feel that Ray's pictures should have remained in the popular galleries pages, please sign the <a href="http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=16735">petition</a>.

Murray

[steveandbecky]

I am not offended by THE PHOTO but it doesn't seem to be all that appropriate either. A lot of people are raised in very strict conservative cultures (as I was) and it is not our our fault if we have some reservations about seeing these photos so prominently displayed. THE PHOTO is well taken but you realize it is a pussy and I hardly think it qualifies as "art", but I will accept that to some people it is art and so I say let it stay. I was hoping to see some pink but that is probably out of the question now.

My elderly mother visiting PBase to see my stupid little pet pics said to me; "You know I looked at your pictures on your website and there was a picture of a man's genitals. That wasn't you was it?" I assured her it was not and for the 100th time tried to explain what PBase is about. It won't do any good though. She will look at PBase again some time and maybe see the guy who likes to stand by the window and photograph himself naked. Being the elderly woman that she is she might once again think it is me. After all, although I am getting up there in years now, I am in as good a shape as he is and my penis is at least as big as his but I am not going to take a photograph and display it ANYWHERE. Where I live that is called exposing yourself. If you took that photo outside and showed it to people passing by you would probably be arrested and be forced to register as a sex offender.

Really, I like to see naked people. Keep posting. But people who don't like to see that openly displayed aren't defective, they are just different people from a different culture and don't deserve to be flamed for objecting to it.

-Steve

[leggings]

I have not been looking in the popular galleries much lately but is this all about the vagina photo? It is a shame it has been taken down because it is very well done. Georgia O’Keefe had some very erotic looking flowers and not too many people get buggered over them. Next thing ya know we will be castrating Michelangelo’s David and taking pesticide to Georgia’s flower garden

Warning or not it is a good photo and deserved the top spot both for the creative approach to nude photography and how well it was processed.

Duncan