Child sexuality article proves legal minefield for magazine: Difference between revisions

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A Saskatoon art magazine will censor itself to avoid possible criminal charges over famous photographs they intended to use to illustrate an essay on child sexuality and censorship. Four of Blackflash magazine's volunteers on the board of directors resigned before the decision to leave out eight photographs of children from the upcoming winter edition. The board reversed an earlier decision because two printers refused the job, saying they couldn't risk the cost of a lengthy legal defence.<br>
A Saskatoon art magazine will censor itself to avoid possible criminal charges over famous photographs they intended to use to illustrate an essay on child sexuality and censorship. Four of Blackflash magazine's volunteers on the board of directors resigned before the decision to leave out eight photographs of children from the upcoming winter edition. The board reversed an earlier decision because two printers refused the job, saying they couldn't risk the cost of a lengthy legal defence.<br>
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"How ironic is this?" said John Conway, acting chair of the board of directors of Buffalo Berry Press, which publishes the 23-year-old, award-winning periodical. "Here's an art magazine that is censoring the publishing of art images because we have difficulty finding a printer who will print the issue, given the uncertainties of the new law, and the article in question is an article that questions the new law," Conway said. The images include two well-known photographs of young girls with their genitals showing. The photographs drew a warning from the magazine's lawyer, who told them the current child pornography law is vague and broad ranging and could include the pictures by Robert Mapplethorpe and Charles Dodgson, who is better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. [...]<br>
The images include two well-known photographs of young girls with their genitals showing. The photographs drew a warning from the magazine's lawyer, who told them the current child pornography law is vague and broad ranging and could include the pictures by Robert Mapplethorpe and Charles Dodgson, who is better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. [...]<br>
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"All of the images are part of legitimate art and library collections. We purchased reproduction rights for all of them, so you can see the framework we're working in," said managing editor Lissa Robinson. The circumstances in which photographs are taken and displayed are important, said Isobel Findlay, the former board chair who resigned on Oct. 23. "It's not the image itself. It's what values and attitudes you bring to bear in viewing it, what is happening in the contemporary context in society." [...]<br>
"All of the images are part of legitimate art and library collections. We purchased reproduction rights for all of them, so you can see the framework we're working in," said managing editor Lissa Robinson. The circumstances in which photographs are taken and displayed are important, said Isobel Findlay, the former board chair who resigned on Oct. 23. "It's not the image itself. It's what values and attitudes you bring to bear in viewing it, what is happening in the contemporary context in society." [...] It is difficult to discuss the issue without showing the photographs referred to in the essay, she said. [...]<br>
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"It's an important issue to address, but it raises key legal concerns on how you do so," Findlay said. It is difficult to discuss the issue without showing the photographs referred to in the essay, she said. [...]
The article, titled The Last Taboo, Child Sexuality and Censorship, was written by Kyla and James Legard, an Oxford educated couple who taught art history and sociology at the University of Calgary. They are moving to England and didn't have an appetite for a long legal battle either, Robinson said.<br>
The article, titled The Last Taboo, Child Sexuality and Censorship, was written by Kyla and James Legard, an Oxford educated couple who taught art history and sociology at the University of Calgary. They are moving to England and didn't have an appetite for a long legal battle either, Robinson said.<br>
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[[Category:Child sexuality]]
[[Category:Child sexuality]]
[[Category:Kinderseksualiteit]]
[[Category:Kinderseksualiteit]]
[[Category:John Conway]]
[[Category:Art/Artists]]
[[Category:Art/Artists]]
[[Category:Kunst/Kunstenaars]]
[[Category:Kunst/Kunstenaars]]

Revision as of 14:59, 9 June 2014

A Saskatoon art magazine will censor itself to avoid possible criminal charges over famous photographs they intended to use to illustrate an essay on child sexuality and censorship. Four of Blackflash magazine's volunteers on the board of directors resigned before the decision to leave out eight photographs of children from the upcoming winter edition. The board reversed an earlier decision because two printers refused the job, saying they couldn't risk the cost of a lengthy legal defence.

The images include two well-known photographs of young girls with their genitals showing. The photographs drew a warning from the magazine's lawyer, who told them the current child pornography law is vague and broad ranging and could include the pictures by Robert Mapplethorpe and Charles Dodgson, who is better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. [...]

"All of the images are part of legitimate art and library collections. We purchased reproduction rights for all of them, so you can see the framework we're working in," said managing editor Lissa Robinson. The circumstances in which photographs are taken and displayed are important, said Isobel Findlay, the former board chair who resigned on Oct. 23. "It's not the image itself. It's what values and attitudes you bring to bear in viewing it, what is happening in the contemporary context in society." [...] It is difficult to discuss the issue without showing the photographs referred to in the essay, she said. [...]

The article, titled The Last Taboo, Child Sexuality and Censorship, was written by Kyla and James Legard, an Oxford educated couple who taught art history and sociology at the University of Calgary. They are moving to England and didn't have an appetite for a long legal battle either, Robinson said.

source: Article 'Child sexuality article proves legal minefield for magazine' by Betty Ann Adam; www.canada.com/ saskatoonstarphoenix/news/ local/story.html?id=808b6f70- eb1b-44d3-92cd-7725e86aaae3&p=1; The StarPhoenix; 2 November 2006