I ask because it seems to be de rigueur among fellow Saturday Spankings bloghoppers and the like. However, I find I am instinctively resisting ticking the box. I don't want the Content Warning page to flash up every time someone nips over to my blog.
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| Or is it? |
My blog's not that rude, I reason to myself. There's nothing on it that you wouldn't find on, say, Cracked.com or the sex problems page on the Guardian. There's no nudity, for one thing. I even swear less than I've done on previous non-spanking-related blogs.
Obviously it's an adult blog. I'm not suggesting children wander over and read the spanking excerpts. But, the fact is, "adult" in this context means "porny" rather than "not child-friendly". In the same way that "adult bookstores" aren't full of copies of the Game of Thrones and Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time.
Parents don't assume that everything on the internet that doesn't explicitly come with a warning is safe, clean family entertainment. They know if they did, their kids would see some pretty freaky stuff by the time they were eighteen.
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| Anyone ever NOT clicked the orange box? |
I could be looking at this the wrong way, though. I don't want the Content Warning page because I assume it will put readers off. Maybe it doesn't. For all I know, it may act as an enticement, luring people in with its promise of sexy, sexy content.
It's like the paragraph that you get at the end of the blurb for a spanking book on Amazon: "This book contains graphic sex scenes, consensual and non consensual spanking and anal play. Please do not buy if you are offended by such things." I'm not the only person who skips to that bit first, surely? That kind of warning must encourage far more people than it deters.
The main thing that worries me in my current 'Content warning'-free stance, is that maybe the decision will be imposed on me from outside. Can I get reported for offending the sensibilities of the casual websurfer with my slightly kinky erotica-themed website? What will my "It doesn't even have any boobies on it!" defence be worth when the Google Police step in and wipe me from the blogosphere?
It's entirely possible I'm overthinking this. It has been known. I would be really interested to know other bloggers' opinions.Is the Adult Content warning a furtive apology, a proud declaration or a straightforward courtesy to other web users?
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| Photo of a pair of boobies which totally undermines my earlier point. |
I chose to turn my adult content on- I sympathize with the notion of not wanting someone on the outside to force me. Now I admit things get squiggily around the teen years- I did far more than my fair share of stuff I shouldn't have been as a teen- but when it comes to my writing, it's for adults, simple as that. Even some of it is too graphic, shows sex & BDSM acts that are too much for many adults- especially if *they* won't give me the moment to make up for their inadequate sexual education. But then my style is rather different than yours, Etta- I even joked with my teen as I was getting ready to take him to a youth convention that I probably swear more than him. :D
ReplyDeleteYou're blog really doesn't have anything offensive on it. I also think it's sort of dumb, I mean I have the content warning on mine, but I always think- say some under age person wanders over and clicks continue. It's not like it's an ID checker, wouldn't that make a person under age more likely to want to look? Or is that just me?
ReplyDeleteAnd I am with you on content warnings on books, tell me what good stuff is in it! The same with bad reviews for books when they complain there is too much spanking. Too much you say? Let me be the judge of that!
I haven't activated the Adult Content Warning on my blog. I worry about being on the Blogger Police radar, you know? Every year or so, it seems there's some sort of scare about how Blogger is going to delete adult content.
ReplyDeleteSo instead, I typed up my own little humorous warning at the top of my home page. I figure it does the job without putting me on "perv radar." (rolling eyes)
Erica, that' a whole new thing for me to worry about! One of my reasons for activating it would be to keep Google happy, but you're right, I don;t want to stand up and be counted if 'adult' bloggers are going to be first against the wall when the revolution comes.
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