[WikiEN-l] Images of sex organs

Sat Jan 10 15:28:51 UTC 2004

Robert-
> I disagree. A very large number of Americans will refuse to
> use Wikipedia if it contains color photographs of penises,
> vaginas, anal sphincters, etc.  If we do not have at least
> some level of protection, then we will become one of
> America's most-blocked site on home and school Internet
> filters.

We've gone through this before. My point of view is that we have no  
obligation to pander to filters - we have an obligation to be an  
encyclopedia. Being overly offensive hurts our usefulness as an  
encyclopedia, but being in the filters is not an indication for being  
overly offensive. A lot of stuff is put in filters that is not offensive  
by any reasonable standard.

> Perhaps main articles should have no such images, but can
> contain a link to a related article with such photos.

I find this to be an implicit endorsement of the shamefulness/sinfulness  
POV that has some prominence in American culture. NPOV should be paramount  
except for cases of near-universal offensiveness.

We should probably formulate a policy on this. On Talk:Clitoris there was  
a near consensus for including either a photo or a drawing, and a slim  
majority for a photo (although no suitable free illustration has been  
found yet). I do not see a fundamental difference between clitoris and  
penis in this regard. So it appears that the vast majority of Wikipedians  
favors liberal standards of inclusion rather than conservative ones.

Regards,

Erik