You (but not you) Tube

On the Drawing Board by Breyette

After being posted on YouTube for a couple years, yesterday I get a notice saying this video (a little promo I made for my book "On the Drawing Board") is in violation of their community guidelines. Mind you I did not include any explicit erections or overly graphic depictions of genitalia.

First of all, it's artwork, second any hint of genitalia is very very minor.  It's nothing that you would not see on a Greek or Roman statue in any museum.

Thirdly, their use of the term "community guidelines" is particularly annoying, insinuating that people who appreciate and do not fear the human form are not members of "the community".  Why is it the prudes, homophobes, and gymnophobes get to dictate what they feel is acceptable? I find forcing their fears and repressed sexuality onto others to be unacceptable 'community' behavior.

My last bone to pick, is that YouTube allows users to report and log complaints against the videos that get posted but they don't allow you to report the hateful bigoted comments that users post to videos.  I've seen so many hateful homophobic comments using the f****t word posted on YouTube, but apparently they have no issue with that.  Show men kissing, or a butt, or a drawing of a flaccid penis and they're suddenly concerned about upsetting the 'community'.

Well, I decided to just close my account, SCREW YOU YOUTUBE. 

Too Hot for Television!

While discussing the recent record sale ($106.5 million at auction) of this Pablo Picasso painting on ABC's "The View", an image of the work was shown on screen.  Upon further discussion, moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked if they could put up the image again and was told they could not because their legal department wouldn't allow it.  It wasn't because they did not have rights to show it, but because it showed a woman's nude breast.

Television inundates us with so much violence and sexual titillation (and that's just Good Morning America), it's confounding that this is where the line is drawn to protect society; showing a work of art for longer than 30 seconds.  And it's not even a realistic depiction of a breast.

So when I get annoyed with facebook or other websites deleting images of my artwork because they are deemed 'adult' even tho they don't show nudity or sex, I guess I should be thankful any of my work is allowed if our society really is this gymnophobic (fear of nudity).

Now whether this work is worth $106.5 million, is a whole other discussion.