F$@K CENSORSHIP!
The Cartoonist Co-op (which I’m a member of) has a new anthology out – F$@K CENSORSHIP! The Anti-Censorship Comix Jam!
A WORD OF CAUTION:
If you want to engage with this anthology and the statements on it, there are content warnings. Please, ONLY engage with the anthology and the website if you are up for it. Many of the comics and works on there (including my submission) have deeply upsetting, triggering, and sometimes downright awful material. The content warnings are there to help you prepare and gauge what to engage with, if anything. PLEASE use those content warnings for your safety.
This anthology was made after itch.io started cracking down on NSFW comics, art, and other content on their website. We understand that they only did it because the payment processors (including Stripe and Mastercard) are pushing for outright porn bans. And we also understand that those companies are doing so because of demands from alt-right “women’s rights” groups out of Australia (no I’m not kidding).
That said, companies censoring work sets a dangerous precedent. Because where does the line get drawn – and who draws it? And when those lines get drawn, who gets punished?
These are questions worth asking, and we elaborate on this as a collective in a statement on the Cartoonist Co-op website and on the Comix Jam.
Again, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED that there are content warnings and upsetting material on the website. All the content/trigger warnings are listed on the front page of said website. ONLY engage with it if you are a) an adult, and b) ok with engaging with the material. You DON’T have to engage with it.
(I’m also re-iterating this because I did make a submission for this anthology, and I don’t want anyone leaving comments saying that any particular piece upset them, though I will probably get those complaints anyway. I warned you. Multiple times.)
So Why Did I Participate?
Because the older I get, the more I stand firm on one thing: no censorship. End of sentence.
It’s not just a matter of artistic expression, whether that expression is for catharsis or any other emotional release. Sometimes the drive to create something – anything – is too great to keep contained. There is that. Also, those questions I mentioned are worth asking: who is doing the censorship, and why? And who benefits from the censorship? More often than not, the benefactors are people trying to silence black, brown, and queer people, especially in this particular time in the United States. To be frank, it’s more than annoying that we are silenced while fascist ideologies and their “AI art” plagiarized from actual artists are allowed prime time on national airwaves.
I participated in this project because these questions matter. And it matters to keep making art – even gross, awful, perverted, even deeply triggering work.
I’ve seen the IBM management proclamation: “Computers cannot be held accountable, therefore they cannot make management decisions.” Then someone took that and made it “computers cannot be sad or horny. Therefore they cannot make artistic decisions.” Art is a form of expression. But if the only expression we allow fits within certain parameters, that’s censorship. Art is release, catharsis, expression, and skill, all combined to make the viewer react in some way. And part of what makes it art is that human element – a human made it, and a human engages with it. Whether they feel empathy, disgust, joy, etc, what matters is that we feel something.
That’s why I participated.
That’s all for now. Be safe, and take care of yourselves.
You. Are. Awesome.
