Daily archives: January 29, 2010


Are small breasts illegal in Australia now?

Australia’s government seems to be going through some sort of moral panic at the moment. This press release from the Australian Sex Party details new and dumb restrictions on the content of adult material. Depictions of female ejaculation are to be banned, presumably because someone- like Queen Victoria and lesbians- doesn’t believe it really happens. (TMI, but I’m confident I’ve seen it in real life. Not as spectacular as porn would have you believe, but definitely not urine and something more than mere lubrication.)

Another, even dumber, crackdown is on models with smaller breasts. The Sex Party asserts that material featuring models with A cups is being restricted because, somehow, it’ll excite paedophiles.

I just read 25, 000 Years of Erotic Freedom by Alan Moore, which is basically a long essay on the history of smut with ample illustrations and gorgeous packaging. One of his conclusions is that the state of the eortic arts in the English speaking world (actualy he just calls out Britain and the US, but I think we can add Australia now) is so awful precisely because of the efforts our governments make to restrict discussion of sex.

There’s too much low quality, demeaning and insulting (to both sexes) porn out there, and it’s not because there’s too much freedom. It’s because many of the people who would create interesting, challenging, life affirming, sex positive and gorgeous work are scared off by the threats of censorship and worse. By saying that one aspect of women’s sexual experience is too vile to be discussed and that a particular body type (a body type I prefer- I’m Not Safe For Australia) shouldn’t be seen, Australia’s government are doing great harm and little, if any, good.

Right. I’m off to draw a page of comic art which may be illegal in Australia.

via BoingBoing Ms Naughty and several other sources


Do I want an iPad?

The greatest thing ever in the history of everything was announced on Wednesday. I was in the pub, so I’m only just starting to follow the hype.

Just a few of the pieces I’ve seen-

7 Ways the Apple iPad will affect Filmmakers and Creatives

Did You Hear? The Apple Tablet Is Gonna Save Comics, Too.

I haven’t been following the hype, and even I’ve read speculation that The New Flatness will save, in no particular order: Book publishing, newspapers, magazines, music, textbooks, games and the music industry. Also: The Whales, the Children, the Tiger, The Cheerleader/World, Energy, Ferris, and The Last Dance for Me.

So yeah, once it’s got all that sorted, it’s gonna save the comics industry. No, really; for months the comics press has teemed with forward-looking headlines both bold (“Apple Tablet Will Restore Comic Books to Former Glory”) and coy (“Could Apple’s iSlate Tablet Be a Digital Game-Changer?”)

The Morning After The Night Before – Comic Industry Wakes Up To The Apple iPad

Apple Event to Focus on Reinventing Content, Not Tablets

I may have to start saving for an iPad. It won’t be as good as all the hype, but it will be phenomenally popular. And it looks like there’ll be an iTunes extension for books. I’ll skip over the ebook readers I’ve been pondering for a while for the product that’s going to be in the most backpacks in a couple of years. I want to produce content for it, so I should get one to see what works best and maybe even to use whilst producing some of that content.

It seems I’ve finally- after years of resisting Macs (of my own, I did borrow time on Damian’s to do some video editing), iPods and iPhones- fallen for the Apple shiny. I’m ready to be assimilated into the iBorg now.