> These hopes have to be tempered by the issues of the general sterility of software, though. GitHub, StackOverflow, Glitch, and other community sites were not really made with NSFW content in mind.
Yes and I hope it stays that way. Teenagers or even children may use those platforms and I think we're oversexualizing everything too much already.
Maybe that's an opportunity for a new developer platform focused on NSFW uses.
> we're oversexualizing everything too much already.
We're really not. Most platforms are way too strict with NSFW things, especially the recent LLMs which won't even write spicy fan fiction. There's no point in NSFW which is completely out of context and unnecessary, but a genuine buttplug controller? What's wrong with that?
By and large, we all get horny, and we all like to get our rocks off. A good thing too, or the species would have died out ages ago.
It's sad that even in 2024 it is taboo to talk about it in the eyes of some, or apparently to even publish tangentially related source code to GitHub. I very much doubt that any curious teenager is going to get turned on from reading the buttplug.io source code. And if they do: props to them.
On the one hand, we seem to sexualize the weirdest things (beauty pageants for kids, anyone?) without anyone seeming to care. But on the other hand, we're weirdly prude & defensive about perfectly natural processes (sex, masturbation, sexual curiosity & experimentation) to the point that we have to censor them on the internet. I still can't grok that.
I'm pretty conservative but i f I found my teenage son browsing the buttplug.io library on github I wouldn't be very upset. It's funny and midly erotic with no visual cues, something that is not a problem for teens.
In Europe this is often attributed to American cultural imperialism.
TV, at least in The Netherlands, has become a lot more prudish, Music censored, etc.
I've worked (in the internet branches of) Dutch National media organizations, for magazines and publishers. All lament, that "back in the days, a pair of its, or a penis flopping through a scene was normal." All due to American influence. It's certainly not imposed top down.
A dutch beach club owner told me it used to be rather normal for women to be topless on the beach, up to the early 2000s. And that nowadays it's almost unheard of.
I don't know how else to say this, but American institutions, and Americans, are profoundly uninterested in what nudity taboos you may or may not have over there. American tourists might care, if they're looking to see some tits on a beach.
Have you at least considered the possibility that Europe has its own prudes?
They may be uninterested and unaware and yet very powerful in propagating their own hangups all over the place. For example through movie and TV production. For example through movie, TV and video distribution. For example through legal models and specific texts. For example through organizations active in the hangup propagation business (so, they are certainly not ALL uninterested). For example through credit card networks and banking. And it goes on and on. I nearly forgot to mention technology companies and (currently) their "app" markets.
Some countries like the UK seem to be ahead of the pack in the hangup department but they also don't have the global footprint / influence that the US have.
And, not to forget, the all-powerfull tech monopolies. E.g. Facebook and Instagram have a very US -centric idea of what content is allowed. Nudity, not even a hint of a nipple, is banned. Youtube is rather similar.
And generations are influenced by social media. They will form (at least a part of) their world views, values, behaviours from social media.
Another reason why it's such a d*mn shame that Europe doesn't manage to keep it's own tech giants that could compete with the US ones.
The fact that (for the most part) 2 American credit card companies determine what porn people can and cannot watch on-line world-wide is an embodiment of this very problem.
I specifically said "American Cultural Imperialism" and mentioned "bottom up". So there's absolutely no US institute that would be even remotely interested in what people on a Dutch beach wear or how much boobs there are in a French movie shown in a French home.
It's the general "way of life" and "culture" that is exported, embraced and then lived by. Making new generations "more American" and therefore, also more prude. At least, that's the idea.
Not just more prude but shifting it. In the past it was normal to see naked people at the beach or changing rooms. Now that's been stamped out, but porn is massive. The only naked people the majority see are porn actors.
I used to share your opinion, but I had to do with the adult content world for work related stuff and it was the filthiest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life. Sex work is an ugly thing, built upon the exploitation of both workers and customers. Nothing freeing or emancipating about that.
Yes we shouldn't treat sex as a taboo and children should be educated to avoid STDs, unwanted pregnancies, etc. No, we shouldn't expose children to the filth of the adult content world.
You could also have been referring to retail or low-cost manufacturing.
For others, sex work is validating, empowering, exciting, beautiful, freeing, independent, a way to be seen (that means recognized for who they are - rather than societal conformance pressures), a direct interaction with people who truly appreciate and are thankful for the work, flexible, personal (as opposed to impersonal / replaceable cog), creative, and something that they can get up for in the morning.
What you are describing is not rooted in, or equivalent to "sex work". You can be depressed and want to kill yourself at the perspective of going to the office. That it's an "office" is not the root of it.
Yes and I hope it stays that way. Teenagers or even children may use those platforms and I think we're oversexualizing everything too much already.
Maybe that's an opportunity for a new developer platform focused on NSFW uses.