could someone please explain to me why deviantart even bothers to have a mature content section? 'Masturbation Psychology' just got banned under policy violation. i visted the FAQ and discovered "A literary work may not explicitly detail the act of masturbation" and "A literary work may not detail graphic or explicit sexual intercourse." now, i'm not questioning why my deviation has been removed; i've read these rules and admit that i have, albeit unintentionally, broken them, but i am questioning why these rules have been put in place.

now i know it's typical. deviant gets work deleted, deviant posts whiny journal. and yes, i am aware that i have already posted a similar journal. but what i really want to make people aware of is the fact that artists that find themselves drawn to the theme of erotica (which, let's face is, isn't unusual) seem to be somewhat oppressed in this community.

firstly, since when did masturbation even fall under the same consideration as something like child pornography or rape? don't tell me that none of the deviantart admins have never masturbated. i maintain that(at the risk of sounding like a walking cliche) it's not rude, it's natural. i just don't understand why this theme is offensive. because there's nothing that says we can't submit writings that deal with rape, sadomasochism, bondage... the list could go on to whichever degree you choose.

secondly, i just think that these rules in particular are so vague, because how are we to judge detail? surely a certain amount of detail is required to acheive the effect that erotic literature is supposed to give? it is all a matter of opinion. and if works are going to be deleted under what some guy considers to be 'explicit' then works should start being banned on quality, (which deviantart currently does not do) because i've read erotic literary works here that consist of nothing but speech and vile euphamisms, yet they are still allowed to remain when, whilst they may not detail explicit sexual acts, they do little more than make the reader feel ill.

i've also been to the News section, and i found this: "...when the term erotic is used during this discussion, it is intended to represent literature which could more clearly be described as romantic with mild sexual content." if this is true then why do we bother to have separate romantic and erotic categories? i believe that erotic literature should arouse some sort of sexual excitement in the reader, and this is why 'erotic' differs so vastly from 'romantic.' i don't mean that it should be for the purpose of jacking off, i just mean it should appeal to a reader's sexual nature. if transgressive prose is intended to appeal to a person's violent side, then why should this be any different? and yes, i can also distinguish between 'erotic' and ' pornographic.' pornographic writing has so little depth, feeling, emotion or skill that IT IS NOT VALID. it is difficult to craft a piece of writing that is erotic as opposed to pornographic, so why should certain artists on deviatnart be penalised for possessing that certain skill? mature content labels exist for a reason. if you come across one, and you can't handle 'mature,' then go write your own piece of suck and CLICK THE FUCKING BACK BUTTON.