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Duck
& Cover - Am I the Dog in the Dogfight? All about the FBI,
Websites and the Whole Obscenity Problem.
Part 1 of 5
By Sensuous Sadie
SensuousSadie@aol.com
www.sensuoussadie.com
The full series includes:
They first came for the Communists and I
didn't speak up
because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for trade unionists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.
~ Pastor Martin Niemoeller
My friend Danielle is a writer, an experienced one; and also a
Submissive, an inexperienced one. I suggested that she write about being
a novice because this is the only time she will ever have this
experience. If she waits, it will become a different story, one told
with more perspective and less passion.
I'm no novice, but I too am going through something for the very first
time. It's something that your average guy or gal in the scene won't
ever experience unless they own a BDSM website, in which case if they
aren't feeling it now, they will be soon. So here's the medium-short
version.
In September of 2005, the FBI formed an anti-obscenity task force to
crack down on pornography. Any website that has content containing
"bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and
masochistic behavior" can be shut down. Not only can the FBI shut
down your website, but they can initiate a criminal prosecution for
obscenity, which is a felony and is punishable by jail time. It is this
criminal charge that is the most challenging problem for any website
owner, because once you are charged by the FBI with the federal offence
of obscenity, you are pretty much screwed because the legal costs of
defending yourself create an untenable situation. While the first
amendment protects free speech, it does not include all speech, such as,
for example, yelling "fire" in a crowded auditorium.
As you probably know, my website, sensuoussadie.com includes nearly 600
pages of BDSM-themed material. On the good side, there are zero examples
of bestiality, urination or defecation. On the bad side, there are
nearly 600 examples of sadistic and masochistic behavior, depending on
how broadly you define your terms. On the other good side, I've always
been a bit of a prude and there are darned few genitals or anything
"crude" on my website, and what little private parts there are
show up mostly in fetish art which tends to seem less like sex and more
like, well, "art." On the bad side are also those nearly 600
sicko, kinko, fetish pages that are sure to offend some Pentecostal lady
in deep south Louisiana. It is that lady who could be
judging my website, and according to the Communcations Decency Act, it's
not about my community here in Burlington, Vermont, but about whatever
community wherever. The internet is a national, international, and maybe
even intergalactic medium.
I think I know what I need to do to protect myself, but really I dont
really know at all, and neither does anyone else. If the FBI decides to
target me, there's not a blessed thing I can do about it. The fact is,
I'm in denial. Because when I really start thinking about this
situation, I get scared and panicky. What scares me the most is not that
my website could be shut down, although that's bad enough. It's that
obscenity charges are a federal offence, and I could go to jail. I think
about my homeowners association and how they'd boot my ass out if they
found out that I'd even adopted a second cat. Being indicted for
obscenity would definitely put them right over the edge; I'd be branded
a "ho," and me and my kitties would be booted out before they
got the second chorus of hi-de-hi, hi-de-ho.
The thought of losing all that I love and care for is more than I can
bear. I can understand why people like Midori shut their websites down
entirely. Because of this, many people compare the current situation to
the witch hunts of the McCarthy era. My parents were friends with a man
(now deceased) who went to jail rather than give up the guest list of
his radical conference center to the McCarthy crew. This story was
branded into my consciousness as I was growing up, which lead to the
question of whether I could do the same thing, even for a cause I
believed in. I've never had any jailable causes until now, so of course
it's been easy to say I could. I may have the moral fortitude now, but
even so I also know I would wither without the things I love. Nelson
Mandela I'm not.
So here's the deal. I can't face taking my website down. I believe too
strongly in my right to free speech, and I know that someone needs to
stand up for everyone in the BDSM community. I know that there are only
a few of us who have the capacity to do that in terms of not having
family who are dependant on them. Because I do not have children, I feel
that I can make that choice now. I also feel that because of my
circumstance in being an upper middle class educated white person, as
well as a professional, stable and really very likeable and cheery kind
of gal, that I am less likely to actually end up in jail than someone
with a less stellar background. While it may not be right, it is a fact
in our country that socio-economic status is a factor is how a person is
treated in our legal system.
For these reasons and others, I've decided to take what I call the Duck
and Cover approach. "duck and cover" was a phrase that was
used in the 1950's when the atomic bomb was invented, and children were
taught to "duck and cover" in order to avoid being irradiated.
Of course we know now that this tactic is ridiculous, because by the
time you I Spy the mushroom cloud, you'll probably be disintegrated into
dust already a la Hiroshima, but whatever.
That said, I'd like to use a broader view of the duck and cover approach
which would include hiding out in a warm underground home like a smart
little beaver over the winter until spring has sprung, and all the men
in black have sped on back to Washington.
My plan is to "vanillify" my website as much as possible by
removing all examples of any photographic nudity, and anything I imagine
could be offensive, relatively speaking. A civil rights lawyer friend of
mine told me that writing was less of a risk than photography because it
was more broadly protected by the first amendment (the right to free
speech) than photography or art is. The other advantage is that I write
mostly about ideas, theories, speculations, and extrapolations, not to
mention emotions, spirituality, and relationships. These things are a
lot less threatening to your average reader from the Bayou or beyond.
Don't consider this legal advice however, it's just, like most things,
an idea, a theory, a speculation and an extrapolation. My goal is to
survive until the pendulum swings back to a more liberal political state
of things. I also plan to write my congresspeople and try to get them to
make the FBI back down. After all, I have some pretty nifty photographs
I really would like to post.
Like Danielle, I'm writing about my panic just at the
moment I'm feeling it. As you can probably tell, taking action
alleviates fear for me. I also pray a lot and think through all the
awful possibilities so I can figure out if I can handle what might
happen. I'm still not so sure that I can handle them, but at least I'm
taking them on, one fear at a time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sensuous Sadie is the author of It's Not About the Whip: Love, Sex,
and Spirituality in the BDSM Scene. Read an excerpt at http://www.trafford.com/robots/03-0551.html.
She is the founder and leader (1999 - 2001) of Rose & Thorn,
Vermont's first BDSM group. Comments, compliments and complaints, as
well as requests for reprinting can be addressed to her at SensuousSadie@aol.com
or visit her website at www.sensuoussadie.com.
Sadie believes the universe is abundant, and that sharing information
freely is part of this abundance, so she allows reprints of her writing
in most venues.
Copyright 2005 Sadie Sez Publications
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