Time to defend some sons-of-bitches
So Steam has banned games featuring "adult content" from its storefront, with itch.io following suit a few days later. Both cite pressure from their payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe, etc.) as the primary reason for the bans. itch.io specifically points out this pressure was induced by anti-porn activist group Collective Shout, which has some interesting ties to other conservative, pro-censorship movements.
(I've linked to archived versions of those articles because the original publisher, Vice, later deleted them from its website due to their "controversial content.")
This means Steam and itch.io have joined Patreon, Gumroad, and other sites like them in censoring the art that can be hosted and sold on their platforms. First off, it's worth noting that banning adult content from a platform doesn't actually remove it from the platform. It just removes the incentive for creators to properly flag and categorize their work, as doing so becomes the most effective and immediate way to get it deleted. Instead, creators inevitably start using euphemistic categories and tags—or, even worse, stop tagging their work at all. And that only increases the odds that you (or your kid) will end up seeing something you don't want to see.
Secondly, two quotes from 404 Media's reporting on this development stand out:
The 15th item on a list of “what you shouldn’t publish on Steam” now reads: “Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.”
Valve did not respond to questions about where developers might find more details about payment processors’ rules and standards.
As I've mentioned before, it's actually against censors' best interests to provide clear guidelines on what they do or do not prohibit. It isn't logistically feasible to identify and punish every possible infraction; instead, censors make the rules vague and confusing, the punishment harsh and specific, and rely on fear and doubt to force self-censorship on their target population.
itch.io's new content guidelines are a bit clearer, but not by much. You may note that itch's list of "prohibited themes" includes rape, incest, and underage sex — but does not clarify whether they're prohibited only within a pornographic context, or whether any works addressing these themes are now banned.
I've seen defenders of these content bans claim that they're just targeting specific forms of porn which "glorify" rape and child abuse, but it's clear that creators examining these subjects from an artistic, literary perspective are also being censored, because the moderation systems in place on these platforms either don't know or don't care what "glorifying" actually means. Call me an apologist all you want, but if you can't tell the difference between rape fetish porn and Toni Morrison's Beloved, you don't deserve to cast moral judgment on either of those things.
The good news here is that the latest group to be affected by these censorship policies are gamers. Who are, uh, notoriously aggressive about losing access to their entertainment products of choice, especially when it's product they've already paid for. By many reports, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe are getting absolutely swamped with complaints — so Collective Shout and the payment processors they're targeting may have finally swung their bats at the wrong hornet's nest.
(If you'd like to be one of the hornets, check out this page.)
On a personal note: itch.io is one of the sites through which I sell my books. I don't appear to have been caught in the ban (yet), but I can't guarantee indefinite access to my work through the platform; as a writer who not-infrequently explores dark subjects, I'm likely to run afoul of that "prohibited themes" list I mentioned earlier. If you've bought books from me on itch, I recommend downloading and archiving all of them.
itch.io also allows its sellers to choose how much of their revenue to share with the platform. Historically my revenue share with itch has been set to 10%, meaning itch received ⅒th of the cover price on every book I sold through their site. I have now reduced my revenue share to 0%, and it will stay there until itch's new censorship policies are reversed.
Podcast Appearance: I Will Fight You
The latest episode of I Will Fight You is about Hellboy (2004), directed by Guillermo del Toro. It is a movie full of the Things Guillermo Likes. We like those things, too.
You can listen to the episode here, or wherever podcasts are found.
New Serialized Chapter: "Sebastian Moran Gut-Punches a Pimp," Chapter 4
The handle turned, and the door slammed open as the intruder on the other side barrelled into the bedroom. There was a gun in his hand.
He’d clearly expected to surprise Sebastian in bed, and was unprepared for Sebastian to dart in from the side and twist the gun out of his grip. It fell to the floor, and then Sebastian’s knife was up under the intruder’s chin as he pushed them both back through the doorway.
Chapter 4 of "Sebastian Moran Gut-Punches a Pimp" is is now up available to read on the new Casefile of Jay Moriarty website!. If you don't want to read the story in serialized form and would prefer to get it all at once, you can also buy the entire novelette as an ebook.
End of the Summer/Winter Sale
We're into the last few days of the Summer/Winter sale over on Smashwords! You can get most of my books at a discount of up to 75% off until July 31.
This Week's Links
Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy.
A petition by the ACLU to end Mastercard's discriminatory policies against sex workers and adult content, from which so many other censorship troubles stem. Only signable by US residents or citizens.
Buying and Selling Queer Content in Interesting Times
Adult content has always been and always will be the euphemistic term used to go after queer art, especially art by trans creatives. It doesn’t matter if the art or book or movie is about two ace women in a queer-platonic relationship going to adopt a cat or if it’s seven men having a twenty-four hour orgy doing some of the most taboo acts known to humanity. It’s the same thing to these Christofascists. And they want it gone.
... to the best of my knowledge, I did not pass away last November 20. That is not just my opinion. In recent months I have been examined by two different licensed physicians, and if I had been dead, I'm pretty sure at least one of them would have mentioned it. ("Dave, your pulse is zero, and your blood pressure is zero over zero. I'm going to try your other arm, but frankly at this point I'm concerned.")
H. L. Mencken
-K
