sensitive topics; discussions about rule 7just received an interesting email, so let me put this out here:
rule 7 is mainly for the safety of this server, and it's also meant to ensure there's 0 questioning what the intent of this instance is.
MAP flag iconography, regardless of what you want to believe or not, is primarily used by people who illicit intent on harming real-world children. i've had to remote suspend a user from baraag who draws art w/ those flags, in which they also had a verifiable alt-account on a now dead instance which promoted pro-contact (read: wants to harm children) content.
to be clear: i am in support of paraphiles, they can not help their attractions, and frankly the way society treats them is horrific. but with that said, paraphiles who decide to act on their urges, thinking there's nothing wrong with that, are not good people. and those are not the kind of people who will ever be allowed near this instance. those people are the primary bearers of the MAP flag, and are definitely the loudest with it. no matter how hard you try, you can not separate this crowd, so to depict it in your art is to depict a flag used by real-world child abusers.
there is a lot of nuance with discussion like this, and i'm aware there's not a whole lot of it here, but the main point is that flag iconography representing paraphilias are almost always used to represent harmful ideals, even if it's intent by someone else is to just show they have this paraphilia and do not wish to ennact real-world harm.
i do desperately wish there were more fediverse spaces that don't promote horrible ideals about consent while still allowing for paraphiles. but i'm not setting this instance up for that. this instance is for freaky art made by queers, and that's that. if you want that kind of space, make it yourself.
you do not get to demand people bow to your whim about the spaces they make at their expense. if you have a problem with this, again, i implore you make your own space.
and just as an aside, saying you want my instance to be more like ATF in the same breath you're putting into question this instance being a safe space? that is extremely laughable, in the face of that website being extremely queerphobic.
sorry if this was rambly, i'm recovering from a technology-induced migraine.
