During A Lapse In Judgment, Two Femme Wave Artists Tried Advertising Fisting To LGBTQ Youth
Everyone knows the conversation of safe sex is incredibly important for all persons worldwide. While conversations have widened with talk of a cure for HIV and the fantastic addition of pRep, sexually transmitted infections still exist and there should be valuable resources and information shared to protect ourselves. Being a member of the LGBTQ community, I didn’t feel any health classes mandatory in high school were ever geared towards me compared to my heterosexual peers. Now, the internet provides as a useful tool for anyone to access. Still, members of our community go to extra lengths to ensure that people will still be having sex, so we should protect them. In various LGBTQ owned businesses or gayborhoods, condoms are readily available to grab and go. However, sometimes we may miss the mark on where to advertise safe and healthy sex.
According to Buzzfeed, two queer artists from Calgary, Alberta (Canada) are disappointed after the Memorial Park Public Library – Calgary refused to advertise their same-sex, safe-sex posters and videos to LGBTQ youth. Maddie Alexander and Morgan Sears-Williams were set to showcase their art in a show as part of the Femme Wave Festival, Femme4Femme. They were advertising safer LGBTQ sex, femme identities, and a video which included dental dams and gloves. Sounds harmless, so far.
The artists were advertising this in a public library to target LGBTQ youth. As a librarian was reviewing their work, the imagery of vintage lesbians, safe sex tips, and fisting were flagged as sexually explicit (for their audience). The library stated the artists would be able to put up their various work, but not a poster that advertised “The Do’s & Don’ts of Fisting”. Sears-Williams states she is confused why queer sex is still viewed as “offensive”. Mary Kapusta gave comment stating that the library is not anti-LGBTQ whatsoever and the artists were offered to continue with their exhibit, but they duo chose not too, as they want to educate the youth and refuse to be about censorship. Kapusta told:
“I would note that our staff hoped that we could keep the rest of the exhibit up as I understand that it showcased same-sex relationships and that content is certainly in-line with our programming, but we respect that the artists wanted to keep it as a complete collection.”
While it’s a given that no content creator, artist, or the like would choose to censor their work. Yet, did Alexander and Sears-Williams have a severe lapse in judgement with delivering this type of sexual content to a young audience. I can’t recall the last time I was ever in a library in my teenage life outside of my high school’s. The target youth audience of a library has to be children under sixteen-years-old, right? This seems a little inappropriate to be advertising fisting to the masses. A library isn’t a place to be discussing wild sex acts – and Memorial Park Library is rightfully standing by their decision to think so.
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
H/T: Buzzfeed
