Don't make eye contact with the vibrator

Oh no its a vibrator!

Call the police! that martian is on a vibrator!

     I was asked by an organizer of Second Life birthday 10 last week to fill up five parcels (or hopefully more) that were not claimed by exhibitors.  In my mind I was telling myself.. "no don't accept you don't have time!" but my typing fingers said "ok".  I must admit that I was a bit cross with my fingers at first but then I had an idea.  The theme for the birthday event this year is to do with remembering the history of SL.  As it happens I have a bunch of works done by Light Waves / Starax from Greenies and Black Swan sim.            The greenies sim was a massive place where your avatar was about the size of the green aliens in the pictures.  You were in a giant house .. hard to explain but you can click the Greenies link if you want to see a very tiny machinima I made a long time ago.  But what better way to tie into that theme then by exhibiting one of Second Life's early and influential artists?  I set up two parcels of his various works and within a few hours of completing the set up I received a message by a ranger named Pygar Bu who informed me that the "massage tool" and images on a book cover were inappropriate for a general-rated region.  The "massage tool" is called a vibrator btw.  It is not a bad word.  And really? the image on the playboy magazine?  It's not even nudity.  I responded by saying that I have had discussions with Lindens directly from being in the LEA, and we have discussed what is permitted on general rated regions.  Both are fine according to our discussions in the past.  The response was again that they were not appropriate for general rated regions.  Case closed.  And you know how you always think of things to say after you have walked a block down the street or after hanging up the phone... well what I thought up after was that Greenies was in fact on a pg rated region, and the vibrator and magazine were on it.  Anyway, I decided to withdraw naturally.
     Now North American society is pretty conservative.  Nudity is, for some reason, more regulated than images of graphic violence.  Coincidentally, I watched a European movie last night called "The Pillow Book" by Peter Greenaway.  An alternate title for this movie could have been Ewan McGregor penis.  It is a great movie.  An artistic movie with a unique story.  And by the end of it I felt like I knew Ewan McGregor's penis, like he was one of the characters in the movie.. flopping around so happy and carefree.  So how can one society be completely fine with nudity while another is.... oh hold on sorry.  My mistake.. there was no nudity.  There was a woman in a bikini.  And a massage tool.

"Lovers Rock" from Black Swan

     But I don't really want to end the post by slagging SL10b.  The organizers and volunteers do a huge amount of work for the community and should be commended for their efforts.  Where I think some of the problems rest are with occasional Rangers who don't realize that the Lindens don't really care.  They don't care if there is a comical vibrator with a martian riding it on one of the plots.  They will not cancel the birthday celebration over a pretend vibrator.  They will not even notice.  Don't over monitor an event.. if there is a blatant hate filled message or overt sexual imagery then sure discuss it with a few others then make a decision, but its not all black and white.  Oh well, no walk down memory lane with Starax, but not to worry I am sure the replacement works of someone advertising their store will be captivating.