Is it pornography?
BY Jesse McLean
When BlackFlash’s “Mature Content” issue hit stands last fall, the irony couldn’t be ignored: an 11-page feature on childhood sexuality and censorship ran without images. The Saskatoon-based arts magazine published an essay exploring the contentious issue in the context of Bill C- 2, the Child Pornography Act of 2005, which it concludes by describing as a “fair compromise” between supporters of artistic freedom and children’s rights. Yet it is because of the legislation that seven empty spaces ran instead of the slated illustrations.
“We thought the essay would be controversial because it criticizes absolute artistic freedom,” says managing editor Lissa Robinson. “We weren’t even concerned with the images.” Their printer felt differently. While the magazine’s lawyers advised that a lawsuit would be defensible because the images—including two classic paintings—had all been printed before, no printer wanted to risk being associated with a child pornography case. Two months past its scheduled release and five printers later, BlackFlash published the issue, sans images. The essay was recently nominated for a National Magazine Award—in the “Words and Pictures” category.
