An anti-obscenity statute sparked an online controversy in Norway recently, when the Norwegian online erotic magazine Cupido published some explicit, autobiographical art-porn shots from Brooklyn-based photographer Siege. The specific issue in question is not currently online in entirety, but you can see one of the offending shots here (upper right-hand corner). Some of the work was also recently blogged on BoingBoing, here. Cupido editor Cecilie Kjensli in Norway sent the following e-mail to the banned-in-Norway photographer:
"You know what. Something stupid has happened. Cupido har been sensuratet for first time during 20 years because of your pictures :) I have told you before that we are not aloud to print pictures with genital touhing. Our law system sais you cant show pictures that can offend people, so i thougt that no boddy would be offended of this in an erotic magazine. I understand if they were printed in a newspaper or a womans magazin, but not ours.
"Our distributor dissagred with me the way they understand the law, so they put a black spot in the face of the girls sukking you, I belive. So I told the press. That you are a trendy New York phothografer with a girlfriend and that you have a good appetite for sex and that you like taking pictures of you doing it. I read this on Nerve.com I think. Hope you'r not angry at me for this. I was wear of that something like this could happen, so when it did, I tipsed one of the
biggest and best tabloid newspaper in Norway, and they made a huge reportage on it telling people that you actually can take off the black spot. And it showed the stupid porn-law, as we call it, from a good perspectiv.
Here is the link to the reportage in the newspaper. I'm the one with the
dildoes."
Link to Norwegian Newsmagazine Dagbladet's story about the "stupid porn law" (contains sexually explicit images, and lots of little black censorship circles) (also seen on Fleshbot, where you will also find this link to the best porn news headline EVER.)
