Censorship: Under Cover

'Sainsbury’s supermarket have been forced to defend placing a modesty cover over an issue of Attitude Magazine dedicated to tackling young people’s issue and homophobic bullying. The cover, which contains a fully clothed Daniel Radcliffe, was hidden from view on a high shelf in Sainsbury’s Dalston Junction, and spotted by freelance writer Scott Bryan.
'Sainsbury’s defended the decision to So So Gay. A spokesman told us, ”Following feedback from customers we introduced modesty covers several years ago across a wide variety of magazines. This is to ensure no offence is caused to customers who may object to the images or the content on the covers of some magazines. The titles that do have modesty covers do so for every edition so no particular cover is ever singled out.”

So So Gay.
Don't say Fagburn didn't try to warn you.
Endlessly.
Who cares who objects to a man with his shirt off, or a woman looking a bit "saucy"?
There is a concerted campaign to stop shops selling "adult" magazines with a bit of flesh.
The world has moved on, stop giving into pious prudery and trying to drag it back.
The human body is not offensive or obscene.
Anyone who thinks so is an even bigger mentalist than me.
Does Sainsburys want a list of things they sell that I find offensive?
It'd go on for days, but would probably start with every edition of The Daily Mail.
Will they cover that up?

'Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
In keeping its humanity repressed.
For once you must try not to shrink from facts;
Mankind survives... by bestial acts.'

Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

Gay Magazines: Hot, New And Not Here!

Spotted at WH Smith in Leamington Spa by @twinkleboi [via Twitter].
This is what an anti-sex, pro-censorship group, The Front Page Campaign, have been working on since last year.
Don't say I didn't try and warn you...

Update: The initial, official response is that both magazines "were being regularly shoplifted"...

Gay Magazines: Or Pornography?

Just been to my newsagent.
They had moved GT and Attitude to the top shelf, next to the straight porn magazines.
Presumably cause of the stupid Reg Bailey report and the Front Page Campaign.
Christ, if only they could show some dick - never mind a hard one.
I restored them to their rightful position - and, if you see it, hope you do the same.
The newsagent wasn't in, but I shall have very strong words on Monday.
Again, if you've seen the same thing, I hope you do the same.
I think retailers may have been written to with a silly "warning" about this, but I'll found out on Monday.

Channel 4: Ban This Filth!

"We visited 75 supermarkets, newsagents and independent newsagent retailers to find out where shops were placing their lads’ mags. Magazines like Nuts, Zoo, Gay Times, Attitude and Bizarre; all of which featured nudity or semi nudity on the covers and inside.
"Incredibly, it was on the shelves low enough for toddlers to see.
"It’s just shocking to think what impact this could have on the emotional and mental well-being of our children.
"We want people to wake up and smell the coffee, to have a look around at what is happening – these children are going to be the future generation of parents."

The Daily Mirror provides a taster for what you'll hear argued on Channel 4 tonight [Edit: "Lads Mags" are in Part II on Wednesday] in Stop Pimping Our Kids.
(The same Channel 4 that showed The Joy Of Teen Sex in February, incidentally).
"It’s about the over sexualisation of children, which is a huge issue and a massive concern for parents and experts alike," writes presenter Anna Richardson.
"They worry how is it affecting the psyche of children and their attitude towards sex and relationships."
Anna Richardson would clearly prefer children to grow up with a sense of shame about their own bodies and about sex.
Other revelations made by Channel 4 include a shop selling "a T-shirt with Future Footballers wife stamped across it, for a three to four year old" and "boys are being told that they need to trim their pubic hair".
Fagburn has warned before about the Front Page Campaign trying to get gay mags hidden away or taken off the shelf in UK stores.
Creepy.

The Gay Press: Off The Shelf?

Most UK and US media loved the story about the single US store that covered up the copy of US magazine with Elton and David and child on their front cover.
Even The Daily Mail sensed; 'Outrage as picture of Elton John's baby is covered with shield by U.S. supermarket to 'protect children'
Can't happen here!
Really?
Whoops, looks like everyone forgot there is a campaign group in the UK dedicated to hiding away gay magazines - and any gay imagery - behind a similar "family shield", and who ultimately want it all to be "Off the shelf".
The Front Page Campaign - currently getting some lovely uncritical/unthinking coverage in The Guardian and elsewhere.
Hail the new Puritans!
Be interesting to find out if any journalist on a gay magazine rises from their slumber and notices that some people are working towards their demise...

Please read this: Feminists Against Censorship

Censorship Junkies: Coming For The Gay Press

There's a very interesting and worrying essay on Cif by James Gray, on the broader aims of many campaigners against internet porn and the "sexualisation" of children, and on "how the debate around children and sexual material is increasingly shaped by religious conservatives."
"...The Front Page Campaign, for example, receives widespread support from feminist activists, yet its motivations seem antithetical to feminist aims. It not only calls for the covers of explicit lads' mags to be covered up, but also those of the "growing number of gay magazines for both men and women".
Yup. Check the Front Page Campaign's website and click on the 'gay magazines' section, illustrated by a doctored copy of a GT Sex Issue floating threateningly around the head of a frightened child.
"There are a growing number of gay magazines for both men and women. Some of these contain sexualised front covers, whether routinely or occasionally. They also advertise adult services and sex toys.
"Gay magazines have been found on low shelves and without age restriction. This magazine was on sale in a WH Smith travel store at the eye level of a 4 year old child, fully front facing and unbagged."
It has been a long struggle to get gay magazines in major newsagents and independent outlets, and not hidden away on the top shelf, or bracketed with pornographic magazines.
Censorship junkies like the Front Page Campaign must not be allowed a single hit.
And the gay press must never again be hidden away like being gay is something shameful.