I’ve never read Nfic for the smut. If the sex isn’t driving the relationship or plot forward I just skim over it. At the same time sex is a large part of healthy normal relationship and when you have stories that flinch from it, it suspends my disbelief. It’s like those American TV-series where the woman mummify herself in the sheets the morning after. You are pulled out of the story and made to contemplate why people are scared of boobies, rather then immersing yourself in the show.
I think the reason that people find the showing of "boobies" on TV offensive, is that many of us (myself included) feel that a person's body is their own, sacred, private thing, and should only be shown in private to certain people (i.e. doctors, spouses, parents, siblings), and even then in rare cases for some. Showing it on TV, to me, is like just flaunting it for the sake of titillation.
As for the hullabaloo over a certain half-time show mishap . . . it was just that--a mishap. I'm not overly concerned about it (especially since I didn't see it), since it wasn't intentional. However, INTENTIONAL showing of the most private parts of a person's body on-screen--or deliberate N-ifying of fic for nothing more than the sake of showing that the nudity happens in real life, to me, is unnecessary. We KNOW it happens--that doesn't mean that we all want to SEE it in our fictional entertainment.
That said, I have no trouble reading/watching stories where consenting adults have sexual relations outside of marriage in a loving relationship. I DO have a problem wish shows/fics where people are constantly sleeping around, a different partner every week--like DJ:
I know for me personally, I wouldn't allow my kids to read anything on the nfic page... I don't feel the subject matter is at all appropriate for the young and impressionable... but that's basically because no matter what I may write, and or read myself personally, I don't believe in treating sex flippantly - I believe in marriage and *forever* and monogamy and all that sentimental stuff (and a lot of other very admamant, very personal views that I refuse to get into a discussion about) that I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with me on. That's one of the things that I loved about the original Lois & Clark series, was the level of regard it had for marriage before intimacy... that may be because it was in the 8:00 time slot on ABC, but even so... I appreciated it because I hate the TV shows where everyone is jumping in bed with everyone else at the drop of a hat...
And so, because of those beliefs (marriage and forever, etc...) and because I would be trying to instill those beliefs in my child, I wouldn't allow them to read nfic, while they were young and impressionable - and certainly not during their teenage years while their hormones are running wild and rampant. I don't want what someone else has written to teach my kids about sex... that would be my job.
But the nice thing about these boards is that everyone is very tactful in presenting their views on things, and we do have a wide range of different cultures and backgrounds presented here. In some instances, we just have to agree to disagree on things.
But I do think that the password protection - even with it's flaws and faults - is a good measure to have in place... if for nothing else to protect the owners of this wonderful fansite.
Hear, hear, DJ!
