RE: Babestation - General Chat & Discussion
This is a(n attempt at a) quick response, ahead of possible elaboration later.. (notwithstanding, as I've quoted previously, "If I'd had more time, I would have written a shorter letter", attributed to Blaise Pascal)
I've said some of this in previous posts, but to save time, I'm not looking for and linking them, for now..
The OFCOM regulatory regime that BS et al have to work within, and the renewed, international, porn panic of recent years, as discussed by me and others on the forum, which has been pushed not only by the usual suspects, certainly constrains them.
However, I wouldn't agree with any cyclical historical narrative, as understandably tempting to which it might be to succumb.
For instance, whilst some might complain about wider, general 'pornifiication' and 'sexualisation', I doubt the Hays Code is likely to be reintroduced in Hollywood, or adapted and adopted elsewhere in the Euro-American world.
One alternative historical trajectory to which I referred previously, was offered by a series shown on Channel 4, over twenty years ago, Pornography: Secret History of Civilisation, and its associated book.
Albeit, still limited in its broad and mechanistic explanation.
As I've suggested from probably my earliest forum posts, the conditions that supported the babe channel format, both within specific sexwork terms, and wider economics, culture, and media, have been receding, for a number of years.
One of the differences between porn and associated sex work, in Britain, and in USA, as written about by various people over time, including Jerry Barnett, author of 'Porn Panic', also on his YouTube channel, and formerly a senior adult industry figure in Britain, is that there's little, sustained, and coordinated campaigning against censorship in its diverse forms.
Indeed, it seems that companies have been more likely to report each other to the pertinent authorities, than join forces to resist the tentacles of censors.
Any concerted resistance is provided by individual sex workers joining together, which obviously means it doesn't have anything like the resources of campaigns in USA, where it's backed up by the wider industry, and the protection of the national constitution.
Any long-term future for BS and Xpanded will be online, and without the tv 'shop window' infomercials, they'll have to compete alongside companies and websites that have established themselves without them.
Albeit, as I've said in a number of posts about Xpanded, one of which I've linked in a post in recent days, going back to an inadvertently candid response from a moderator, on its own, defunct forum, before I was banned, the online side seems to have been the overriding priority for Xpanded, as further evidenced by various characteristics over the years, up to the development of SoSpoilt.
In its own, ultimately disastrous way, Studio 66 had some of the vision of the online future, including with its association with Sixty6 magazine. Although as I've said, if it had happened several years before, during the peak years of the babe channels, and in association with the other channels, it could have helped to firmly establish the brands in the wider culture.
All this diversification, including BS merchandising, are all catching up with things that should have been tried several years earlier.
Against other established websites, and individuals with fan sites that are outstandingly successful in their own right, it will be tough times ahead.
The hourglass is half-emptying..
"From one who is not permitted to find fault, [says the peasant representative] praise also is valueless; in absence of expression it is like a Chinese picture in which shade is lacking. [CW, Vol. 1, P. 1801 Marx cites this spokesman from the lower classes because his emphasis on opposites is pure dialectics: extremes can paint a picture, whereas compromise can only paint in grey." https://www.militantesthetix.co.uk/critl...ewrite.htm
https://mobile.twitter.com/seducedx6/with_replies
I should add (24/12/2023) that I am still more extensively shadowbanned than I've ever been, despite paying for a blue tick for several months, see my pinned thread, profile and header pics
https://twitter.com/midriffique/status/1...5463673857
https://en.internationalism.org/content/...ationalism
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2023-...-the-class
29/10/2024: because of my being locked out of my original account, I'm using seducedx6_live on Twitter/'x', see the pinned thread there.
I'm using a friend's account, midriffique, a tweet from which is already linked above, with whom I did do three-way tag team tweeting, whilst he's taking a longterm break from social media.
"An airbag saved my life".. https://x.com/airbag_generate/with_replies
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