In a move that has become all too familiar to producers of gay content and gay-themed apps, Apple has rejected outright the inclusion of Lust Unearthed, a collection of over 200 erotic images from the library of Hollywood costume and set designer Ambrose Dubek. The book, which was assembled by Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema’s Thomas Waugh and published by Arsenal Pulp Fiction, was released during Canada’s ‘Freedom To Read’ week, an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom.
“It appears they have a very odd policy…about visuals that they are more or less completely opposed to visual nudity or sexuality of any sort in their eBooks, which is a very bizarre kind of model for a bookstore, if you consider what’s been published in the last thousands of years,” observed Arsenal Pulp Fiction’s associate publisher Robert Ballantyne.
For their part, Apple stated, in their rejection of the erotic images, that, “Books must not contain prohibited explicit or objectionable content, which includes but is not limited to…Textual encouragement to commit a crime (e.g. books supporting, encouraging or defending rape, pedophilia, incest, or bestiality or books detailing how to commit a sexual crime) or Excessively objectionable or crude content.
But Barry McDermott, the creator of the ‘Li’l Flamer’ app, a soundboard that features a smiling, pink flame-shaped creature who says lighthearted phrases in what McDermott describes as an “extremely gay” voice, takes exception to what he sees as Apple’s random and subjective enforcement of its own rules. The app, which was rejected by Apple because it was deemed to have “defamatory or offensive content that would be considered objectionable by many audiences,” and the logic behind its demise rattles McDermott. “I believe their actions were more than likely homophobic because their reasons were tenuous and vague at best,” he says. “Sure, it could be considered ‘offensive,’ but that definition could be applied to anything.”
Anything including Apples initial decision to include a “gay cure” app for “strugglers.” The app, which was initially launched in the Spring of 2011 by Exodus International, received over 80,000 email protest signatures and was eventually pulled. This happened, ironically, after another app, ‘Confessions: A Roman Catholic App,’ received howls of protest from gay rights groups not two months earlier who were indignant that one of the questions on the app asked, “Have I been guilty of homosexual activity?”
Further, in 2010, Apple came under fire after it rejected Tom Bouden’s all-male graphic novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest from the store for its mild sexual content.
“It’s part of the living archive of gay history and of homophobia, that this particular book came out of an archive by a guy…who collected gay erotica in an era when this stuff was illegal, illegal for reasons that you could be jailed for drawings of gay men having sex, any kind of expression of visual erotica, of gay culture, and they were passed on to secret bookstores. So it’s kind of a history of how we got here as a subculture, explained Ballantyne whose appeal for Lust Unearthed was rejected in what is being seen by many as Apple’s downright rejection of all things gay.
Lust Unearthed can be purchased directly from the publisher at ArsenalPulpPress.com.
As a gay man myself, I don’t particularly appreciate the tone of this article. First off, it is stated right in the article that the app in question was for erotic imagery. That alone is reasonable grounds for it to not be allowed under Apple’s restrictions on content, unless you can find a similar heterosexual erotic app.
Second, the way this article worded makes it seem like an attack. Except it’s not an attack at all. It’s Apple trying to keep porn off its servers regardless of what it’s porn of.
Articles like this shouldn’t be news. Now if there was no eroticism whatsoever, then I would rally behind you 100%. But because there is eroticism, I can’t support this article.
I agree with Logan. Apple may be not erring far enough in the case of anti-gay content not being screened well before approval, but it’s certainly making the right call not approving erotic imagery.
Frankly, this article makes me think the authors are acting the shrill victim just to get reactions. Or, ironically, that no editor scanned the content with a keen eye before giving the nod for publication.
I get that Apple wants to ban “porn” from their stores, and that’s their choice as a retailer, but any content system is going to judge submissions subjectively and be inconsistent, especially when the guidelines are as vague as Apple’s.
The Tom Bouden work that was mentioned was banned early on, and for *laughably* tame content—Google search for articles about the ban to see examples—and it appeared to be a pattern with gay books for quite a while. Examples were numerous of far stronger heterosexual content sailing through. People are still very sensitive about this issue, though Apple appears to have improved their process and examples like this are less common.
I’m a book publisher of LGBT graphic novels and have not had a book rejected so far—at least not for content reasons like these. The first book I submitted was Jon Macy’s TELENY AND CAMILLE, which is a graphic novel adaptation of an anonymous erotic Victorian novel attributed to Oscar Wilde and his circle. The literary pedigree of the work—it won the Lambda Literary Award in 2011—might be what saved it from being rejected.
A project like “Lust Unearthed” would likely disappoint buyers who are simply looking for porn. The book’s value is as a cultural artifact, looking at the erotica of a bygone era. I doubt very much that its main purpose is to titillate its audience, and anyone who buys it solely for sexual stimulation would likely be better served elsewhere. Rejecting it for having erotic content in it is missing one of the main points of the book.