HOW DID WE GET TO THIS LEVEL OF ONLINE DEGRADATION?

created by NightCafé user @HannaHeart (unwittingly illustrating the depths to which ‘western civilisation’ has sunk? (at least, online)

There was a time – not so long ago – when this type of image was confined to the ‘centrefolds’ of Playboy magazine (launched in 1953) or in the early, pre-pornographic days of Hustler (first published twenty years later). And ‘girly’ calendars. But then came the worldwide web (1990s), social media (2000s) and generative AI (2020s). Which – together – have made countless images of scantily clad, well-endowed women accessible to anyone with the resources to use the Internet, including children.

Apparently, the same applies to pornography.

Could this be why the online public ‘gallery’ of Australian-based AI community ‘art’ platform NightCafé features so many ‘pin-up girls’.

And why ever not? After all, by 2016 (when Playboy briefly stopped featuring ‘full frontal nudity’) they’d already become passé. Even then, according to former Playboy CEO Scott Flanders, consumers were just “one click away from every sex act imaginable for free” (Wikipedia). So, why make a fuss about AI-generated soft porn?

Because it objectifies women. And women objectification is damaging and demeaning, as this website explains here and here and here.

Against that backdrop, why was I surprised to discover that the sickening sexually charged environment we have created electronically breeds situations in which people like Bonnie Blue prey on Australian adolescent ‘boys’ during ‘schoolies week’? And why has nothing been done to stop Tik Tok publishing her vile video clips?

A ban scheduled to be imposed on the app in January 2025 (BBC) appears to have fizzled out – possibly because of delays in brokering a deal (BBC) that could see US investors controlling Tik Tok operations in that country. Although how this will address concerns about child safety remains to be seen. And what about the rest of us?

Tik Tok notwithstanding, why isn’t Bonnie Blue behind bars – and why have successive Australian governments allowed ‘schoolies week’ to become so degenerate?

Could the Australian media environment be responsible for NightCafé’s slapdash approach to enforcing its own community standards and turning a blind eye to the images of provocatively posing, scantily clad women published so brazenly on its platform? One can’t help but wonder ...