Does this question comply with the site's policy regarding explicit content?

Question

Currently there's a question open requesting identification of a novel that has as a distinguishing feature a sex scene between two lesbians and a monkey:

• Science fiction novel: sex scene with a lesbian and a monkey (potentially NSFW)

A high rep user voted to close because either the topic or the forum the question inevitably leads to is inappropriate for age 13+ children. I have no idea whether this site is supposed to be child-friendly or not, though judging from the language in some of the posts, grade school children do read and post here.

Are there guidelines we're supposed to be following with regard to discussing material of a sexual nature? In this particular question I don't think we need to go any further into the sexual aspects to answer the question, but is even mentioning such aspects verboten?

Answer 1

While I agree with the answers posted by our moderators with regards to the general flaws in the question, and am not opposed to the question being closed on those grounds, neither actually answers the question here, which is specifically asking "Does this question comply with the site's policy regarding explicit content?".

My answer is "Yes, it does comply with the site's policy regarding explicit content."

Richard linked two very relevant prior meta discussions:

• What's our tolerance for adult content?

• Are questions about a slightly adult SciFi comic acceptable?

In both discussions, the consensus is clear that we have some degree of tolerance for adult content, so long as what is posted here isn't explicitly NSFW. Note that the decision on the first question was to include a potentially NSFW photograph in the question, but to include it as a link and clearly label it as such.

The other question says "don't link to outright porn", which is sensible, but this question isn't linking to outright porn, or, in fact, anything.

The fact that it contains direct quotes from a forum discussing a sexually explicit topic is completely irrelevant. Our responsibilities for policing the content of this site end sometime before the point where users start to create google searches off of content on our site. If they type in a phrase that they saw on our site, and google shows them something sexually explicit, that is not our problem, nor should it be.

As was pointed out in some of the comments, there are plenty of things discussed here that would lead to potentially very offensive content if someone searched on collective phrases (e.g. "slave leia", or anything related to Kirk's love life).

So no, we shouldn't close that question because searching for the original quote could bring you to a forum where sexual topics are discussed, no matter how offensive some people might find those topics. We're not sending people to that forum. We're not quoting anything explicit from that forum. We're not providing direct links to that forum.

That doesn't mean, of course, that the question couldn't/shouldn't be closed for completely different grounds (as the other answers indicate), but it is fine as far as our policies on sexually explicit content go.

Answer 2

I think this question has a number of issues that make it close-worthy. For one thing, it's a secondhand story identification:

A few years ago while going through the posts on a writing forum I came across something that made me curious about the book. The person there had written this

So the person asking will be unable to confirm that the answers are truly accurate. This makes it more of a 'list works with these properties' question, which are too broad. A story identification question has an answer, and it's verifiable. This particular question is unanswerable, since the person who could verify an accurate answer isn't involved.

Answer 3

I can't comment? (need 50 reputations) but I've only this to say a forum that has so many posts about Martin's book and the TV series based on them is in no position to make such high claims as to what is suitable for this site and what is not. Nowhere in my post I mentioned the term bestiality explicitly only the forum it was alluding to has this word as its header. Even on that forum there may be many young people who have developed and early interest in writing but there seems to be no censorship (a different matter of course). This is also not the first question of its kind, here there have been other such similar questions like Short Story about a boy and a dog, where all animals can talk

Answer 4

The question in question doesn't strike me as on topic, as there isn't really anything that relates to Science Fiction or Fantasy in the book, it could be any kind of book. Only a brief comment from the user who says it was a SFF book indicates that it might be on topic. I would like to see a lot more details, especially in the science fiction department, or else closed.

Answer 5

There have been couple of previous meta posts on this subject:

• What's our tolerance for adult content?
• Are questions about a slightly adult sci-fi comic acceptable?

In both cases, the accepted answer led back to the Stack Exchange Content Policy

"Sexually Explicit Material : Accounts that use Stack Exchange to post sexually explicit or pornographic material, or links to it, will be suspended."

and the Stack Exchange legal policy

Subscriber certifies to Stack Exchange that Subscriber is an individual (i.e., not a corporate entity) at least 13 years of age. No one under the age of 13 may provide any personal information to or on Stack Exchange (including, for example, a name, address, telephone number or email address).

In the specific case of the question posted, since it makes reference to a decidedly NSFW/adult source (a writer's forum discussing bestiality) I would say that it falls foul of this immediately.