Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered for the removal of all images of scantily clad women circulating on the covers of publications available to the general public.
The decision comes in response to an individual complaint made against the weekly sports publication El Heraldo, a subsidiary of 6° Poder, requesting that the government prohibit the “publication of any example, be it digital or printed, including private subscriptions, of images with sexual content … whether it be by way of a photograph, other image, advertisements or links that could be accessed by children and young people.”
Though the measure was initially taken against only El Heraldo, it soon extended to all printed media in the country as well as their digital counterparts.
The decree specifically mentions “pornographic” content, yet includes many mainstream magazines so as to avoid “images of nude or partially nude women in compromising and suggestive poses that stimulate sexual arousal for commercial ends.”
The court claimed that when such images go public, the publishers aren’t aware of their responsibilities as “media outlets in society to transmit appropriate content” seen by both adults and children.
This ruling directly affects the country’s primary publications Meridiano and Líder, both focusing on sports news, of which make use of images of women in bathing suits on their covers.
“These types of sexual images don’t come with a warning, which could bring about negative consequences with respect to people’s baser instincts, and thereby put at risk the constitutional rights of the most vulnerable, namely children and young people,” the court’s ruling continues.
Source: Caraota Digital
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
