i know there are younger users so porn might be "Art" God knows what way, but should stay on a porn art site.

The Greeks, Romans and Persians appreciated Male Beauty and celebrated it in art. They competed in al three empires in the nude. Oddly, to the Greeks and Romans, it was considered scandalous or obscene to expose the glans (head) of the penis in public. The height of male genital beauty was measure by the length of the foreskin. Unfortunate lads who were born with shorter foreskins, had to spend hours each day with stone weights tied to their foreskins to stretch them longer. In this way, it was typical that a man could have an erection in public, and never expose his glans.

When you look at late Renaissance Art and later, you see a very definite move away from male frontal nudity. Even now, male frontal nudity is rare in movies, while female frontal nudity is much more common. In a society that became completely male dominated, but also completely prudish and homophobic, male nudity came to be seen as ugly and obscene.

Any man admiring male beauty risked accusation of homosexuality, which carried a death sentence up to the 20th century, then after, just as good as dead, as you would be utterly destroyed. I therefore think that homophobia had a lot to do with how the male body has been perceived. Public male Frontal Nudity is still considered obscene by many.

HOW HOMOPHOBIA CHANGED THE WAY MALE NUDITY WAS SEEN BY SOCIETY



It is only relatively recently that it became legal to even sell images or magazines with images of male frontal nudity.

When it comes to the art world, even the few who used to dare painting male nudes in the 19th and early 20th century, would avoid aver showing the penis. See this painting of nude young men: The Bathers by Henry Scott Tuke [link], and Ruby, Gold and Malachite, painted in 1902 [link](1858–1929),_Ruby,_gold_and_malachite,_1902.jpg.

But in ART itself, we see erect penises in ancient Chinese and Japanese art, Greek, Roman, European, etc.

Here some art from the Qing Dynasty (1700s), China, showing erect penises:
A Beijing Hand Scroll of Young men engaged in sexual play [link]
Young men drinking, reading poetry, and making love. [link]

But even in the 1800s there was sex in art, even gay and Lesbian sex in art, as can be seen in:

Édouard-Henri Avril Illustrated & published Engraved books of sexual Images in the late 1800s showing many a hard penis, showing 2 Gay Scenes, a Bi scene, sex with a goat, sex with a dildo, Lesbian scenes, Orgies... Be sure not to visit his:
Illustrations to De Figuris Veneris: [link]Édouard-Henri_Avril#Illustrations_to_De_Figuris_Veneris

Or his Sonetti Lussuriosi: [link]Édouard-Henri_Avril#Sonetti_Lussuriosi_by_Pietro_Aretino.2C_1892 where he exaggerated the male phallus a bit much.
Or his Illustrations to Fanny Hill: [link]Édouard-Henri_Avril#Illustrations_to_Fanny_Hill_by_John_Cleland

Going back further in time in Art History to around 1520. You see lots of Erect Penises in the paintings of Giulio Romano, which were then engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi: Alas, all copies were hunted down & destroyed by the Catholic Church, but luckily Agostino Caracci was able to copy it. You can see the engravings here: [link]

The publication I Modi (The Ways), also known as The Sixteen Pleasures or under the Latin title De omnibus Veneris Schematibus, is a famous erotic book of the Italian Renaissance ( around 1520) in which a series of sexual positions were explicitly depicted in engravings. While the original edition was apparently completely destroyed by the Catholic Church, fragments of a later edition survive. The original illustrations were probably copied by Agostino Caracci, whose version survives. You can see them here: [link]

Even in the 1940s and 50s you saw erect penises in art, like this FALLEN ICARUS'
Neil Moore piece [link], Inclusing a blow up of the subject in hand: ,[link] & [link]

CONCLUSION: DA will not be rushing to to allow erect Cocks in Art, no doubt because they fear legal problems, and because the sight is a "family sight." They also do not want to become a Pornography site.

However, there is a big difference between obscenity, as seen by the law, pornography and simply showing erect penises in art.

It is one of these Zero tolerant policies that make little sense. Just because it is erect just not even necessarily mean a sexual situation. Erect penises are simply part of being a man and it happens on a regular basis, sexual or not. Depicting the BEAUTY OF THE HUMAN MALE should not be limited for non-sexual situations in art.

But don't expect DA to change their policy any time soon.

Matt

I want to add the following:
I saw a pornographic deviation this afternoon.
It clearly showed a masturbative female act (I don't even feel like "diving into" further description).
So I tried to report it.
Then I was immediately rewarded with an information screen that
didn't only tell me that the deviation in question had been reported before several times,
it also said the following:

" First Report: Wed Mar 24 2010 18:13
Case Closed: Thu Mar 25 2010 02:01
Status: Invalid
Comment: Thank you for your report. A member of our staff has reviewed the deviation but has found that it does not meet the current official definition for "pornography" which is in use. Please remember that while this image might meet your own personal definition for "pornography", your personal view and official policy could differ in several areas. If you have any questions about how official policy currently defines "pornography" please check the deviantART FAQ which is located here; [link] "

I REFUSE to agree with the rulership of such a nonworthy legislation.