Questionable or inappropriate stamp designs

I think some of the stamps should not design like that, is inappropriate. As I know some of Postcrosser are Underage.That stamps are some kind of porn.Like Movie there are G,PG,PG13, R and NC17.We can not show NC17 movie to Underage people.

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And here is the 2019-11 Children’s Sports and Games (2)
Who like them?

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But would you like boys peeking under her skirt?
Nothing wrong with skirts, boy, girl or anyone, should be free to wear what they want.

I can’t tell the age of these children, but even so, at what age children should be told not to look under anyone’s skirt?

Tom of Finland, it’s adults play, but can be seen as a sculptures too. Many statues are naked, I think children would see this that way. They don’t know about this typical role play or action this might show, and if they know, I would be more worried how they know.

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I like these, especially the autumn and winter ones :slight_smile:

If they can peek under her skirt from that distance, then no one would really have to try hard, would they. I agree with those who think they’re looking at the lines.

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This Finnish stamp set was never published:

It was a set about freedom of speech, showing punctuation marks, which is easily seen here.
But, some wanted to see, that there is birch wood, and the person wearing a niqab, is aimed with a shotgun.

I’m really sorry for the artist, but good example of the “freedom of speech” in Finland; if someone might be hurt, let’s then not talk about it. Let’s not even publish the freedom of speech stamps.

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What is the comparison? I understand wild or fur farmed, crayfish party or poverty, and wind or nuclear. The fourth one looks to be graffiti or opera. Art of the oppressed or highbrow theatre. The latter appears to be about war though.

But, is that meant to be Finnishness or Islam? Trees or modesty? It doesn’t make any sense to me.

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I agree that the stamp in the middle can be misinterpreted very easily. And I can only guess that it is supposed to be about religious oppression or oppression of females? Maybe about sexualization? I have no idea. It can be taken as anti-Islam as well. Dangerous and unfortunate choice in any case. I can understand why they took it back.
Also, not as important, but I don’t get what the second and last stamps have to do with freedom of speech.

The stamps glorifying war and show killing and horror as something heroic and celebrated for thing. I think those should not exists at all. Memorial stamps for the victims of war are completely another thing, just to make sure nobody thinks I want to erase all war history. Just against the “hey look how cool it is to make a murder” stamps.

If I recall right, not all the stamps on the series were about freedom of speech, just the one with birch woods and muslim woman was. The stamps were meant to show contrasts and changes in society, and different values. First one: wild animal & fur production (one of the biggest agricultural production forms in Finland at time even thought animal production law are really strict there), second: Over-consumption & poverty, third: “classic Finland” (birch woods are seen as symbol of the classic and true Finland) & immigration (and this would be the “freedom of speech” stamp), forth: high art & street art (culture values, street art is sometimes seen as vandalism while opera is “art for fancy people”) and fifth: clean energy & nuclear power (energy policies, probably a note on Finland’s more and less successful attempt to built new nuclear power plants while still claiming to drive for clean energy)

So over all these stamps raised lot of critic and people understood them differently which caused lots of talk and finally they just decided that it was better to not publish any of them. Here is a link to article on the stamps (in Finnish)

@mxlamour & @PinkNoodle what is it with “Drug free America” stamps? I have received couple of those on mail, and I always thought it is just some on-going, really optimistic campaign… Is it outdated?

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The topic is immigration. Showing familiar image about the birch woods, and maybe how you expect an “Elovena-girl” running there (but there can be also another kind of Finn nowadays :slight_smile: )

(The Elovena Girl)

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The images represent animal rights, differencies in income, immigration, cultural values, and forms of energy.

All very topical issues in Finland, hence the freedom of speech.
(And, it’s very easy to get hate if you don’t share the right opinion of these, or even when you can look at things from the other point of view. So, no freedom of speech, if you are shouted quiet.)

Somehow funny, that freedom of speech stamps became censored.

Edit. I forgot my point :blush: :
If these were published, I would be careful to whom to send these, and maybe explain it.

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It’s interesting how same stamp can be viewed differently. Stamps about war anniversaries in my opinion are also important from ‘never again’ point of view, like ‘X days without accident’. I know that annual Victory Day Russian stamps are viewed by many people as glorifying war and killing, on other hand most Russians view it as commemorating the moment of ending the 5 years, 20 million Russians dead war, where every family lost someone and lost their home. And to see what part of war Russians in average think is more important to remember: military power or dead relatives, - you can see from attendance of Victory military parade (guns etc.) and attendance of Immortal Regiment (when people carry portraits of war victims with tears in eyes)

The stamps about victims, like for example, Sobibor concentration camp stamp, ethically right, but I wouldn’t put it on postcards even for history enthusiasts:

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I understand the confusion! :smile: If the War on Drugs were simply a community-driven campaign to reduce illicit drug use, it probably wouldn’t be so contentious.

As described in the article above, it was a Nixon-era effort to direct more funding to drug-control agencies and treatment centers. In the 80s, however, President Reagan dramatically expanded the campaign and focused on criminal punishments for drug offenses, leading to a massive spike in incarcerations…mostly of Black men. The enormous racial disparity and inflated prison sentences continue today, and the “War on Drugs” is widely considered an inherently racist institution. This is compounded by deeply-rooted racism plaguing law enforcement agencies across the country (hence our wincing over that police stamp, too).

…The War on Drugs also happens to be a wonderful American rock band, too, but they haven’t made it onto a stamp yet. :upside_down_face:

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And the campaign hadn’t only concentrated on the fight against drug abuse in the US but also took a hand in the drug policy of foreign countries like Colombia or Mexico to stop drug production and trafficking. In my eyes the campaign failed miserably. Especially in relation to the recent efforts to legalize marihuana.

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Absolutely–I doubt anyone could call the US’s War on Drugs a success. :sweat_smile: I’m no public policy expert; I don’t know exactly what needs to be done to change it so that it addresses good causes (busting cartels, stopping trafficking/muling, etc.) and abandons the bad causes (arresting a wildly disproportionate number of young Black men for non-violent infractions).

As for the effort to legalize marijuana across the US, many of us see it as a way to repair some of the damage that has been done by the War on Drugs. (Here is a map showing our current states where cannabis has been fully or partially legalized.) Even though I don’t use marijuana myself, I was thrilled to be able to vote for its legalization in my home state (Oregon), and still proud to live in a state where it’s fully legal, simply because we have much more important things to do than jailing people for being caught with a joint. :laughing:

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I hate to rewind the post, but I had a 24hour shift and couldn’t reply. As @borealis wrote, they are from a distance, so no, they are not looking at the skirts.
As for the Tom of Finland stamps, I don’t see why someone’s secret desires should even be published under the cover of art.
Bottom line is, if you are looking for negativity, you will find much more at Tom of Finland’s stamps.

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I like the pattern though. It is original. Punctuation marks, is a pattern that I have never seen in any stamps so far

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Better known as E.O. Plauen.
We wrote short stories led by those cartoons in elementary school. I would use them for my son to do the same …

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I work in a tutoring institute and I also use them for my students. I love it how the father usually draws the short straw.

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No, go ahead, I like to read what you think. I think only the artist knows what is meant to be happening there. And I know many think it’s only cute and funny when “boys like girls and don’t know how to show it”. I don’t. (By the way, I am so happy there is emotional skills now teached at schools!)
But, like I wrote, to me it looked like they check not to overstep. Still, now I see the other possibility. The checkers would more likely be on the side. Yes, it’s old, and the nice thing is, children are shown play together, not only girls, and not only boys.

I don’t see negativity in Tom of Finland stamps. There has been fantasies in stamps also after that, but I think no one cared, because it was men-women -sexual rather.

There a woman is opening her dress, from the back. She doesn’t even have face.

I think it was also part of that set, that to my eyes, was first only weird images, but when you look at all the stamps together, and think how they connect, it was horse (stud), kiss (“overpowering”-looking), the undressing and the spread legs.

And, I have used these stamps thinking there’s a swimming horse, and a lady going up the stairs. :laughing: I try to find the image of that. Individually I think they’re ok.