My word.
I can understand the frustration over the actual changes, like censoring curse words or not having guns on covers. But a lot of these things have been in the guidelines for months, if not a year or more. The following is from a post dated from February 2018, last updated by admins 7 months ago as of my posting this comment.
Old nudity/sex guidelines
- Depiction of sex (or anything suggesting that sex is occurring at that moment) in any form, including but not limited to, gyrating bodies, oral sex, or moaning/groaning is not allowed.
- Explicit details of what is happening or has happened off-screen is also not allowed.
- Any nudity on cover art is strictly not allowed.
- Frontal nudity is allowed in a story if it is not excessive, only used in non-sexual situations, and always accompanied with censor bars or scenery to censor.
- Posterior nudity in a story is only allowed in a tasteful and non-sexual context.
Old drug/alcohol guidelines
- No graphic / explicit / detailed descriptions or glorification of the use of drugs / alcohol.
- Characters can consume alcohol, tobacco or marijuana as well as make references to these drugs.
- Characters can make references to harder drugs (cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, etc.) but they cannot be depicted or consumed on screen.
- If a story references characters consuming these substances, it cannot be glorified or encouraged.
- Characters can be addicts or addicts can be referenced provided the representation is respectful, contextually appropriate and doesn’t glorify being an addict.
"Old assault/violence guidelines
- No graphic / explicit / detailed descriptions of rape / assault / violence / gore / etc.
- Authors can give general descriptions or broad strokes, but not details.
- Ex: they can say a rape / murder / assault happened, but cannot describe the details, injuries or physical sensations.
- Physical or sexual abuse can referenced provided the representation is respectful, contextually appropriate and doesn’t glorify being a victim / survivor.
- Torture cannot be depicted on screen. References to torture, and evidence of torture are allowed, but cannot be explicit or gratuitous.
Overall guidelines
- promotes or depicts excessive violence or assault, including but not limited to sexual assault, murder, and torture against humans or animals;
- includes hate speech or content that promotes hatred or discrimination against individuals or groups, on the basis of race, ethnic or national origin, religion, marital status, disability, gender, age, or sexual orientation;
- promotes suicide, self-harm, abuse, or bullying;
- promotes excessive alcohol, tobacco or drug use;
- promotes gambling, betting or casinos;
- portrays adult themes, including pornographic content, nudity, or prostitution;
slanders or libels a person or third party; - includes excessive use of profanity or sexually explicit phrases;
advertises for outside products or services, including but not limited to website links, reviews, and promotional language; - excessively promotes the use of firearms, explosives, and ammunition; or
- excessively promotes a political agenda.
The broad strokes are the same. A few things have changed. The cursing and cover rules as mentioned before are new. The rules are now more specific about how underage characters can be portrayed. They also added a section about allowing the reader to decline sex without punishment. Weirdly, the bit about not being allowed to portray historical figures is new. Overall, though, the guidelines for actual story content are the same, with more specificity.
I’m not thrilled about having to find-replace every curse word either, but I don’t think these guidelines are stifling creativity by limiting the mature content we can portray. We’ve always been asked not to endorse or promote things like sexual assault or gun violence, but we’ve never been forbidden from critiquing it, and that’s still the case if it isn’t excessively violent or graphic. If rules against excessive depictions of torture or glorifying rape are really inhibiting people, they may want to reassess their priorities.
Source:
Anyway, I’m not saying I think it’s wrong of people to express discontent with certain guidelines or to ask for further clarification, but some of the petulant hissy fits going on across IG from people who clearly didn’t even read the guidelines is just excessive.