Editing Encyclopedia:Offensive material (section)

=="Not censored" does not give special favor to offensive content==
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A cornerstone of Wikipedia policy is that [[WP:NOTCENSORED|the project is not censored]]. Wikipedia editors should not [[WP:Content removal|remove material]] ''solely'' because it may be offensive, unpleasant, or unsuitable for some readers. However, this does not mean that Wikipedia should include material simply because it is offensive, nor does it mean that offensive content is exempted from regular inclusion guidelines. Material that could be considered vulgar, obscene, or offensive should not be included unless it is treated in an encyclopedic manner. Offensive material should be used only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. 

Especially with respect to images, editors frequently need to choose between alternatives with varying degrees of potential offensiveness.  When multiple options are equally effective at portraying a concept, the most offensive options should not be used merely to "show off" possibly offensive materials. 

Images containing offensive material that is extraneous, unnecessary, irrelevant, or gratuitous are <em>not</em> preferred over non-offensive ones in the name of opposing censorship. Rather, the choice of images should be judged by the normal policies for content inclusion. Per the [[Wikipedia:Image use policy]], the only reason for including any image in any article is [[Wikipedia:IMGCONTENT|"to increase readers' understanding of the article's subject matter"]]. Any image that does not achieve this policy goal, or that violates other policies (e.g., by giving an [[WP:UNDUE|undue or distorted idea of the subject]]), should not be used.

{{anchor|least_astonishment}}Images should respect the conventional expectations of readers for a given topic as much as possible without sacrificing the quality of the article. For example, editors selecting images for articles like [[Human body]] have thousands of images of naked bodies and body parts available to them, but they normally choose images that portray the human body in an unemotional, non-sexual [[standard anatomical position]] over more sexual images due to greater relevance to the subject. The more sexual image is not given special favor simply because it is more offensive. Similarly, editors of articles such as [[Car]] do not include images of automobiles with naked women posing near them, even though such images exist and "Wikipedia is not censored", due to concerns about relevance.  Wikipedia is not censored, but Wikipedia also does not favor offensive images over non-offensive images.