The person I'm replying to said "If you think this is NSFW, then I don't think you should be spending any time on the internet. The internet is not safe for you."
this is not about different values but about oppression.
if a colleague were to share this image at work, i would tell them to stop wasting my time with this dumb stuff. if it was a member of a team i am leading i would tell them to stop goofing around and get back to work.
if on the other hand, someone would denounce this person for sharing inappropriate images, i would consider that an act of oppression. we are supposed to work together, and not against each other.
a work culture where every little transgression has severe consequences is not healthy.
if this image makes someone uncomfortable, they are welcome to talk to me and i will listen to learn why. i suspect most likely, it's not the image itself that's the problem, but the attitude of those who laugh at it. i will then talk to those people and do my best to get them to improve their attitude about such matters.
there are things that are inappropriate to do at work, and one of them is to make dumb jokes like this, but that doesn't make the image itself not safe for work.
and as for choosing my workplace, i come from a country where employees actually have rights. and one of those rights is to share their personal opinions, even if others disagree, as long as doing so is not disruptive. the idea that the leaders in the company can tell their employees what they are allowed to talk about or not is rather alien to me.
this doesn't mean that it's ok to say or share things that are hurtful. it only means that there is no topic that is a priori not allowed to be discussed at the work place.
if this image comes up because someone in my team actually did mistype their url, they may share it with the team, and if they have the appropriate attitude, they will dismiss it, denounce the maker of that website as juvenile and move on. if someone walks by, having no idea why this image is there on the screen, they may inquire about it, or come to me and ask me what that is supposed to be about. we'll check, find out and move on.
calling this image not safe for work, creates an environment of fear, that itself is not healthy and in the country where i come from, not acceptable.
I usually take "NSFW" to mean, Thing you might be embarrassed for other people whom you may not know well to see you looking at without context, not necessarily that it's going to result in severe consequences or trauma. I'm sure there are companies where an image like this would warrant an overreaction, and I agree with you on the absurdity of that, but I think the less hyperbolic meaning above is more common.
that's a fair point. i just take issue with diluting the meaning of a term by using it for things that are just mildly inappropriate vs things that are actually harmful or hurtful. it all just contributes to an environment of fear. i prefer that these terms be reserved for things that actually warrant a strong reaction.