I don’t feel safe on Tumblr anymore.
Honestly, I haven’t in a while.
Tumblr used to be where I went to be a fan. To be normal. To step out of my IRL self and exist a little softer, a little freer, with less masking. That space has been slowly stripped away from me, and I don’t really know what’s left of it anymore.
Years ago, I had a relatively sized fandom blog. I had a stalker who got into my account and exposed personal things to my family. Since then, I stopped using my name online. Anywhere. Not a single account of mine has anything tied to my real identity. That boundary is non-negotiable for me.
And now I’m supposed to prove my age with a video selfie and my GOVERNMENT ID… on a website where there are already photos of me everywhere? I’ve got tattoos, I post GIFs of myself smoking? And this is supposed to feel safe and reasonable?
No. I’m not crossing that bridge.
I’m out.
The profile will stay up, and I might still log in occasionally to look at fanart (if Tumblr even lets me do that without jumping through 47 hoops and a CAPTCHA designed by Satan). But I’ll be deleting my posts.
If you need me, I’m on AO3 with my unhinged little fanfics. Or at least I was, honestly I’ve been so demotivated lately I don’t even know if those will continue either. Since I've been scrapped I feel like I lost a lot of me, and I’m still trying to figure out what’s left.
I am a queer person. I am openly a communist. I am perceived as a woman in society.
I will never be “safe,” not in any absolute sense. But I used to have at least the feeling of safety here. The illusion of a space where I could exist, create, and be a fan without constantly bracing for impact.
That was taken away from me.
And I don’t really have anything left to say beyond that.
I’m done.
Fuck Tumblr.
