A WORSE, LESS SEX-POSITIVE TUMBLR
As I’m sure you all know at this point, on December 17th, Tumblr is leading a crackdown on anything they consider NSFW. And like all media watchdogs, their politics are aggressively subjective and vague.
https://staff.tumblr.com/post/180758987165/a-better-more-positive-tumblr
The knee-jerk reaction is to curse and stomp my feet but nobody wants to see the eight billionth angry rant about something on the internet.
I understand why Tumblr is doing this, and frankly, Im just as annoyed with Apple’s apparent discrimination towards any and all websites which are explicitly not for children (I’m assuming this is why I’ve seen other apps for adults-only sites spontaneously disappear). Trying to start a dialogue with the admins themselves is probably not an option at this point. For their sake, I hope this is worth it.
What annoys me the most isn’t just the lack of exposure I and other artists will no longer get as a result of this ban, but the fact that it’s going to kill an amazingly sex-positive community which normalized otherwise “unconventional” sexual kinks that are impossible to find even on porn websites. And as someone who had an exceptionally difficult puberty as a result of his unconventional sexual interests that I had no outlet for until only recently, I know the negative effects of not having those things readily available.
And of course, this is all going down immediately after I’ve established my own NSFW page. Isn’t that always the case with me? “Schleifer’s coming!! Quick, get rid of all the fun stuff!!”
There probably won’t be a mass exodus. I’ve lived on the internet long enough to know that people react to administrative changes the same way: they knee-jerk react with profane, novel-length hissy fits, then stay on the site because they have no strength left to actually do anything proactive. I don't wish any harm on the administration, but I do hope they’re happy with whatever they get out of this. I’ve never been a huge fan of this site, it was just another platform to get exposure. I’d be lying if I said that the kink artwork wasn’t the only reason I stuck around.
More importantly, I hope the people who find themselves without a platform now have a place to go (I sincerely hope it’s not Twitter, however). I imagine it looking like the end of Fiddler On The Roof, everyone cursing a home they’re being forced out of while wondering where they’ll go next.
It was fun while it lasted.