Written and Project Concept by Molly Miller
Photography and Conceptual Consultation by Eric of Vagabond Studios
In the latest troubling response to the SESTA/FOSTA Act put into law this past April, social media and blog platform Tumblr has issued a blanket ban on all content labeled “adult content”. The ban is in response to an incident involving child pornography, which led to the app being removed from Apple’s App Store temporarily. Instead of cracking down on actual illegal activities, Tumblr’s staff decided to get rid of “adult content” altogether, relying on a faulty automated flagging system which has already flagged numerous photos and illustrations that are completely “adult content” free, further highlighting that this ban is as ineffective as it is damaging on creative liberties and gender equality.
As both a non-binary person and a burlesque performer, I am extremely disappointed and hurt by this ban, which defines “adult content” as visual media presenting “real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples” including “content that is so photorealistic that it could be mistaken for featuring real-life humans” and “any content, including images, videos, GIFs, or illustrations, that depicts sex acts” (https://www.tumblr.com/policy/en/new_community).
(Model: Molly Miller - non-binary/genderqueer writer, activist, and performer)
For a platform that claims to be about promoting creativity, this ban essentially excludes all artists working with and in “adult” or “not safe for work” content. There is artistic merit in the nude human body. Visual art is full of masterpieces and amateur art featuring nude forms and sex acts. The vulgar and natural are integral parts of the human experience and, as such, have been the subject of art for centuries. Tumblr states that so long as the art is not photography, videography, or photo-realistic, visual art (such as illustrations) that feature nude figures will still be permitted on their site. However, this leaves artists who work in photo-realistic mediums or in nude modeling or acting without a platform for their content, threatening their art and livelihood.
(Model: Fox Danger - doesn’t agree with Tumblr’s rash decisions)
This is unacceptable. Adult content is not inherently illegal. Banning legal content and art is discriminatory to sex workers and photo-realistic and NSFW visual artists. Instead of helping cut back on illegal content, such as child pornography, this ban makes it more difficult for legal artistic endeavors to exist safely, as it drives the demand underground and isolates a whole artistic community.
(Model: Eric - chain artisan)
(Model: Fox (they/them) - agendered, queer, disabled, multiracial performer)
I am a historian and I can guarantee that “adult content” has always and will always have its part in the advancement and tradition of visual arts. The human body is not something to be ashamed of or policed. Whether artists choose to include clothing or not or what they choose to do with their bodies or not should remain within their control. Taking away autonomy over what a person looks like or wears is suppression of expression and contributes to rape culture by saying that individuals of consenting age do not have the right to make decisions about who sees their bodies and when.
(Model: Molly Miller - non-binary/genderqueer writer, activist, and performer)
Furthermore, this ban perpetuates gender inequality. It lumps “female presenting nipples” in with the rest of its banned content. This is unacceptable for two reasons. Firstly, it is absolutely discrimination to create a set of rules that pertains to one gender only. Nipples are nipples, no matter the gender. They are not inherently sexual and they are not genitals. They are simply a part of the body. Every gender has them naturally and there is absolutely no reason one gender should be allowed to display them and another gender should not.
(Model: Fox Danger - doesn’t agree with Tumblr’s rash decisions)
Additionally, there are not just two genders and using visuals as a way to “code” gender is extremely damaging for those of us who exist outside the gender binary. I have a body that was assigned female at birth, but I am in no way shape or form “female presenting”. However, by placing that terminology upon the ban, any time nipples are shown, whatever automated system Tumblr will have in place to flag content will have to decide if the nipples are “female presenting”. I do not want anyone judging my gender based on my nipples. It is humiliating and degrading to have to present a certain way in order to have my gender validated or taken seriously. And where does that leave women? Cis men can expose their nipples. Trans men and non-binary or GNC folks have to prove our gender. Women are just supposed to accept they don’t have the same rights as anyone else?
(Model: Eric - chain artisan)
Women should have the same rights as everyone else. People of other genders should not have to shoulder the burden of proof for how they identify. Artists and adult content creators should be able to express themselves and flourish in their crafts just as easily as any “safe for work” artist. And everyone of consenting age should have the right to bodily autonomy on every platform.
(Model: Fox (they/them) - agendered, queer, disabled, multiracial performer)
Tumblr’s ban of legal adult content violates so many rights and it is not acceptable. The PROTEST Project was born from a need to showcase the most ridiculous aspect of this ban, and a problem that exists in some form across all social media: the fear of “female presenting” nipples. As with any other part of the body, nipples have been visible in art for centuries (and the majority of the time their content is not sexual). In the 1930′s and 40′s, America turned away from the idea that nipples were inherently sexual by allowing men to legally be shirtless in public spaces, though the same was not granted for other genders. The fact that this discrimination (against both women and anyone on the gender spectrum coded “female”) is still widely supported and now enforced across social media platforms is beyond problematic and must end.
Using the visual mediums at our disposal, the PROTEST Project aims to showcase that the majority of humans have nipples (regardless of gender) and that, without explicit content, they are in no way sexual or pornographic. We protest Tumblr’s ban on “adult content” and any similar ban across social media platforms because one’s avenues of artistic and human expression should not be limited by an ignorant and misguided motivation to preserve the viewers’ innocence. We will not accept discrimination. Our voices will not be silenced or banned.
andulkaphoto
dededos
jacobvanloon
prguitarman
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
