@staff Mr D’Onofrio, I know you will never read this, and more importantly I know that you will never care, your comments make it clear that you do not understand us; but I will say this anyway. I hope I can help you understand, I hope that you care to.
You say that there are other sites to watch porn. It is not about how many other sites have porn, because banning porn on Tumblr is not about banning porn on Tumblr. It is about banning expression, progression and discretion. You talk about adapting to change, to the evolution of society, and making Tumblr a part of it. You talk about making people feel comfortable. Your entire explanation sounds like Mother Gothel singing to Rapunzel, and what makes that even more offensive is the fact that we all know this is about being advertiser-friendly.
Tumblr is our home. And it was for a decade, despite an absence of all of the changes you have already enacted, and are suggesting, because Tumblr didn’t adapt to evolution, it was the evolution. Tumblr was never simply social media. Tumblr is a fleeting, active, human place. And the communication and the love and the beauty is like writing in a diary, displayed publicly for the world to see and interact with. And just like in the world, there will be terrible things. There will be pain, and anger, and hate, and toxicity, but we do not omit this from our diary. It is written among all of the beautiful things. The smiles, the laughter, crying at 2:00am over your OTP, and yes, Sir, even sex.
This is absolutely heartbreaking, but it’s not a shock to anyone. This is why we tried to fight the Yahoo acquisition, we knew that this was coming.
I never minded, in fact I liked, having a social media site that didn’t police or censor posts. David’s platform let me decide what I wanted to see for myself, and if I was offended or upset by something, it was honestly a bit reassuring to know that if someone felt the same about anything that I shared, I would not be persecuted or silenced for it. He trusted his users, he respected us. He looked at all of us not as children or adults, but as people who were capable of handling a shitpost without overreacting.
More importantly to the announced changes, Tumblr was a glance at the future of society, where the human body and sex were finally accepted again, and could be a part of community. A part of conversation. And whether it was beautiful, or made you cringe, it was just as worthy a subject as any other found in nature. It was just a fact, and Tumblr faced it; not an unwelcome, dirty thing that was stomped into the darkness by religion or personal bias.
Our blogs are the life connection we use to reach out and touch people around us. We follow, we reblog, we entwine their life with ours. And Tumblr allowed sex, anatomy and love (notice that I do not use the word porn, this is important to my explanation that this is not about porn, Sir) to be a healthy, uncensored part of our life. Artistically, naturally; casually, even.
Take for instance, Penis Friday. A day where Tumblr celebrates a part of the anatomy that they find to be beautiful or cute or however they feel, by reblogging penises. If it were Kitten Friday, no one would mind, but alas these blog will no longer be allowed to express this positivity for a completely normal interest, which happens not to be kittens. Why? Why are their opinions, their interests, their freedom of expression so much less valid than any other blog? What happened to ‘Don’t like, don’t follow’ or ‘Keep scrolling’? How is restraining people going to actually help any problems? It’s not. Banning sensuality on Tumblr is like killing every dog in the world, because a sizeable percentage of them bite.
It is extremely disappointing because Tumblr was like Greece. And, unfortunately, we are inside and watching Greece fall again. I remember when I was younger, and how impacting the LGBTQ+ communities were for me. They shared, and screamed, and comforted, and advised. It was a place where I could explore and discover my identity more thoroughly, my desires being just another casual (but passionate) interest that I liked having a place to be open about. It was okay to incorporate my erotic interests with everything else, because it was just another part of what made me me.
You say that you are going to ban porn, I say that ‘porn’ is a matter of opinion. ‘Adult Content’ taught me to love my body. And it wasn’t porn, not all of it. Not the things that changed me. It was artists, photographers, models, even just people taking photos in a mirror, trying to feel more confident. They weren’t actors playing parts, they were people and all of their beautiful imperfections. It wasn’t porn, it was humanity. Banning ‘Adult Content’ on Tumblr is about banning humanity.
Not that it matters, Mr D’Onofrio.
Because sex is an impolite subject.
Because if an artist’s work makes someone uncomfortable, they should be ostracised.
Because it is not sexist to ban female nipples, but not men’s.
Because no one can admire human genitalia without being aroused.
Because the LGBTQ+ posts being flagged will have no impact on us.
Because you don’t need Tumblr the same way we do.
Because it’s your website, not our home.
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