I donât give a fuck about your personal morality
If youâre glad Tumblr is doing this just because âit wonât affect you because you donât consume adult contentâ, youâre a selfish asshole. Donât compare this to the LJ and ff.net bullshit, this is not âI wanna see smutty art of my favs uwuâ drama, thereâs people who get their food on their table with this platform. People who havenât hurt anyone and really depend on Tumblr to literally LIVE.
If youâre super against sexual work because itâs usually exploitation of people who arenât doing it voluntary, let me tell you Tumblr is probably the only place where sex-workers do it freelance and because they want to do it. So, yeah, bold of you to assume that licking Tumblrâs ass on this censorship policy is the virtual equivalent of punching PIMPs and ruining their business. The only business this will ruin is the one that belongs to regular, innocent people. And if you oppose to sex-work not because itâs abusive, but because youâre âmĂĄs papista que el papaâ (like we would say down here), let me tell you that taking othersâ way of living away from them must be the least christian thing ever.
But if you still donât care, well, theyâre not the only people who will get hurt by this decision. A lot of porn blogs belong to people who canât express their sexuality freely in the place where they live, who deal with sex-related mental illness such as sexual repression, who are sexually frustated and canât do anything about it. For a lot of people, this new policy means giving up their only safe space to enjoy and embrace their sexuality.
How do I know this? Because Iâm one of them. I have been dealing with my sexual repression for years. I might never have sex in real life because of how heavy it is. I developed anxiety, body dysmorphia and depression because of this. My body is just too weak to have sex (I could get really hurt if I did it wrong), I canât stand nudity and intimacy, and my germaphobia turns any activity involving body fluids into a nightmare.
Lately, my panic attacks have been getting worse. A bad experience with someone I loved but who was extremely toxic to me fucked me up completely. I stopped eating and I canât sleep at night.
My 18+ blog was the only place where I could express myself and feel better with myself. It was the only place where I could feel wanted. Just one followerâs praise could change my day fully and make me think, even for just one second, that I deserved love and pleasure, that there was nothing wrong with my body and my head.
Now Iâm going to lose all of that. I canât just move to another adult content platform. Have you ever been in one of those? Those are real hellsites. The only place where I knew I wouldnât run into something I didnât want to see, where I could talk and enjoy my body with respectful people who cared about my boundaries and encouraged my progress⌠itâs Tumblr. And now I wonât have it anymore.
Do you honestly think this will help? Then maybe you arenât old enough to be here at all. The only things that will happen are:
Pedos and other disgusting people will find more subtle ways of get their shit pass under the radar (and weâll probably run into them more unexpectedly.)
Sex-workers, artists and people who really need to express themselves sexually will lose their job/safe space.
Again, pedos and other disgusting people will probably move to another platform. A far less popular and far more private one, where they can share their shit without the fear of getting caught/exposed.
Without a safe mode around, you might run into gorey/triggering stuff, including the adult content that will unavoidably pass under the radar. (Monitoring and giving people the tools to keep sensitive content out of sensitive audienceâs eyes is always better than banning.)
People will start moving to other platforms. Even your favorite writer or artist who doesnât post adult content might shut down their blog to give Tumblr a middle finger. Fandom death itself.
Tumblr will lose one of the only things that made it different from any other social media platform.
So, yeah, if you go for the âlol this wonât affect meâ approach, youâre a selfish person who needs to re-think a lot of stuffn If you think this will help any real life child/victim of sexual violence/forced sex-worker, I feel bad for you. If you think Tumblr is doing this for the users, you clearly havenât heard of the App Store drama and youâre too pure for this world. And if you feel as angry/hurt as me with the difference that you have money, move to Pillowfort (it looks amazing) and donate to AO3.
Seriously, if you want to keep just one thing of this rant with you, donate to AO3. Even if itâs just one dollar. They genuinely care for their users and try to protect their right to express themselves. Show them some fucking love.
Please reblog, share and get your shit together.