blog moved to @webbed-desire

Sure thing! I don't blame them for turning off reblogs. I had to block some antisemitic creep who reblogged it from me with a rant about how actually it was feminism's fault, so clearly it had broken containment into the gross side of tumblr. Here it is with OP's handle and icon removed so they don't have to be connected to it anymore.

It's not just the advertisers- that's definitely also part of it, but this is also the direct, targeted action of a specific christian fundamentalist group, the "National Center on Sexual Exploitation," previously "Morality in Media" and "Operation Yorkville," a political lobbying organization that campaigns against pornography, who claim "Pornographers are committing the biggest crimes of the century!"

It was*this group specifically* (accompanied by another Christian anti-porn org, Exodus Cry) that put pressure on mastercard and visa to stop facilitating electronic payment for sites that hosted nsfw material. Faced with the risk of losing their ability to process payments, the sites partnered with visa and mastercard had no choice but to agree to porn bans.

They were behind Onlyfans flirting with banning sex workers last year, and they were one of the principle supporters of FOSTA/SESTA. I can not understate just how much influence this one well connected, well funded group has.

From their about page:

NCOSE convinced mastercard and visa to cut ties with porn not for the sake of advertisers, but because they convinced them that they could be potentially liable for facilitating illegal activity- the exchange of CSAM, prostitution and human trafficking- happening on the porn sites they were partnered with, which in NCOSE's opinion is all porn sites, and all porn period, since they believe all porn is human trafficking.

NCOSE has been around since the 60's, but hasn't seen much success until the last decade. Their previous campaigns, focused on pushing for the enforcement of obscenity laws from the 1800's and fabricating blatantly nonfactual research about porn as a mental health crisis, were not as widely received. But they've had much more success since they've started weaponizing concern for victims of abuse and trafficking, appropriating progressive language and trading in on the white moral panic about child sex trafficking that grew directly from the "Stranger Danger" and "Satanic Ritual Abuse" moral panics of the 80's and 90's- both themselves the result of a right wing reactionary movement using concern trolling about the safety of children to rail against drugs, loud music, and tabletop rpgs.

Blaming the sanitization of the internet solely on the vague specter of "advertisers" ignores the real, nameable groups and their extremely straightforward christofacist goals. It promotes apathy, pointing at an ambiguous target that feels as impossible to combat as the machine of capitalism itself. When it's literally just these specific guys, and like two or three similar, equally identifiable organizations!

I'm not saying sites like facebook don't have a vested interest in looking squeaky clean and family friendly, but tumblr, pornhub, onlyfans, patreon and gumroad did not move to ban porn because of advertising. Tumblr has never attracted the kind of advertisers who care, and pornhub, onlyfans, patreon and gumroad don't make the bulk of their money from ads, but from user transactions, which MUST be facilitated by an electronic banking platform in order to be safe and reliable.

Tumblr's porn ban was due to FOSTA/SESTA meaning the could not continue operating unless they either dumped nsfw content or went adults only and implemented costly and draconian age verification protocols that, frankly, no one was going to put up with for a mediocre blogging platform. The others folded under pressure from the electronic banking platforms, which threatened to drop them as partners due to the pressure *they* were under from NCOSE weaponizing public opinion to create a flurry of anger and condemnation towards these companies "facilitating human trafficking."

The enemy is not hiding, we know their names! They come not in the name of capitalism (who merely rides their coattails when convenient) but in the name of puritanical Christian Fascism.

Pedophilia is incredibly uncommon, and the vast majority of people who commit sex crimes against children are opportunists who attack children they already have access to (ie, family members) and who have no previous pedophilic interests. Which is to say, they don’t actually have an established attraction to children, anymore than all rapists have an established interest in noncon. Sexual assault is driven by power, not sexual proclivities. While traditional conservative power structures increase predator’s opportunities to exploit children and get away with it, it does not increase the actual number of predators, or turn them into an organized political group.

Convincing you the world is full of pedophiles scheming ways to get access to as many kids as possible is part of the anti sex agenda. It’s the cornerstone of how they push the “we have to get rid of the pedophiles to Protect the Children narrative,” which is then followed by declaring everyone they disapprove of pedophiles. You’re not letting go of the false narrative by pointing it in the other direction. This is literally how otherwise progressive queer people fall down the sex negativity pipeline. This is how you get the puriteens.

“The world really is full of pedophiles and deviants, it’s just that they’re actually all people I disagree with.” -> “This person I disagree with has a fetish that disgusts me so they’re probably into everything disgusting, and pedos are everywhere, so they’re probably a pedo.” -> “Wow when did this site get so full of pedos!! Children should really have their own spaces online where they’re completely isolated from adults.” -> “Children can’t be trusted around any adult they don’t know, that person could be a pedo.” -> “Adults who interact with kids or children’s media are most likely pedos looking for kids to groom.” -> “Kids should really never be exposed to anything sexual at all and anyone trying to show a kid something I consider sexual is obviously a groomer.” -> “Wow why does it seem like there are more pedos around every day??” -> “There are more pedos than there used to be, so something must have changed to create more pedos. Probably the internet making access to porn so easy.” -> “Porn can turn normal people into pedos.” -> “Pedos are increasing because they’re pornsick, corrupted by normal porn use until now they can’t get off without hurting someone.” -> “Porn turns you into a pedo. We should ban porn.”

The Stranger Danger moral panic was a reaction increased racial integration and the sexual revolution. Immigrants are flooding the country. Black people are moving into the suburbs. Gay people are in your neighborhoods, recruiting your kids. Conservatives used this to convince people who were *otherwise not politically aligned with them* that their white discomfort was actually a *natural instinctive reaction* to predators who were a Threat to their Families. So you can’t trust your kids around the neighbors. It’s normal to want to keep them completely under your constant surveillance.

This creates a culture of isolation that prevents people from interacting with their communities, where they might become friends with non white or queer people and be exposed to new perspectives. Which reinforces their discomfort and desire to isolate, and makes them vulnerable to further fear based conservative ideology, such as demonizing urban living and “overpopulation,” from which it’s a short jump to the Great Replacement.

Btw, this is why kink positivity is critical to queer liberation. Until we can shake the urge to demonize people for deviant sexuality, we will only ever be supporting the arguments of the people who believe our identities are sexually deviant.

While I’m here-

The vast majority of kidnappings are committed by one of the child’s parents.

Child abductions by strangers are vanishingly rare.

Most minors involved in sex trafficking are homeless teens,

disproportionately queer, who fled or were kicked out of unsupportive homes.

Homeless minors are then charged with prostitution for seeking help.

Those that aren't homeless are probably being trafficked by relatives.

Women are far more at risk of sexual assault by family and intimate partners than random strangers.

In the vast majority of rapes, the victim knows their attacker.

Human traffickers do not stalk random women in parking lots.

The most frequent targets of human trafficking are legal foreign nationals- especially those that can't speak english, indigenous women and girls, migrant laborers, and homeless youth.- In other words, people without communities and support systems.

Both men and women are targeted, and forced labor is at least as common as sex trafficking, but sex trafficking is more highly reported and forced labor is more difficult to detect and prosecute.

The world of sexual menace is a fabrication created to keep you scared and isolated, and only reinforces the patriarchal structures that enable real abuse.

Children who don’t trust any adults outside their family and have no exposure to healthy sexuality are more vulnerable to abuse by their family, and less likely to reach out for help.

Women who feel all the men outside their immediate circle are predators, who are taught being alone is inherently dangerous and that they are safest with a boyfriend or husband to protect them, are more likely to tolerate abuse and less likely to leave or seek help.

People who are convinced that sexual predators are everywhere, will not question it when whole demographics of people are labeled that by people they trust and consider authorities.