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DO NOT DELETE YOUR BLOGS!!
Tumblr is specifically banning CONTENT not entire blogs! Don’t loose your hard-earned followings just yet! I know this is a big loss for the sex worker community but there may be some hope left for us here. A lot of people have been talking about using censors, posting non-nude ads, etc. so don’t delete your blogs just yet! It’s irreverable and you may regret it later on. Wait it out, and let’s see where this goes. We WILL adapt. ❤️
A note on “minors” and my blog
I’ve seen a lot of people reblogging the whole “If you’re not 18, you can’t be on my blog!” posts lately. And as one of many people in this community who got started learning about their kink well before they were 18, I feel like this attitude of “If you’re not 18, then don’t even LOOK at my content” is a harsh bit of shaming, to a point. I was “caught” with some of this stuff when I was younger and got the usual rounds of grounding and shaming and chastising for a while. Honestly if I came out to my aprents tomorrow they wouldn’t be surprised, just disappointed….
And therein lies the problem - shaming and exclusion for minors over something as simple as browsing tumblr. A space where people can browse a topic away from the prying and judgemental eyes of family and public at large can be a very informative way of helping people learn more about very personal topics like kinks, sexuality, gender, and more. Furthermore, by piling on the shame you’re driving people towards predators who love ignorance and a need to be accepted. If a 16 year old comes on here, tries to find out more about a kink but gets slapped with a barrage of “Under 18, not allowed!!!!” how likely do you think they are to stay here and learn a thing or two? Tumblr isn’t the be all and end all, I’ll admit, but that’s the setup for a confused, lost person to ask a supposedly helpful stranger on the internet about advice and they are in prime condition to have a bad experience.
This is NOT to say I condone play and interactions on a more adult level between a minor and an adult. I don’t, I never have, and I never will. But I believe that minors on the internet googling random ass stuff should not immediately be shamed out of every halfway decent information source just because you haven’t checked the magical “18 years old” box yet. Plus, let’s be honest for one second here - how many people do you really think you’re turning away with those notifications? Either you say “Yes, I’m chasing away all the under 18 year olds, many of which will have honest questions and curiosities and possibly a lot of shame but IDGAF!!!!” ooooooooor you say “Yes, I know my notice does nothing but I’m going to hop on my fake moral high horse and pretend like I’m doing something!”
So here’s where I stand….
If you are under 18 years old, you are welcome to browse my blog for the purposes of seeing a glimpse into the knowledge and discussions I have with others involving my kinks and hobbies. Be warned, due to the implicit nature of this material, it might be against written law in your area to do so. But, given that I have no way of checking your age or location anyways, I won’t go on a witch hunt through my followers trying to unfollow or block anyone I suspect isn’t “of age”. If you wish to ask a question, you may do so anonymously or directly via a blog without a posted age. I will answer it to the best of my ability unless I deem it inappropriate or too personal.
I hope this helps. I really do. I’ve heard so many horror stories of people being shamed at a young age and “accepting help” from older people in an abusive or manipulative manner simply because they didn’t know any better or felt that it was what they deserved. I can’t sit idly by and watch as more and more people reblog the post that shames people under 18 away from even browsing these blogs. That just doesn’t sound right to me.
This isn’t an easy topic with black and white lines to break up what is and isn’t okay. But looking back on my own life and the interactions I’ve had with other people in the kink community, I think this is a better path to choose for my morals and beliefs. And if you are the same, I encourage you to reblog and post this to spread the message to those underage that “Look, y’all ain’t broken or weird, just slow the hell down and keep your pants on for a bit until you’re more capable of making decisions for yourself (or at least, until the government says you are). And while you wait, here’s things you should know….”
What a refreshingly reasonable position.
I agree with this, look but don’t follow please ^.^
No, no, no.
Adults who allow, let alone encourage, minors to view explicit material are liable to face charges. Don’t be stupid if you’re an adult, and don’t endanger those adults if you’re a minor.
Listen. If you think a minor hasn’t viewed your blog full of porn and adult content (and yes, this includes all who read this) , I have some bad news for you about how the world works… Also, try and charge me. Seriously. Charge me with “allowed minors to view explicit material”. Every adult website would be just as guilty if that’s the case. And no, minors viewing your Tumblr blog won’t get you arrested. If you actively pursue and initiate contact with minors to get them to view your blog and try to lure them in? NOW we have a crime.
In the dying days of my tumblr, reblogging this for one particular section of my original post. A person reblogged it recently and reminded me of its existence so I feel like it would make a good addition to my “final posts”
To all those at Tumblr and on the internet at large, THIS is why the loss of being able to discuss and share explicit material can be dangerous. THIS is how people get hurt, or even killed. And before you jump in let me assure you - I *know* people who got killed because their sex work wasn’t legalized and because the online discourse actively tried to shun them. SO! Yeah I have an active reason to put an end to the BS. Just to reiterate my stance….
I’ve heard so many horror stories of people being shamed at a young age and “accepting help” from older people in an abusive or manipulative manner simply because they didn’t know any better or felt that it was what they deserved. I can’t sit idly by and watch as more and more people reblog the post(s) that shames people under 18 away from even browsing these blogs. That just doesn’t sound right to me.
I mean I understand the fear of trying to keep minors away from your blog. You never know what could happen. But…at the same time, I do understand not shamimg the minors as well. I mean I found out how sexual I was when I was a minor myself. And when I was shamed by my mother for having desires I lashed out and looked elsewhere. And that can get dangerous. Someone will gladly make a minor feel “grown”. Its disgusting but it’s so damn common its horrifying. This is how people get stuck in these awful abusive relationships because no one taught them how to use their voice or even to identify what this abusive partner is doing is wrong. And I know I’ve posted no minors allowed a lot. I never thought back to what could happen because we pushed them away. And I do apologize for pushing any questioning minors away. Sometimes the right protection is in fact exposure and a long frank talk.
As a librarian I agree with this post 120%.
Librarians don’t censor any book someone wants to take out. (Good librarians don’t, I should say.)
If a 12 year old wants to check out a Harlequin Romance, I take that book, I check it out, I give it to them. No questions. No judging. No censoring.
It’s up to their parents, not me, to censor the child, if that’s what they deem best.
There are so many things a child learns from reading, so many things they are able to explore, without endangering themselves.
So many teen books are filled with “controversial” topics like drug abuse, teen pregnancies, self harm, anorexia, abuse, etc..
That is because they allow teenagers to experience these things without causing harm to themselves.
And in experiencing these things through a book, they can learn how to better handle these issues in their own lives.
I feel the same way about my blog.
I have never once posted a 18+ only post.
If a curious teenager wants to read my blog, yes please.
They probably have already been exposed to far more sex just in TV and movies than they’ll find on my blog.
However my blog posts about:
How to Start in the Hypnosis Community.
Among other hypnosis information.
And I write Session Logs in Text Trance format, so anyone can experience them. And my Session logs show not only the hot sexy hypnosis, but the care and respect my Calebs and I hold for one another.
If a teenager, unsure about how to handle thier newly discovered hypnosis kink, stumbles across my blog and my information on how to remain safe while exploring hypnosis and how to have heathy consent before the sexy time happens, I am more than happy for my blog to provide them with that information.
For everyone’s information:
The plan for the 17th, when the adult content ban comes in, is to protest.
To do that, we are making as much noise either side of the 17th as possible, and using the site as normal.
On the 17th, dead silence.
People are saying log off but what they really mean is don’t open the site or the app.
But, on the 17th make as much noise as possible on every other platform. Tweet about it and post on facebook and instagram and everywhere else.
What this does is causes a massive dip in ad revenue for one single day. That does not make staff think ‘oh everyone’s gone let’s shut down.’ What it actually makes them think is ‘oh shit people aren’t happy and if people don’t keep using our site we’re out of money and out of jobs.’
A boycott reminds a company that the users (consumers) have the power to make their site (business) worthless with one single coordinated decision.
If you want to join in, here’s what to do:
Do:
- Close all open instances of the app and site on all your devices before the 17th
- Make posts before and after the 17th on tumblr and other platforms, talking about why this ban is bad
- Make posts on other sites during the 17th. Flood the official tumblr staff twitter and facebook with your anger and your opinion
- Come back on the 18th and check in
Don’t:
- Delete the app from your phone (this doesn’t affect their revenue and since it’s off the store at the moment it’ll be hard to get back)
- Delete your account. I mean you can if you want to, but if you keep your account and don’t use it you’re saying to staff that there’s still time to save it. If you delete it’s hard work to come back.
- Open the app or website (including specific blogs)
- Make any posts (turn down/off your queue and make sure nothing is scheduled)
- Go quiet elsewhere. Make it clear that this is just about tumblr, not a mass move away from all social media.
Remember: the execs don’t care about anything but money. Shutting down the site means there’s $0 further income from it. That’s their last possible course of action. If we make it clear we’re not happy, they’ll have to do something or we can do more and more until it becomes too expensive.
Protests take commitment. They’re a defiant action against a business that is doing something wrong. They will try to scare you into not participating, because they’re scared. We hold all the power here, sometimes the execs just need to be reminded of that.
PLEASE PARTICIPATE THIS NEEDS TO BE BIG SO WE NEED TO FOLLOW THROUGH!
Doing this. Who else is in?
I’m in!
Doing it
Reblog if you’re staying after December 17th. I don’t know, maybe it’ll convince others to stay too.
FINALLY GOT ACCESS TO BDSMLR.COM
First impression: holy shit, it’s Tumblr!! Only been on a few minutes, but it is a look-and-feel clone of Tumblr! The support folks there, even though they are being swamped with people fleeing #TumblrTitanic, got back to me last night and unfucked my stuck registration process. OK, so:
At the end of the registration process and initial setup, you have to choose an interest area (femdom, quotes, art, whatever). You have to choose 3 interest areas, and then a “Continue” button is enabled. Press continue and Voila! You are in the Tumblr-like user interface. My handle there is:
instructor144
Big surprise, right?
If you are already on BDSMLR, give me a follow, let me know your blog name, send a message, etc. I want to wring out this platform hard over the next couple of days, I have the free time before my new job starts on Monday.
This might well be our new home, folks.
PLEASE POST OPTIONS OF NEW PLACES TO POST! LETS FIND A NEW HOME AND ALL DELETE OUR TUMBLR BLOGS ON DECEMBER 16th SO TUMBLR WILL WITHER AND DIE!!! This seems great for BONDAGE but I would still like to find some platform that is as close to a Tumblr clone as we can find. Thank you, VICTOR
I am in the process of moving content to bdsmlr, My handle there is BuzzCzar. So far it looks great and operates easily.
Let’s try that one, then. ☺️
Only works in the US, apparently…
Actually not! Seems it was down and now it’s back up!
I am https://bdsmlr.com/blog/red-world. See you there!
I am here as well, but have not committed to this being The One. It is kinda clunky right now.
Same. There, mildly unimpressed at the moment.
There for the moment…checking it out.
It’s so sad watching the community here fall apart. I’ve been here so long, maybe too long. I’ve seen people come and go, and honestly I haven’t been all that pro- or inter- active for a while but it hurts my heart to see people scrambling to find a new safe place to share their work, their bodies, themselves.
Having this blog, and being part of this community, has changed my life forever. I am a happier person because of it. I am more secure in my body and my sexuality. I am more educated in issues of gender, identity, kink and sexuality, and so many other topics than I would have been otherwise.
It hurts my heart to see so many sex workers who have made their living through tumblr have the rug pulled from under of them. It’s a precarious enough way to make a living without having a huge platform pulled from under your feet. If you have the cash, I’d urge you to reach out and support a sex worker in the next couple of weeks.
I’ve made a lot of friends through tumblr. Some are gone, some are still here, and I know that this change means there are some I will never talk to again. We’re all going to go our own way, to the next platform we feel safe in. I think I’m going to revive my instagram account, at least for a while. In the meantime I’ll keep this blog running until it’s put down.
Take care of yourselves, you beautiful perverts.
J, you’ve always had a way with words, thank you for expressing what I’ve been feeling all day 💔
Open Letter To Tumblr.
Dear Jeff,
Dear Tumblr @staff ,
I’ve read your new guidelines with great interest and care and I must say you’ve missed a huge opportunity to become a leader in Internet community safety.
Let me explain:
First of all, as an adult and a parent I wholeheartedly applaud your efforts in making Tumblr a place where minors can explore the Internet in a safe environment. You have my full support in banning any and all form of child pornography! So in all sincerity kudos to you for taking this step.
Having said that, as a parent, I know all too well how forbidding a certain toy/food/activity to my offspring will turn it into a forbidden fruit. Coming down on my kids like a maddening fury yelling they’re not allowed to do drugs for example is by no means a guarantee they won’t end up with a needle in their arm. Harsh, I know, yet a reality nonetheless.
The same applies to sexuality in all it shapes and forms. Taking all adult content away form Tumblr will only push all these curious youngsters to go and explore elsewhere and we all know the Internet showcases fucked up stuff!
Also, trust me when I say my young teenage offspring has quite the sexual imagination already.
Turning sex and/or nudity into a taboo is not helping my offspring. Talking to them however is, answering any and all questions they have is.
Secondly, I’m a proud member of the BDSM community here on Tumblr, have been for over 2 years.
In my time on here I’ve seen and discovered this community is very protective of itself; abusers and/or wannabes are called out, numerous child pornography blogs have been reported.
There’s a whole community online of people, both Dominants and submissives alike, with up to 40 years of experience that share their knowledge, that take new people under their wing, that openly demonstrate the difference between porn BDSM and real life relationships.
New, curious people - when of legal age - were all welcomed with open arms by all of us. An insane amount of questions have been answered, advice and guidance have been offered freely to anyone who genuinely wanted to explore the BDSM world.
Now, now you’re pushing all these new aspiring dominants/submissives into uncharted territory! Safe, Sane and Consensual has been thrown out of the window for the BDSM community.
What I wanted, hell what every single one of my followers wanted, was to get rid of the porn bots! What we wanted was to get rid of the child pornography.
What we wanted was a safe environment for all of us.
What we’re left with is a whole lot of the opposite. Making Tumblr Safe Again has made the whole Internet an even more unsafer place.
What you could, and should have done, is reach out to the blogs with the largest follower base, made an open invitation to any and all smaller blogs who wanted to help you make Tumblr a safer place. Yes, we should have been vetted amidst this process. No, no one would have objected.
I’m beyond disappointed Tumblr. What started as an no doubt good and spot on idea has left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Sincerely,
Dirty
Nothing to add.
oh god what is going on now
guys calm down, you can still draw fictional people naked
#just not fucking.#I can live with that.#honestly this is slightly irritating but not ‘THE SKY IS FALLING’
Yyyyyeah except they’ve already:
- purged the ‘chronic pain’ tag
- purged the ‘top surgery’ tag
- made ‘trans’ tag inaccessible to non-functional
- deleted a bunch of chronic illness blogs
- deleted a bunch of chronic pain and chronic illness posts from blogs they’ve left (like mine)
This isn’t just about ‘oh no you can’t look at people fucking anymore’ (even though lots of sex workers are losing their means of supporting themselves). This goes a lot further, with a lot more chilling effects.
The sexualizing of things like ‘top surgery’ or declaring all ‘trans’ tagged things to be … sexual… is really, REALLY fucked up. Never mind the fact that ‘chronic pain’ had NOTHING to do with sexiness, and we’ve been given no explanation as to why disabled people were considered acceptable collateral damage.
ALSO I had a post flagged earlier today for a cartoon picture of Mario in a bathing suit. Mario, from Super Mario Brothers.
Someone else reported a picture of a cartoon scorpion with a hard hat on being flagged as pornography. Tagging things as ‘queer’ or ‘gay’ gets them flagged NSFW. (Hey, guess what I’d been tagging my t-shirts, because they’re pride stuff? Oh right. Queer. Gay. Pride.)
This is a fucking problem, let’s not blow it off.
I know some people are too young (or simply weren’t involved in fandom back then) to remember what went down with livejournal and a couple of other sites “back in the day”, but it all started out as “it’s okay, we’re just removing the nasty porn”, and then “okay well, just make sure you put your porn behind a cut, no, wait jk you need to host it externally, a link is fine, maybe” and pretty much devolved swiftly into “actually sweety, LGBT content is inherently NSFW by default because it might make the kiddies gay if we expose them to it, so y’all need to leave now byyyeeee”.
Like…that happened. And it took nearly a decade for the fandom spaces to recover and stabilize and to get to the point where LGBT content creators could host their content without being told “you’re not welcome here” and I’m just sitting here, watching as youtube demonetizes LGBT content creators, and Facebook flags up LGBT ads as “inappropriate” and now tumblr is going through the queer and gay tags and just mass blanketing it as inappropriate, while actual pornbots and nazis wind up in my recommended feed.
(As an interesting aside: isn’t it funny how all these sites attribute these things to an algorithm error? Itsn’t that funny.)
Like I am uncomfortable y’all. I am looking around at everything I’ve built and all the friends I’ve made and I know we’re all looking for the next safe space to jump to while hoping we don’t lose each other overnight like “the olden days” where you’d wake up and your fave blogger was just gone.
And usually it was because they’d drawn or written something as simple yet explicit as a kiss. It was just the wrong kind of kiss.
So yea, the sky is not falling, but the ice under our feet sure is making worrying sounds.
^^^ What thebibliosphere said.
I’ve lost accounts over this shit before. I’m not confident I won’t again, even with a nominally sfw blog. Well, sfw by the standards of people with an ounce of common sense.
I hope it won’t. I hope this will pass, and things will improve. But I’m not confident, and I’m not fool enough to hold my breath over it. If shit happens, I’ll be on DW and Pillowfort and AO3, where I’m not wrong for existing as queer and disabled. Like I was on LJ.