Simple question:
What is wrong about discussing or depicting human lovemaking?
I mean in general, where those in graphics are consenting adults OK with the image going public?
Or even, getting into Lolittaland, WRITING about what amounts to sexual abuse of children, and other violent sex-related crimes?
In fact, I would suggest that those who WRITE about such acts and enjoy such writing are less likely to commit the acts themselves, but, lets see if the Times will accept masturbate over fantasy.
There are those who argue that people, especially males exposed to images of sexual violence, usually committed by males upon females may be aroused, and think such acts proper.
The studies I’ve seen said yes, watching violent nonconsensual sex acts dies change people’s subliminal attitudes to these acts - for a grand total of 20-45 minutes.
Then they adopt their previous attitude, which these days, is that forcing sex on people, especially minors, is wrong.
Even minors who read about sexual abuse in context of news or fantasy (yu’know, fiction) or see adult rape on film suffer no permanent lasting effects.
Assuming they aren’t the ones being abused, or suffered childhood sex abuse or adult sexual assault.
Some, who believe, as I do, in only consensual sex, believe that such depictions are degrading, especially to women, usually portrayed as the victim.
Ok, then this flavor of erotica is not for you. Find YOUR erotica - the other stuff doesn’t teach or change behavior.
7
It's clear most people commenting on this have never been on Tumblr in their entire life. It doesn't help that this article is confusing the LGBT community and women with Fandom (which is a safe and popular place for the LGBT and women). What no one seems to be getting here is that Fan culture is what's being degraded by this move. Tumblr has classic porn, but it also has NSFW fanart, erotica, and other explicit media. We aren't mourning porn, we are mourning the freedom to make and share art in a safe place. Many people are saying, "if you don't like it leave and make your own website." This has happened before in Fandom. Back in 2012 when Fanfiction.net purged thousands of erotic fanfiction, users felt betrayed and they flocked to Archiveofourown. That website had been up for years already but it still had many shutdowns and glitches. For an entire social media site to be created overnight and one that Fandom can trust won't betray its values is no easy task. I am personally heartbroken by this brazen display of a website completely ignoring it's own userbases values. Have a care, please.
5
“To fear offense or reprisals is to give up our values.”
~ AMOS N. GUIORA
Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. He teaches Criminal Procedure, International Law, Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism and Religion and Terrorism
"Freedom depends upon freethinkers." ~ Ruth Hurmence Green
5
I have a growing sense of horror at the content regulation movement. 'Facebook needs to police itself', 'Tumblr should be applauded for eliminating porn from it's platform', 'Certain tech companies have finally seen the light and are limiting our freedom'. The last one is one you won't see but it amounts to the same thing.
I'm actually for censorship but at the local level. State?, no. County?, no. City or town?, no. The most local of all, the individual. If something offends you, click off of it. This is actually more effective. Take the issue of child pornography. Many purveyors of child porn have learned the old Bob Guccione trick of taking just barely old enough teen and dressing them up as children. It's not illegal because young person is actually an adult, but it's morally reprehensible anyway. BUT if consumers of adult content stopped going to such sites they would dry up.
1
Tumblr's loss will be Pornhub's gain.
7
Porn and sex is a human nature thing at any age. I think they should block the explicit material with age limits but blocking porn is never going to happen on the Internet.
1
What incredible mind numbing absurdity as porn for females is 'empowering' while for men it is just 'vile or disgusting.' Porn is porn- watch it or don't. But Tumblr is now the Backpage/Craigslist of the Internet as the latter two were frozen out and eviscerated. Sex workers use Tumblr for advertising. The 'new left' with its puritanical obsession, has put itself in a box as companies such as Tumblr have responded to the threats of boycotts and shaming on other platforms and simply decided it is better to self censor and be done with it.
4
Not everything has to be made into an affront to social justice, evidence of backwards sexual thinking, or an attack on the LGBTQ community. Tumblr found child pornography rampant on their site and realized that they couldn't eliminate it without eliminating all pornography. So they did, as they should have.
"I can’t tell you how important it is for work about and with sex to have space to exist next to work about every other part of human experience." - I can, it is not. Keep the porn separate so we can try to police child pornography, which is destroying too many young lives. You do not get to post pornography next to cookie recipes just because it makes you feel better about yourself, or earn a few more dollars.
11
"self-expression, discovery and connection" don't require pornography. In fact, pornography is the exact opposite of those things.
As a lesbian, I'm pretty sick and tired of my community being made to front for anybody who wants to think of, or brand, themselves as "edgy" or "queer" -- whilst abusing others. The gay/lesbian community rightly disassociated itself from NAMBLA, we shouldn't be a willing front for other abusers.
8
I for one am greatly relieved Tumblr has saved me from the vast threat posed by exposed nipples.
5
Who goes to watch porn on Tumblr? Google can recommend many other porn sites over Tumblr.
And why does the article suggest that it will disproportionately affect LGBTQ communities over straight communities? I fail to see the relation here.
I think the big catalyst here is child pornography. It is easy for companies such as tumblr, FB, instagram to carry out a blanket ban on porn rather than vet porn videos for their content.
5
Human trafficking, AIDS, child abuse, sexual trauma, misogyny. That's porn in a nut shell. And you want me to feel bad for a group of people who are sad it's removed from Tumblr?
7
It's an old practice: you build up your base with porn then ditch it to get mainstream advertising. As a member of the LGBTQ community and an multicultural male erotic photographer whose work is archived at the Kinsey Institute, I've seen it first hand with the gay newspapers and magazines as well as with non-profit organizations like LGBTQ Center in San Francisco, a non-rofit which courts funding from both private foundations and local government by distancing itself from adult sex content. That is especially ironic since the LGBTQ community is fundamentally sex-based and should lead in this area rather than jump on the bandwagon of adult content censorship for the stated purpose of protecting children. The bottom line is that Americans have fundamentally always been sex negative!
2
As a gay man in a country where there's no sex education nor real freedom of speech (students get punished for criticizing their college that use textbooks that portraits LGBT as a curable mental disease), where the only answer you'll get asking your parents how you were born is not by sex but them picking you up on the street, where you are punished for falling in love in high school because it may negatively influence you grade, I was happy I grew up with Tumblr. I DID provide me with a safe space.
When I see pictures of two young men kissing, I feel the beauty, the vigor, and the hope that someday I might be one of them. When I read posts showing nudists happily hanging around naked, I appreciate their celebration of various bodies at its most natual state, whether they are fat for fit, their genitals big or small, their body hair bald or flourishing. When I play "porn" gifs, I was ashamed at first, only to realize soon that it's the fine, it's human, it's no big deal. And tbh "porn" is merely a small part of it.
I actually don't use Tumblr very often, but I feel safe here. My parents may literally kill me if they knew my secret. No one's going to judge me for subscribing to such "illegal" things. I'm thankful bcs Tumblr made me less lonely knowing there are so many other of kindred identity.
So dear readers who jab at our unhealthy habits, whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.
22
Problematic though its original speaker may be, I feel the following point is pretty salient:
"...how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only ten seconds ago."
Seriously, how great must things be for you that you're complaining that the pornucopia that is the modern internet is no longer as perfectly curated for you as it used to be??
Not to mention the fact that something will come up to replace it in about three years ago. To paraphrase the same problematic figure: give it a second!!
2
Porn is not a human right. Viewing and uploading it on a site which is for users 13 is even less so.
I started using tumblr at 16, and by 17 I was thoroughly enmeshed in a world of violent, abusive pornography. No matter what one queer woman says, there is a wealth of misogyny on tumblr. I have seen extremely realistic (real?) depictions of snuff, rape, and torture. Tumblr was a weapon of self harm for me in the wake of my sexual assaults; only now am I beginning to extract myself from that toxic mess. This article seems to imply that 90% of the porn there is queer, feminist, and “empowering” — which I assure the reader, it is not. Even if a trove of such porn did exist, it should not be kept on the same site where so many young and impressionable minds congregate.
26
I have never liked pornography. And there is way too much dangerous and violent pornography, available, at just the push of a button. Less pornography does not bother me.
5
What is pornography and what is not pornography is so subjective.
I have a sister who is very conservative and never allowed her children to watch R-rated movies.
One day I walked in and they were watching "Terminator."
I said, "You know that's R-rated, right?"
And she said, "But it's only R-rated violence."
I'll never forget that.
6
We are granted 'freedom of expression' by our core civic documents; except when such expression violates the advertisers' desire for a clean background to their ads. So there is to be no ad-content supported open forum. This is censorship imposed by the corporate world. If we cannot offend with our comments, our images, or stories, we cannot comment on what is wrong or overbearing or constricting in our society. Should a devout Muslim company takeover a well-known site, then images of women might be expunged from it. So on it will go until we have a boring box of entertainment issuing pablum for the masses being indoctrinated by 30 second adverts. Welcome to Big Sister.
5
And now it seems that Facebook is following suit, restricting sexually explicit language, no talk of or hints of sexual positions or scenarios...no encouragement of sexual interaction between adults, sexualized slang, suggestive statements, i.e., "looking for a good time tonight"... no content of "hand drawn, digital or real world art that may depict sexual activity or suggestively posed persons... " i do believe that all of this is because FB, Google, and Yahoo are looking to expand into China which is a sexually suppressed and censored market. since FB is THE social media that reaches the most people, where are artists (and what distinguishes those who post "hand drawn, or digital" art (if that's your medium
3
I would have to disagree with you on your thoughts that Tumblr should being trying harder to find a different way to sensor its content while still allow adult content to be on there. While I completely support the the L.G.B.T.Q. community if strongly feel like that when there is an issue of child pornography being found on the site I feel like a line has to be drawn. Tumblr has found that banning this type of content as a whole was the only for sure method of making sure that the occurrence of child pornography on its platform. This being the case, I completely support their decision of banning the adult content as a whole. The line between the adult content that is empowering versus the content that is damaging may be something that is too blurry to be able to predict what sexual content will do good and what will do bad. I believe that Tumblr should be actively working to find a way to allow adult content to be on their platform when it is empowering but until they have found an effective way to accomplish that I think it is good for them to play the situation safely and air on the side of caution in order to avoid more damaging content to be posted on their platform.
I am not anti L.G.B.T.Q, but I am very surprised that the Times even published this article. It's just a big gripe about not being able to 'explore' your sexuality on your preferred platform, as if that community has such unique needs to do so that all the rest of us must accommodate them at all costs, and it is oh so inconvenient to find another network to do so. Just don't put it right next to a MeToo article since the two will cancel each other out like two matter and anti-matter particles in a big explosion.
13
Tumblr has cast much too wide a net in dealing with the legitimate elimination of child porn. I have closed my account.
3
I don’t care if people view porn but I do think there need to be barriers that limit children’s access to it. Tumblr has terrible filters - I stopped scrolling through my feed in public because I never knew what was going to show up next.
But what really surprises me is that the only solution the company could come up with is a ban? This content is clearly popular. Why aren’t they finding a way to create an adult only and monetized platform?
The web needs to find a way to put adult content behind filters that require credit cards or that use other means to separate out adult content and keep it away from children.
And companies also need better filters so that images of two women kissing or blogs about coming out or about being trans are not blocked as adult content.
2
Look, I personally think this is a very stupid decision by Tumblr since the porn community seemed to be one of the more engaged and active segments of their audience and this seems likely to decrease the number and activity of their users.
That said it's ridiculous to argue that a private business should make its decision around making it convenient for niche sexualities to get their jollies... By that argument, is the author equally incensed that her local target doesn't carry bondage gear and furry costumes? Should every bookstore be required to stock copies Star Trek erotica lest a lonely Trekkie be forced to trek elsewhere in search of his preferred smut?
If there's truly a huge niche here (which I sincerely doubt as there are numerous outlets for amateur porn), then this is a great business opportunity for the LGBTQ and/or female community to create a new product and get some of those tech dollars. But if there isn't a real business opportunity here, then why should Tumblr be forced to maintain something that isn't good for their business in their view?
6
“When you cast a wide net, you may sacrifice a group you never intended to hurt”, a group that made Tumblr what it is now. It should be a way to access adult content in Tumblr without any discrimination. Publicity should also be paired with adult content.
Tumblr's decision smells debilitating puritanism.
3
Adult content porn on social media platforms is not harmless.
Please note that I said on social media platforms, where it has the greatest reach. I'm pitching for the greater good here.
I'm a high school teacher and I can't tell you the number of times I've caught students using their phones to watch porn.
They laugh when they're caught and say:
"EVERYBODY watches porn! Get with it!" Most students will admit that they've been watching porn since - oh, fifth grade, or whenever their parents got them a smartphone. What a way to learn about sex, intimacy, and the human body. Porn degrades the the people who make it, and it degrades and distorts the people who watch it. Certain kinds of bodies are promoted, and certain kinds of sexual interactions are highlighted because they are more stimulating. Violence and degradation are almost always present. Is it just a coincidence that there is so much sexual assault in our culture, especially at hs and college parties? Is it just a coincidence that people sext one another - and think it's a good idea? High school boys sometimes get caught demanding sexting photos from girls - so that they can rate how 'hot' she is. Hot compared to porn stars?
Porn reduces human intimacy into physical transactions - and it is NOT something that can be compartmentalized when your porn movie is over. Anyone who has been addicted to porn will tell you that. Porn interferes with your ability to be intimate. Ask actor Terry Crewes.
12
Porn addiction? Sounds like a dubious classification to me. Can anyone determine the distinction between a casual 'user' and an addict?
Are devout believers of any religion addicts of some sort? How about avid sports players?
Addiction is usually a serious condition for the addict and those in his or her circle.
Don't let me get started on the dubious connection between porn and sexual assault. Informed people know that sexual assault is not about sex but, rather, all about domination.
2
"An essential platform for some women and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community."
What did they do before the internet?
6
@MikeEdwards Tumblr is a privately-held company. The lgbt community does need to create more sites. Before the internet btw we were isolated, self-loathing, somestimes well-adjusted but also more prone to suicide than non-gay teens and adults due to (most) societies that hate and bully lgbt (human beings.)
@Mike Edwards: Porn was the dominant initial traffic on the newly-released internet.
1
Craigslist personals...Tumblr porn...Facebook messenger. Why do we all think we have a say in what they publish? We don’t. Never did. And at the flick of a switch each one of us can be deleted and erased. Yet, our history would still exist within their database for use when they feel a necessity to use it. George Orwell, in all of his brilliance, could never have conceived of such a pure, mind controlling institution as we have created with the internet.
2
@Beyond Karma: Your computer is the realization of the telescreens of "1984".
Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and the NY Times are platforms run by private companies. Just as I have the right to not allow the KKK to spout their hate on my lawn, they have every right to determine what is allowable content on their platforms.
If the LGBTQ community wants a safe place to connect and discuss, they can be creative and build their own, just as the founders of Tumbler did.
5
OMG—Tumblr is about so more than what’s been written here.
I’ve had a personal blog (entirely original content) that has allowed me to explain and share the botanical aspect of the plants in my garden, my adorable cats, (it IS the internet), Oh, it’s also entirely G-rated; nary a male nipple since 2012.
I also follow art from the Renaissance, Paleobiology and Old Hollywood blogs, all alongside “explicit” sexual content that doesn’t intrude upon my “feed”.
Profits need to be made; but surely other solutions could be explored.
Tumblr’s draconian decision is akin to clear-cutting a forest, otherwise surrounded by concrete and steel; the balance of today’s Internet.
3
Read a few of the gay blogs. The consensus is that something will pop up very soon to replace this. If there is an appetite to be fed in this capitalist society, someone will feed that appetite, for a price.
2
Human sexuality, in all of its manifestations, requires a courageous, patient steward to allow people to grow more and more comfortable about it. Images of violence, exploitation, and abuse, whether involving adults or minors, do not belong on public platforms. All the rest of it: bare skin, bodily fluids and solids, sexual acts, exhibitionism, and fetishes should not be banned. Our bodies, ourselves.
2
I’m sure another site will be up and running soon. Pornography, along with the cockroach, will be the first to recover after the apocalypse.
3
The nude photos were OK. Violent aggressive porn shots were disturbing.Tumblr is one of the better sites for unique ballet and dance photos, still available with the adult mode turned off.
1
So if the Tumblr platform is so important to people why can't those who want to participate in it buy a membership and take it private? I think it's universally agreed that society certainly wouldn't want children having easy access to adult content, so create a barrier to entry for them. I believe what's really at the heart of the matter is that people resist paying for something which once was free.
4
I get the idea that there should be a good place to express gay sexualities on the Internet. All such sites, gay or straight-oriented need to be rigorously policed against child pornography, which apparently Tumblr wasn’t doing.
What I’m confused about is a why the sex site needs to be the same as the literary/artistic/journal/political site. It’s usually not the same on the Internet. It’a easy enough to move from one to the other.
2
Are we sure the LGBTQ communities are still marginialized? Because I seem to see a great deal of opinion pieces, news articles and talk from politicians and our brain trust in the press and academia ruminating about these issues. Yet somehow there are very few practical ideas being put forth on how to lower the cost of healthcare and higher education. I see even fewer pieces giving practical solutions for breaking the deadlock on climate change in this country and around the world. It's almost as though people in positions of power like Ms. Powell are distracting us from real priority issues in this world with endless talk about communities that have already made major inroads in our society to full acceptance. And it's beginning to wear very thin.
11
Tumblr is a private company and has the full right to control what kind of content it allows on their platform. Their aren't the government and have no obligation nor duty to respect anyone's first amendment right. End of story.
6
Once Tumblr was bought by Yahoo (Yahoo!!!!!) it was only a matter of time. That struggling company wants advertising. Advertising doesn't like being next to porn. So now another platform of expression is an ad delivery system. I blame the companies that feel the need to plaster an ad on anything that people look at.
40
@Paul - I am sure you are correct, but not 100% correct. The discovery that Tumblr was being used for sharing child porn appears to have been the nail in the coffin. Ad dollars or no ad dollars, I can totally see why Tumblr and Yahoo don't want to be associated with a forum for sharing child porn. In this case, it appears that a few bad actors ruined Tumblr for everyone.
@Paul You are under the delusion that everything online should be free. Somebody has to pay to keep the lights on. You get ads or you pay for a subscription. Reality....
1
@Paul well...it's not the fault of a platform like Tumblr (or even yahoo) for putting ads up...it's the fault of an entitled internet consumer culture that doesn't expect to pay much or anything but wants services.
Of course running a site/app like Tumblr takes a lot of money so how else do you balance the desire to grow your user base and have a lot of free access with also knowing that putting up a paywall is going to hamstring your ability to grow?
The blame here is squarely on the people who want to use these platforms but then not explicitly support them with a monthly fee.
A very dull defense of porn. But in the end in an amoral capitalist society, someone else will provide the platform. Hopefully more drolly than this author.
5
Me thinks I detect a lot of heterosexual superiority.
7
Most people commenting here probably have never been on Tumblr. It is not just “porn”. It is a unique forum where one can follow others’ self-published blogs and curate their own feed of images and gifs. As a middle-aged woman, it has allowed me to open up my sexuality in a way that is personalized and avoids the disgusting, male-centered approach to porn that objectifies women. There is currently no alternative that offers this. The images I find are erotic, beautiful, classy, feature women with normal bodies and adults engaging in healthy, consensual sexuality. I also connect with my husband on a blog we share and it has added playfulness and new dimensions to our sex life. If you are not a sexual person or are only interested in “vanilla” sex, that’s fine. Lots of us out there want more. Tumblr could have dealt with the problematic issues with little effort. This is a massive loss.
53
@Julia -Tasteful or not- it's sex online- then it's porn....Tumblr is a free image factory of the internet so it's hard to miss. It started as a visual forum for artists so I would say you are the ones who have taken it over. I think Tumblr is doing the right thing by getting their brand back. For you without years of the internet, it might be adding sexual inspiration but for many young people it has become their source of sexuality and has made real world interactions difficult.
4
A massive loss. Wow, the liberal mindset has found ways to infiltrate our moral belief system, yes... a moral belief system is based upon putting someone else’s needs before mine...amongst many other things. We as a society need to find and maintain boundaries, not for the few, but the society as a whole. It is a healthy social exercise to restrict certain behaviors on the thought that it may offend others. Is it more important to you that my 12 year old may be exposed to pornography than for you and your partner to have the excitement this brings you? Please. Today’s society brings with it deeper responsibilities than in the past, asking the adults to sharpen our pencils and be less selfish and more selfless. A little decorum and insight will produce a happier and healthier society anyway. There is something to be said, for resisting temptation, adds a little spice. Not full on indulgence.
5
@Julia L I've been on tumblr and I'm middle aged and I'm familiar with the content of tumblr. tumblr has a reputation for allowing a lot of images that are extremely violent, (which could be acts of real violence done against someone, against their will- I'm not talking about lite BDSM) and child pornography. If the company decides they don't want the responsibility of managing that kind of content, which is available to a lot of teen and preteen users who also use the site, then they can. It's responsible and reasonable. I suggest that someone else create the site to manage the kind of content tumblr is trying to rid itself of. Let's see how long they can do it without getting sued out of business. Otherwise, I think it's reasonable for someone to create a site like the one Ms. Powell feels is needed. tumblr's content is way off the charts and loosely monitored, if at all. I support this decision.
1
What is pornography?
Algorithm: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it. . " (--- United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, 1964)
'Twas ever thus. Although now it is AI at the helm foisting its ill-informed, erroneous, prudish and overweaning decisions on what you may or may not read or see. It was wrong then, and it's wrong now.
What strikes me most about this article is the lack of humanity in tech companies. This lack of humanity is what drives tech companies to show no backbone when facing the puritanical forces of the Dark Ages that still inform our monied overlords. The other side of this is that tech companies cannot fathom the need to actually hire enough humans to do the job of policing their products, instead they are using AI because the lords of Silicon Valley don't understand the old maxim, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." AI is no fix for human judgement. Well, at least not yet. It will take a lot longer for AI to "judge" pornography because there actually is no legal definition that works now that our society recognizes the idea that humans are not sexually binary. Our community-based definition of pornography further complicates the process, and instead of embracing and promoting tolerance, Verizon is retreating because it is what their institutional investors want.
Looks like the Left is now the moral majority, LOL.
5
Literally I went to tumblr to find all my queer, non-normative, weird, and kinky porn curated by my all fellow queer, non-normative weird and kinky comrades out there. Which, mind you, I have a hard time finding on the "big box stores" of the internet porn world, like pornhub.
This makes me sad. :(
5
If only there were some other way to find LGBT pornography on the Internet!
7
@Nick, if only! :)
There is NO shortage of porn on the Internet...
4
When they ban the Nazi content, I'll congratulate them.
8
In the 90s, Barnes and Noble started creating public spaces inside its stores, like libraries, except they were private. They made rules not subject to any review except the market: you don't like it, you don't have to go. But if the new "library" is a private space, saying you don't have to go is not true.
Facebook and tumblr are privately run public spaces and should be controlled by the public interest. Sadly, our government and many of our people are obsessed with liberty at the expense of equality and fraternity. This imbalance causes a lot of our sorrows.
2
Americans: puritan and paranoid. A nipple scares the bejeesus out of you. LOL
4
All or nothing!
2
Prudishness is a sneaky vice.
4
I say this every time the question of banning anything on social media comes up: you don't have any rights to these platforms. They could ban you specifically, for no reason at all, if they wanted to. They don't even owe us a reason. They're private companies, and their products don't have to assist any communities or even comply with laws around hate speech or basic rights. Until that changes, stop complaining.
Secondly, this entire topic shouldn't be up for debate. The damage child porn does to children (who then grow up) is worse than the damage done by removing sex positive spaces. The algorithms used by social media companies to filter out the vile from the personal preference are not sophisticated enough yet and won't be for years if not decades. So if the cost of protecting children and vulnerable individuals from violence and permanent smearing through negative pornography is finding a different space to live your sexuality, that's really not a problem to complain about.
What kind of adults are we? Imagine explaining to a future victim of child porn that you advocated for porn's existence on tumblr because you needed positive images of lesbian sex. Yeah I didn't think so.
8
So create a new platform.
1
There's always Newgrounds.
1
Interesting also that Tumblr has decided to ban "adult content" yet hate speech and white nationalist imagery is apparently still easy to find. It seems to me that violently bigoted and hateful rhetoric and imagery is much more harmful to the society at large, than imagery and text related to consensual sexual practices by adults, and images of the adult body. The United States really needs to discard its outmoded, puritanical views about consensual adult sexuality. It's absurd, and psychologically harmful, to construct a society that sees normal, healthy sexual behavior as "bad" unless, of course, it's used to sell something.
6
I think banning is great! Is show the true colors of the company and now allows for a NEW start-up to take over and create something fantastic!
Let the entrepreneurial spirit begin!
4
No good deed goes unpunished?
Like there are no other platforms for self-produced porn on the web, or gay people hooking up. Why is every issue now framed as some subversive attack on the LBTQ community - the constant complaints are are unfounded as the right’s ridiculous war on Christmas. The black and gay Don Lemon exploits every opportunity to claim that there are hordes of barbarians in America who spend their time devising ways to harm minorities and the LBGT community. The truth is no one really cares what race, sexual orientation, or self identified gender anyone is anymore, and the sooner we all stop giving credence to the false narrative that there is any actual threats to or hate of these groups the better.
4
This new puritanism is hypocritical and plain pathetic. It is a shame that the simple act of being nude is once again relegated to the fringes. A spineless decision on Tumblr's part, for all of the reasons laid out in this column and more.
5
There are plenty of places with walls, doors and roofs where people of any kind can find support, company, and pleasure in the company of like-minded individuals. . A web page displaying graphic sexual activity, to which anyone can have access just by ticking a box saying 'Im whatever age...' is a different matter. Why should eight-year olds have access to hard-core violent porn?
5
The involvement of a major consumer tech company like Verizon (which now owns Yahoo, which owns Tumblr) is always likely to be problematic for sexual expression. A giant consumer company like Verizon naturally needs to be bland and non-controversial. The more entreprenurial people among Tumbler porn producers should build their own social site, and maybe make a fortune doing so. And if they want it to be clean of the worst features of male porn, so be it. Why depend on Verizon?
4
Perhaps all us pervs and general weirdos should just build a network of poorly crafted "home" pages linked across the internet like it's 1996? Post whatever makes us happy. I'd welcome it.
2
Being European I am slightly bemused and confused about that deep rooted “ nipple paranoia” you Americans seem to have. Can somebody please explain to me what this is all about ?
1
@Antonio Interesting, I live in the USA and I'm also bemused, I've never run into "nipple paranoia" here.
Don't worry folks, there are plenty of other porn sites (so I heard)!
3
HmmmmmWow. THIS sexual content is ‘Good’ because it helps a Specific minority group explore Their sexuality? Exceptionalism much? Isn’t anyone - even a Straight White Male(!) - entitled to explore their sexuality safely, consentually, and privately? I stongly support the idea of controlled access to this material, but I smell hipocracy at the notion that it’s because some group or another has been marginalized. Positive, respectful, consentual, enjoyable sexuality is simply not the Exclusive purvey of the LGB+ community. But I guess the NYT can find safe cover in that rainbow cloak.
3
I’m not a rainbow-cloaked entity—I’m a real, breathing, 61 year-old gay man. Not your stereotypical lgbt label.
No one owes me anything—it is a private company and they can do what they want—and I can express my garden and cats elsewhere.
@NY-er
This sounds similar to when Vine was shut down - people were saying the move was racist because Vine was popular with black people (clearly not popular enough since it was a failing platform!), so obviously this was a racial vendetta.
Oh please. Who cares? There are a gazillion porn sites out there. Just how does tumblr banning it hurt anyone? Bottom line is it, like Facebook, tumblr is private. They can, and will, do what they want. Don’t like it? Start your own social network platform.
3
So now porn is "essential"?!? And somehow a private company is obligated to provide this "service" because some individuals consider digital images and a pretend "community" "essential"?!?
Porn is shown to be an obstacle to forming and maintaining real, person-to-person relationships - which really are essential to humans individually and as communities and societies.
Our First Amendment rights to free speech do not guarantee a platform for everyone or anyone - only the right to be free from government oppression or prosecution. The NY Times is not obligated to publish my comment or the opinion piece I'm commenting on.
Likewise, Tumblr is not obligated to carry porn or anything else. Tumblr is a business and it made a business decision.
If you really believe the porn on Tumblr is essential to you, create your own site or platform.
6
No private enterprise should be obligated to provide pornographic content.
6
No wonder no one talks about Tumblr anymore.
Tumblr doesn't even seem to know what it is good at and a wholesale porn ban is just lame. It moves their brand to the pale beige of Docker's pants and a night out at Denny's.
3
Sooooo long been good to know ya, Tumblr.
1
...and those people in Syria think THEY have problems!
7
Anything that is disadvantageous to morally twisted people can't be all bad.
1
Why complain when a social media company takes responsibility for the content it posts? Tumblr has no greater obligation to post what it considers porn than does the New York Times. Good for Tumblr.
3
Is it possible that Hobby Lobby bought controlling interest in Tumbler ?
Tumblr is a private company and gets to censor or ban whatever they want. Now according to you it's Tumblr's duty to provide some "safe space" for people? No. They get to manage their company and the content they show in whatever way they please. If people in whatever community want a platform that doesn't ban pornography in order to show whatever content they want, they can make their own platform then! Why don't they code and start a company and fill this niche that is now clearly created by this ban, and fulfill this need they have for themselves and their community? Stop victimizing people that are users and consumers of somebody else's work, who haven't put a single spec of effort to contribute to the creation of it. Very simple, this is America, Tumblr is a private company, they're not committing an illegal act or discriminating against anyone. They're simply running their company as they see fit. Whoever doesn't like it can stop using it, use an alternative, or make their own. I support any private institutions' right to conduct business within the constraints of the law without being attacked or criticized because some people want to masturbate publicly and now they're sad. Pornography isn't a crime and it is perfectly legal. if you want to do it, see it, participate in it, or any combination of the above well be my guest and go ahead. But no private company has a duty to provide the means for you to do it. You have to find your own means. Nobody is censoring you.
4
Just remember: Tumblr has banned pornography, but not white supremacists, Nazis, alt rights, etc.
Do you know where the power lies, and who pulls the strings?
3
All this nonsense about safe spaces on Tumblir. Give me a break, I liked it because it had adult content. Naked women. Lesbians. And... surprise surprise, lesbians liked it too!?!!! It’s mild porn. So what? The hypocrisy of this action is astonishing. Can we just admit that we all love sex and viewing sexually provocative gifs and photos is about as likely to cause you harm than say, that loaded gun in your closet. Look, don’t touch.
1
As a gay man who enjoys looking at porn I am happy to see this change on Tumblr. This nonsense about self expression and limiting people’s free speech... I mean come on. You can’t do that clothed? There are thousands of free amateur porn sites for people to freely upload videos to express themselves in anyway they see fit.
In a way it was sad to see Tumblr turned into a filth site, especially with all the young people who use tumblr. It was so easy to accidentally stumble on extreme graphic images and videos.
36
@N How did you "accidentally" stumble on graphic images? You only see blogs you sign up for. They could have put "Adult content warnings" like some places (BlogSpot) do, but just banning outright?
Anyway, EVERYBODY knows that porn will find a way on the internet, and Tumblr will use a large chunk of its user base and be left with little old ladies talking about making doilies, I guess. Interestingly, they have not banned the Nazi or White Power sites; I guess we see which they consider more dangerous.
10
@N You're a man, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you so readily dismissed (female) self expression as nonsense. Women like me loved tumblr for this freedom. It's not about you or for you.
5
All advertiser-funded media needs advertisers. This imposes constraints that are absent on user-funded media.
"The decision has taken away an essential platform for some women and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community."
If the piece read, "The decision has taken away an essential platform for some women and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT WORKER community."
Then we would really be onto something!
Are you ever planning to contribute to something meaningful here?
2
The real problem is developing a reliance on sites that provide a service for free. They can do what they want, whenever they want, and you get what you pay for.
5
If some people want a site for "self-expression" (i.e., what other people would call pornography), I'm all for it.
Create your own platform. Do it yourself. It's a free country.
10
I've read the majority of these comments and most are ranting about the LGBT community thirst for porn -- and good riddance to bad rubbish. That wasn't my experience at all and I followed 100s of women. The women I followed posted amazing drawings of women in love, both clothed and nude and they were happy. They also posted stories about their lives, their loves, and new fiction (much of it fan fiction) about two women falling in love and living great lives. That's all going away now now that Tumblr is shutting out one of the few place lesbian and bisexual women could post their art. I'm really sad about this.
49
@Sasha Love
That's nice, but think about the greater good.
Find a separate platform.
3
@Sasha Love
Tumblr provides a unique outlet. Indeed the sites I enjoy the most are more like classical sculpture or art installations. I attended a Rodin exhibit at the Metropolitan in January. I’m quite sure many of his sculptures of nude men would be obscene to some people. But here’s the deal. They don’t need to use Tumblr and I don’t need to attend their church. As a gay man I will miss this platform
4
@SCZ Banning porn is not a "greater good "it is just tightning repression of sex. Young men who could one easily satisfy their urges at home and neither spread nor pick up and disease will be more tempted to go out hook up and have sex with a stranger to satisfy the urge. That type of behavior was a primary factor that helped spread AIDS quickly in the gay community back in the 80's.
3
Anyone who is pro-porn is either addicted or producing. Porn hurts and degrades women, and destroys the gift of our sexuality. Period.
14
Your opinion is of your own awareness. Other's have differing opinions and levels of awareness of multiple factors involved.
2
The problem is much deeper than that. The problem includes flawed, control-driven sexual mores first promulgated by religion and a failure to understand that there are real differences between the sexes for reasons concerning survival of the species. Some of those differences are not exactly laudable and some are favored over others for control-oriented reasons. This applies to *both* sides.
Sexism flows both ways quite freely.
3
@Greg
Period?
I disagree completely. Period.
2
Trying to parse meaning in Tumblr’s decision is a waste of time. There is no higher purpose here. This isn't about porn or protecting children or seeking a more virtuous internet. This is only about money and power.
The Evangelical voting block that rails against any sex that isn’t sanctioned by Karen Pence demands that their sycophants in government put an end to free internet porn along with LGBT rights and abortion. Their Congressional go-fers then dutifully report to the reigning monarch of the USA, Mitch McConnell, who, in finding yet another avenue to advance the Republican stranglehold on America, makes sure that word finds its way to the big corporations who, beholden to deregulation and tax cuts, must toe the line -- whatever line of the moment that will produce the most votes from The Base, make the most profit for the company and, in the event of Liberal opposition, be guaranteed an easy pass by the Curia of Pius XII (a.k.a. The Supreme Court).
Telecommunications companies have always been vulnerable to government pressure, so a giant like Verizon gets the message loud and clear. When they buy a new piece of furniture like Tumblr, they prove their fealty to the real masters of this nation by having their new acquisition fumigated and made acceptable to the Court, to McConnell, to the Extreme Right, and to the Evangelicals and Religious Liberty lovers.
There is no higher purpose here. It’s all part of the plan!
6
"self-expression, discovery and connection."
Isn't *all* pornography self-expression, discovery, and connection??
So why is the LGBTetc community singled out for exceptions? Hypocrisy, that's why. Rules are rules.
9
"Can Tumblr’s artificial intelligence tell the difference between a curated page of visual erotica and violent sexual imagery the same way a trained human could? "
The problem is that humans can't do this job either. There are already humans who are tasked with sifting through Facebook images and they are forced to endure viewing some of vilest, most unconscionable imagery - sexual or otherwise - that no one, no matter how liberal in outlook, would tolerate. It causes PTSD-like symptoms. It isn't a matter of efficiency, it's a matter of it simply not being technologically OR humanly possible to weed through all images. That is why we have community standards and norms and fences. Inevitably, some people who shouldn't be policed are going to get hurt.
Tumblr has become a cesspool. I used to use it for lighthearted things and I appreciated the social justice aspect of it as well. But when you can't log on without hardcore porn (with females of questionable ages) showing up unbidden, it's time to put the brakes on.
Let's go back to the good old days of Times Square being a cesspool too, I'm sure a lot of people found liberation and freedom there... but is that really the city everybody wanted? Maybe the current Times Square isn't either, but then again, maybe the bohemians should start reclaiming public space and not just virtual hideouts.
7
@Jen
You logged onto Tumblr and were shown porn without looking for it? That has not been my experience at all. I suspect you may have some kind of computer malware. Tumblr does not display porn to people just logging onto the site.
2
@T. Monk Yes, I was shown porn because people in my stream, who I had followed earlier, decided to repost it. Silly me. The problem is that Tumblr used to be a much tamer community that had interesting people (LGBTQ included) who weren't obsessed with porn. At the end of the day, Tumblr runs the servers and pays the bills for the servers and also is legally liable for storing underage and possibly illegal material on their servers. Maybe some people out there just need to get offline and GROW UP.
The sad truth is that as large companies own and regulate our shared space our discourse and our values will be pressed into the most banal and regressive moral frame possible the corporate profit motive.
there's no surprise that the absolute worst of America--the reduction of all people, values and goals to their use as a productive thing-- is the defining character of the developed and regulated internet and globalism as a whole.
it's a sad thing, honestly, to be as small and useful as America would tell you you are.
3
Must we be subjected to that tired old chestnut, that women find self-expression in pornography? And how sick are we as a culture that marginalized groups like LGBT feel their visibility depends on self-exploitation via pornography?
What's invisible here, as true power always is, is that it is primarily men who consume pornography. It is their "rights" that are at stake here, not those of women and LGBTs.
Of course, a woman had to write this op-ed. That's part of routine, too.
9
@CFB I prefer the more revealing observation that porn is hated by the ugliest 99% of the female population.
That’s the point. Tumblr facilitated women and LGBTQ produced and centered porn which is vastly different from male produced (usually degrading to women) porn.
2
@CFB
"Self-exploitation"? Really? Is that even possible? Is going to work and getting paid to sit in an office "self-exploitation? That's a very odd concept.
"If I didn't have selective indignation, I wouldn't have no indignation at all."
Jessica Powell defines porn as OK as long as it provides " . . . a safe space for self-expression, discovery and connection," especially for some women and LGBTQI'ers.
This backdoor argument is as specious as the old "medical marijuana" line about alleviating suffering among the poor and countering the pharma industrial complex when in reality, it's all about money and softening the edges of a nasty industry: porn.
4
I think the key issue here is distinguishing between a female-presenting nipple and a female nipple. You get that wrong and civilization could crumble.
9
OK. Let me understand this. The problem is that it's tough to find porn in your preferred category on the Internet? Or, if you are a producer, that you can't find an outlet for your sexually explicit content? Notably amateur?
Or that there is an absence of places to explore and connect with people who share sexual preferences and identities in all varieties and flavors?
I guess I must have a different Internet service than the author's.
6
Pornography, abortion, recreational drugs, homosexuality, etc. were all very bad things when I was growing up. When did it change and who changed it?
The rhetorical question may explain the congressional delay in criminal justice reform and broader concerns about decriminalization of so-called victimless crimes.
Today, smoking a cigarette, using a plastic bag at the supermarket or a plastic straw, drinking a can of soda or even eating meat is unforgivable sin.
To my mind, Tumblr is moving in the right direction - to a simpler time when porn was not defended by good people - a time when the four letter words were not used in discourse with the opposite sex. It is not too late to clean up our act.
3
@Eugene Patrick Devany OK. You win. Anything you want. Just keep those plastic bags out oof the supermarket.
1
For those confused about why this harms the LGBTQ friendliness of Tumblr:
1) "Adult content" is a frequent excuse to flag LGBTQ content. The common presumption that mentions of LGBTQ identities and experiences are necessarily adult in nature is a big problem in online communities. See the demonitization scandal(s) on YouTube.
2) Sources for all kinds of non-LGBTQ "adult content" abound, relatively uncensored. But when LGBTQ people find a place to explore all kinds of aspects of their identity... that's what gets clamped down? Hmm.
P.S. What the heck is a female presenting nipple and how can it possibly be more inappropriate than any other nipple?
8
There are many outlets for porn on the web, so why should anyone care if a private company changes the terms of use for its platform to ban porn?
Life is too short to care about this issue.
Moreover, most likely capitalism will come to the rescue, as entrepreneurs are always looking for underserved communities.
4
Twitter does not “ban” pornography — this claim is laughable at best. Type whatever your heart desires into the search bar and you’ll see what I mean. People who want to view it can — people who don’t almost never even have a chance to see it. Without knowing the specific guidelines Twitter uses to separate porn from the mainstream tweet storms, why couldn’t Tumblr do the same thing? The answer is: bowing to external pressure, which is becoming all too common everywhere you look.
3
@Nick
Tumblr does the same thing as Twitter. If you go to their main page and try to search for porn, you will not find it. You have to know the specific URL.
This is nonsense. Believe it or not, people of all persuasions and identities can achieve community and "safe spaces" without the help of apps and internet connections.
People can express themselves as freely as they want, but posting pornographic material within reach of adolescents and children should be banned.
I believed in consenting adults' right to produce and distribute pornographic material until I researched it further. It is an industry that preys on vulnerable women and men. It is an industry with no moral compass, rife with hedonism and disgusting acts of depravity. A significant, if not majority of online pornography now portrays acts of abuse, incest, and sexual assault, in which women are depicted as happy participants in the brutality. They are manipulated and deceived into participating in this industry.
Moreover, if one cares about the Me-too movement, which I do, they cannot ignore that entire generations of young men are getting their sex education through online porn. It is no coincidence that young men move on to become sexual abusers and attackers.
People can do what ever they want with other consenting adults in the privacy of their home or "safe spaces", but online porn represents yet another disease of despair that is corrupting our youth, destroying our nation, and putting women and other vulnerable groups at risk of sexual abuse and assault.
Thank you Tumbler for removing this content.
9
I often say that I wish I could be a progressive for 10 minutes just so I could experience the false illusion of knowing everything.
Here we go again. A progressive organization, in this case Tumblr, decides to play God by censoring what can and cannot be displayed on its platform, and out come the whiners and complainers. And, not surprisingly, no one sees this as a "take or leave it" proposition, but rather demands that the platform mandate their subjective version of what is right of fair.
I grew up in a world in which freedom and liberty were extolled as our greatest virtues. If you disagreed with something you avoided it or switched your patronage. Unfortunately, we started to teach our children that freedom is dangerous because in a free world you might not get to have it your way.
Calling upon social media companies to censor content is a fool's errand. No set of censorship rules will please everyone, as Tumblr is learning in this instance. The best thing about a free world is that no one has to play God, except God.
Tumblr is a private company. If you don't like its content rules, go someplace else. But please spare us all of the whining and complaining.
2
A magical hot-take here. This isn't a 'progressive website demands censorship', this is a 'conservative parent company destroys progressive website because of money'. You should spend 10 minutes with a progressive; you might learn a thing or two
1
This contribution is so full of industrial euphemism as, almost, to obscure the point. "Policy change" which is betrayal is fraud.
4
As an actual member of the gay community, I can say that I am extremely happy that Tumblr has finally banned pornography. While I do not think that nudity is dirty or that the human body should be hidden, Tumblr allowed photographs of people without the subjects' permission. This is horrific and unacceptable. No website should ever be allowed to show a naked person without that person's explicit permission, ever. Unlike this author and like the vast bulk of the gay community, I am extremely happy that Tumblr has finally banned porn and nudity.
8
What a bizarre piece. There is nothing empowering, female or otherwise, about pornography. If a site wants to eliminate this stuff, they should be roundly applauded as standing for decency.
8
Is anyone else a little flabbergasted that the majority of commenters seem to show no regard for the fact that Tumblr is doing this because child pornography is illegal and exploitative?! In my mind this is the only—and right thing to do. I would suggest you take a really hard look at your values if your getting off is more important to you than the exploitation of children.
4
An absurd position taken by the author.
Pornography debases women and coarsens the culture of our people.
While it may make some men and some women financially well off, it condemns far more to marginal and debased quality of life.
7
You mean face box and others have band at pornography, and who is it, Tumblr just started IT’S ban? Wow! Well, with sites like craigslist you can get any kind of weird kinky stuff, so no wonder there’s so much crime & diseases spreading etc. I’m no Puritan: far from. You should hear my sailors vocabulary (multi-linguistic, even!)
1
The porn will just migrate someplace else. Another site will seize on it as an opportunity to build themselves up as a competitor to Tumblr.
Another thing sad about this is that Tumblr was relatively... repeat, relatively... free of malicious code.
1
It’s almost as if the commercial nature of social media poisons everything and consistently sabotages every effort to construct real human communities. It’s almost as if capitalism itself is incompatible with the nurturance of loving and consensual sexualities. Maybe we should overthrow it.
5
There are millions of porn sites that successfully keep child porn off their platforms. Tumblr decided doing that would be too costly, so they went the YouTube route and banned it all. Unfortunately for them, it’s likely to cause a large number of users to go elsewhere. The wonderful thing about the internet is that there’s always another site to go to.
3
Teens (including LGBTQ teens) have shifted from Facebook to Instagram to Tumblr in the past seven years, as each service in turn took steps to moderate content (and as the likelihood parents or grandparents had an account on the site(s) increased). There will always be another rising platform for porn and affirmations, just takes a while to find it.
3
There are plenty of porn sites on the internet and Tumblr was just a source that has changed direction. So what? Look for a new venue.
3
The Tumblr porn fuss raises the major issue...whether civilised countries should ban any form of porn. Hard for a grand-paw of four little tackers to come to terms with the reality of pre-pubescent kids being introduced to porn by mischievous friends lacking in parental controls. To me porn has become the moral dilemma of a new world order where anything goes. I ain't no saint but the prevalence and ease of child-access to pornography is something that should be on international agendas. Should open and frank discourse manifest in global banning, PC issues as censoring should not be the central issue. If administrations cannot guarantee that such sites can be made child-proof, then let them go to the high-moral ground and ban pornography. But perhaps it has become such an infrastructure industry, your own POTUS seems to have accepted that a porn-queen shares the same credibility space as a Hollywood Star.
5
Just cancelled tumblr...what’s the point.
2
In other words, banning porn for other people is fine, just as long that porn made for me, or for groups of people I like, is allowed.
6
I'm having trouble with the thesis that "adult content" (i.e. porn) is ok if you're in a category represented in the rainbow of LGBTQ but not ok if you're straight.
6
I am a liberal democrat. I am all for sexual freedom. But the idea that pornography is, on balance, good for anyone is nuts. Most people in sex work would not be there if they had any better choices. Consumers of porn are kidding themselves about the lives of the performers and their 'agency.'
10
Check out a lobbying group calling itself "National Center on Sexual Exploitation." They are claiming Tumblr's decision as a victory in their war on pornography. Who funds this group? It has links to EWTN, the conservative television network, and I'll bet it has connections to Evangelical sects that have friends in high places. If you get my meaning. Right wing legals have figured out a winning formula to "cleanse" us of porn: take up the banner of exploitation, and get Congress to pass overly-broad legislation; then threaten legal action unless businesses self-censor. I wonder how the underage porn got on Tumblr? Planted, then "discovered"? Those Christianists who rationalize supporting Trump could rationalize the the ends would justify the means in such a tactic. And who is next for the censors?
3
Is pornography good or bad? It seems, at least according to some feminists, that it depends entirely upon whether the audience is straight men or everyone else.
Straight men happy? Bad.
Women and LGBTQ happy? Good.
I used to scoff at people who would slur some feminists as “man-hating.”
Now I scoff less, though I would modify that to “straight man-hating.”
6
I just finished reading an article about Mr. Mark Harris. A pastor whose election (North Carolina) to the House is being contested. A good thing too! His victory, right now, is pretty shadowy, dubious.
Would I have voted for Mr. Harris? Not on your life! These days, I vote straight Democratic--registered Republican though I am.
But stuff like this--
--this is where Mr. Harris is coming from.
WHERE DOES IT STOP?
Seriously. Where does it stop?
When (thanks to our digital technology) I have the ability to SURFEIT myself with visual images depicting--
--anything. Anything at all. I do mean--ANYTHING.
What happens to a society when every--I do mean EVERY--sexual whim, fantasy, craving--
--is felt to be legitimate. An expression of who and what I am. All warning voices are angrily shushed--what's this? What's this? More American PRUDERY? Gonna drag us back to the Puritanical DARK AGES, are you?
Did I say "society"? What happens to an INDIVIDUAL--a person? With an imagination totally unbounded--I do mean TOTALLY unbounded. I can--and I will--fill my mind, my imagination, my heart with virtually ANYTHING I want. Anything at all.
Well, New York Times--I'll tell you what happens.
The society begins to disintegrate.
The individual human being begins to disintegrate.
Into a hodgepodge of warring lusts and cravings. Unchecked by the will. By the conscience. In some cases, by common sense.
Tumbir?
Let it go.
Just let it go.
2
Does it really matter, who uses this site anymore? Thought it had gone the way of MySpace.
I am thinking about this in a IRL comparison, you can’t walk into Macy’s and “explore your sexuality” in an explicit manner. You can’t do it in B&N either. You’d get arrested, the company might get sued because you did it during children’s Christmas Craft time. If you are Tumblr, you are thinking about that, and we can’t blame them.
19
@SDemocrat If you can't see understand the difference between the private act of using the internet and a public space like Macy's then maybe you should find a younger person and have them explain the internet to you.
8
@SDemocrat It's not the same, though. On Tumblr, you only see the things you want to see. You create a feed based on who you follow or what your interests are. When you go into Macy's, everything is out there, same at B&N. It's a wide-open space with curation done in a manner that doesn't block anything off. On Tumblr, the walls are up. You're only going to see erotic art or pornographic images if you set your feed in that manner. If you don't, you won't.
For example, the AI filters have already sent users removal notices for Renaissance art, because of "female-presenting nipples." Is blocking a painting by Michelangelo helpful to society? If I posted photos of my trip to Florence, I would probably see a lot of them removed too, because the sculptors didn't cover the genitalia of the men depicted. So, what this means is that people will end up self-censoring, which is harmful to society. We're already falling into a pit of cultural decline in so many ways, why would we add to it?
8
@SDemocrat: Apples and oranges, m'dear.
A false equivalence.
4
While a freedom to celebrate one's sexuality should remain a right for all, it needs to be balanced against the potential for catastrophic harm child pornography causes for its victims. On balance, this is a difficult but courageous decision to take. Efforts can and should be made to develop technology and business practices to distinguish between the two at scale, but needs to be benchmarked against the greater good of protecting children.
5
Tumblr seems to have made this decision: It is more important to protect children from sexual predators/exploitation than to provide a forum for consenting adults to engage in communication of a sexual nature. That's all. The article suggests no other motive on the part of Tumblr, except maybe that a blanket ban was a financial decision.
Yet, when I read the comments, it seems that readers are caught up in the debate about the benefits/costs of pornography. I argue that that is the wrong debate in this case. Tumblr was shown to be providing a forum that did not effectively protect children- the most vulnerable group in our society. If protecting children means that adults need to find another avenue for exploring their sexuality, so be it. It is a small price to pay for a child's safety.
Tumblr isn't the enemy- child pornography is.
19
As stated by Ms. Powell, Tumblr is not the only Internet site to ban pornography. Banning of online sexual content is happening world-wide. As extreme conservationism spreads, the thought-police begin to dominate. Enforcing sex-negativism is another way of controlling what people may and may not view and think. Putting sex back in the closet (as was the case until a short time ago) is another bad precedent. Tumblr, and other Internet sites, can surely do better to monitor content than making sweeping changes that completely eliminate content that millions enjoy.
12
As one who enjoyed sexual images on Tumblr, I have mixed feelings about the company's decision to ban expressions of nudity and sexuality on the platform. On the one hand, nudity and sex are ubiquitous on Tumblr, if that's what one is looking for. And because web surfing in Tumblr is so very easy, one can very quickly navigate to sex-related content. However, in so doing, one also may come across sites and images that are truly horrifying -- depictions of violent physical abuse, genital torture, butchery, possible murder, child porn, etc. At what point does erotic content become truly evil? I don't know, but I'm quite certain there is content on Tumblr that has crossed that line. So who could blame the Tumblr people for deciding to rid their site of such monstrous, wicked content? And if a blanket ban is the only way, then so be it. As others have observed, the content will simply spring up someplace else.
10
I have to admit that I don't understand Tumblr's business model but I enjoyed the opportunity to virtually connect with many people who shared similar interests and I will miss that deeply. There is no place for exploitative pornography and especially child pornography. But it seems a shame that a platform that was enjoyed by many will be destroyed by its inability to discern what is acceptable or not in a nuanced way. Given the proliferation of machine learning it would seem that a technological solution could be found to eliminate the unacceptable while allowing the rest of the content to survive. Tumblr has chosen not to pursue that route and time will tell if that was the right decision for them or not. As for me, I will look for another platform.
3
I think a prudish culture, and one that hasn't come to terms with the true nature of the human animal, has come out warped, in that natural sexual appetites have morphed into the degenerate side, in that people have become voyeurs, not interested in cultivating mature relationships, no matter what sliding scale of sexual interests one has. The age of digital media, has not added to human evolution, but instead, has for the most part, made us less human, less honest, less decent, and less concerned for the well being of those who as children re exposed to all of this.
9
I often define progressive liberalism as permissive and promiscuous; this is a perfect example of what I am talking about. As I have gotten older, I find the interest in pornography to be not so much immoral but childish an immature. It seems to me that adults should at some point grow out it. But for some, as demonstrated by this op-ed, it is a means of expressing who and what they are or want to be. For many people, social media is their reason to live, it is the only thing that provides meaning to their otherwise meaningless, purposeless lives, and that in itself is sad, only made wore by participation in pornography. Thank you.
12
Your former employer has done the same kind of thing. Only in different arenas. The reason is that they think they are protecting their bottom line in so doing. The greatest "pornography" of all is the self-righteous lie. When Google proclaimed that "they would do not evil", I knew they were frauds. Facebook, lather, rinse, repeat.
3
"There is, of course, a big difference between child pornography and adult content"- not sure that this is true..unfortunately, the line between what constitutes child pornography and adult pornography may be clear in the minds of users, but I'm sure there is pornography that includes quite young-appearing participants, and policing the age/consent of participants of web content is likely a nightmare and nearly impossible. I think it's a stretch to see a ban on pornography as marginalization of an underserved community.
9
The idea that a pornography-permissive Tumblr empowers marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ community and women is ludicrous. The last two decades of objectification theory research has consistently shown that sexual objectification is detrimental to whomever is being objectified. And any form of pornography, even pornography for women, involves objectification. Porn centers upon the sexual act; not the sexual person. That's an important distinction Ms. Powell seems to overlook.
12
@K.S. Hughes
Objectification theory research? At risk of missing the author's intended sarcasm, the idea that there is any actual research being done on objectification is ridiculous. To start with, there is no way anyone who is claiming to do these studies is impartially analyzing data and drawing conclusions based on the data. Without that, the entire field is a joke. I would believe the tobacco-sponsored scientists' lung cancer results more. At least they might actually have data.
Sexual expression (including porn) is the right of every adult worldwide to indulge in, and it should be free of censorship as a matter of principle. Still, I also believe that there should be greater age constraints over accessing this content. I freely admit without a tinge of guilt that I've viewed adult content on Tumblr and watch porn when I choose to. Still, it's impossible to expect that adults or parents can monitor access that minors might have to view the same content that I, an adult, can. "Parental controls" are insufficient. Likewise child porn is and should be illegal and whomever posts should be reported to the authorities but the answer is not to remove all access because some abuse but rather to punish the abusers and leave the rest of us alone. What sort of technology is needed to do this I don't know as I'm speaking from a
free speech" viewpoint and not a tech one. Perhaps some sort of universal ID that allows the user's identity to remain anonymous to individual websites but that require some sort of age confirmation to obtain could work. Limiting access and pursuing illegal activity is fine and I support and there must be a way through technology to do this. But removing access, as Tumblr has, simply means that I canceled my account and will find whatever legal content every adult should be able to view elsewhere.
I find it completely ridiculous for people to claim that Tumblr is a "safe and positive" place to share sexual content. Anyone has access to whatever images you post there. That includes children of all ages, and people who are freely sharing, downloading, printing out, etc.---your explicit images for whatever purpose they want, both positive and negative.
If so many people really have this need to validate their sexuality with others on the internet, there should be a more rational and mature way to do so. Tumblr has decided they don't want to risk their exposure to the negatives such content can cause, and made a simple business decison.
Rather than sit around complaining and slapping the label of censorship on this, nothing is stopping anyone from creating their own websites designed to specifically host such content.
10
Three thoughts on this:
First, all of us have been born naked, so why are we so obsessed with covering up naked bodies? I have no problem with flower power and nudity. Here a controversial thought: this obsession about nudity suspiciously coincides with the emergence of the obesity epidemic. I wonder whether this is a psychological manifestation of people's dislike of their own bodies which they now project onto others to protect their own self-image.
Second, if the LGBTQ community finds it hard to survive without practicing its exhibitionism on Tumblr, how did they survive in the predigital age?
Third, child pornography: I am sorry about a society that seems to be unable to see the difference between criminal child abuse and pictures of a 2 year old in the bath tub. A society that is losing its common sense perspective on such simple and clear-cut matters will not be able to survive the lethal challenges that lie ahead for mankind and the planet.
3
The backlash is unnecessary. Are there no other platforms to which adult tumblrs can migrate? For what it’s worth a good many of such content creators have already decamped to Twitter.
It is well overdue because of the presence of truly foul content. That they don’t have the AI to sieve out such content should not be the reason animal, child abuse stays up on their site. The answer cannot be ‘oh let’s let it languish while we improve our AI’ as some seem to imply.
I think it’s clear those prognosticating the demise of tumblr only use it for that one purpose and perhaps aren’t aware of the many great non-porn communities out there.
2
I like pornography. The human body and sex are central and primary expressions of humanity. And yes that even includes pornography. America is saddled with a Puritanism even now after several hundred years.
5
Viewing pornography has been scientifically proven to be so harmful to humans that ethical review boards now refuse to permit research experiments that expose people to porn. We should be worried about the extraordinary damage that this industry causes, not bemoaning how it has gotten more difficult for some groups to hurt themselves.
6
Lets see those sources
1
With due respect, I disagree. It may be fair to argue that folks in marginalized gender or sexual orientation groups feel safe on Tumblr, but why would they feel unsafe if their use of the app doesn't involve posting pornographic material? One does not follow from the other. They can meet, chat, and if they choose to explore their sexuality with each other, meet up in reality.
I, for one, support any move to remove pornographic material from online sources because it ultimately cannot be kept from children and teenagers. I am a liberal who believes consensual sexual activity is always ok. I also recognize that the porn industry in America is anything but benign.
It is an industry that preys on vulnerable women and men. It manipulates and exploits these individuals in their ruthless pursuit of profit. Porn is made in the context of human sexual trafficking, and any who believes in the me-too movement, which I do, must recognize that the epidemic of sexual abuse and assault is not merely coincidentally connected to online porn depicting incest, abuse, and assault - usually with women portrayed as being happily objectified in the brutality.
That's my say. No group needs to post pornographic images to "feel safe". I'm no puritanical religious person. I simply recognize that porn is the precursor of dangerous and abusive behaviors.
7
I'm not sure that I completely understand what the author is driving at. Is she saying that a woman who posts a naked woman is acceptable, but a man doing the same thing is not?
If a man posts a video of a sexual act it is beyond the pale, but a woman doing the same thing has a right to?
1
If this was a site for men, it would be denounced and the users called 'perverts'. But because it is a 'protected constituent', it is a place for 'reflection and connection'.
I don't care if its there or not but the hypocrisy is obvious.
7
The problem with LGBTQ rights is that they use their rights as a masque to introducing fringe depravity into the mainstream. I could not care less about the sexual orientation of various people as long as they are DECENT and not in your face, with consideration for the community at large.
9
Jessica Powell has a good sense of humour, but come on NYT, certain weighted opinions should just be kept out of the public domain...
This was the right choice to make, and Tumblr should be duly recognized for it's decision.
The LGBTQ or whatever community can always set up its own dedicated porn hub - with and for adults only.
And, there is always the healthier option - get out and exercise to improve your sex experiences, social interactions and life perspectives - mens sana in corpore sano.
5
When I read an opinion like this, it reaffirms my political status as "independent." This is one subject where some right-wing conservatives seem more appealing than left-wing libertines.
Greed, lust, gluttony ... I find them all repellent.
Just MY opinion.
7
I wonder what folks would say if there were an article saying that bars should not be make smoke-free because people in minority X smoke a lot and sitting in bars is a safe space for them to talk about their favorite tobaccos.
That sounds ridiculous, but this is pretty much the same thing. Just like smoking, porn is addictive and bad for you. Just like how second-hand smoke causes illness in other people, porn on Tumblr hurts those who unwittingly run across it, especially children. I can hear the chorus of people rising to defend it as harmless or even helpful. Science says otherwise. It is established in psychology that it is damaging.
It is hypocrisy to condemn climate change deniers for ignoring science and then go and do the same thing. Climate change activists frequently say, "Science doesn't care what you believe." This entire conversation has taken it for a given that porn is ok; it seems like no one has bothered to look at the research or talk to a scientist, many just came to a cultural consensus about it. Just like groups of climate change deniers do. Don't be a science denier like they are.
11
Tumblr is a for-profit entity, right? People who watch/use it pay for it, right? If porn is what they want to pay to watch it’s no business of mine to take away Tumblr’s business model or restrict the watchers right to spend their money as they wish.
All Tumblr has done is render itself irrelevant, the latest MySpace. For all the puritanical clucking about porn and the Internet, I’ve not heard one person who supports Tumblr’s ban say they will now use the service more. For those who want to a place to express their sexuality, and/or make some money off it, the Internet will continue to provide a wide variety of options. The circle of life continues.
4
Sex is fun and wonderful. As long as the Church considers sex to be "dirty" and in wraps there will be a market for Porn. People tend to love stuff that is salacious and dirty and nasty. Lets start by changing our attitude towards sex and talk about it freely. It is a natural act, and there is no need to hide it. We are all products of sex. Porn will disappear on its own.
3
Well, all porn should be banned, so this is a positive step. Until we can reinstate bans on pornography, it should be excluded from mainstream platforms. At the very least, this posion should be hard to find. We live in a country in which ten year olds can easily watch hardcore porn and we have the audacity to call ourselves civilized. We now know what porn does to the brain, we know that it mimics heroin in terms of its addictive nature, we know it’s impact on erectile dysfunction, and yet our laws have not changed one jot since getting this information. Good for Tumblr, they should have done this years ago.
3
We ban what we crave the most.
3
There is a strange assumption in this piece that is never explained. Why would any adult, whether gay, straight or trans need to use pornography as means of personal self expression?
Art of every sort and variety of sexual interests has existed for centuries and continues to exist as representations of sexuality and erotic interests.
From what I've read these modes of expression are still available and people of any sexual interest or expression are free to use them. So leave pornography out of this system. There's certainly enough of it elsewhere.
5
I think this provides a chilling example of the effects that laws like SESTA/FOSTA will continue to have at the medians. Public law attempts to moderate social media platforms even in limited capacity have a tendency to paint in broad brush strokes, with little regard for collateral effects. SESTA's basis in “knowing facilitation” creates unclear obligations, and companies like Tumblr are not interested and not willing in internalizing the risk that more nuanced policies like the author suggests will alleviate their risk of liability. Expecting corporate responsibility from Verizon/OATH/Tumblr (or any other firm) to take the place of a more nuanced approach to regulation is a recipe for disaster.
5
Is one to believe that the only way to provide a positive place for diverse communities is to allow them to post pornographic images or video of themselves? It appears the problem lies with the aforementioned "diverse" communities and not censorship.
14
@Wolfran: precisely! the internet is a very big, very deep ocean and there are plenty of OTHER PLACES to find porn and naked pictures and erotica about the various sexual proclivities loved by lefties. Nobody is going to be forced to sit in church listening to hymns. You can all stop angsting now.
1
Unless I misunderstand it, this is an example of the kind of complication the debate over internet content doesn't need and can't afford. All discussions about policy and specific content, not just this one, are far afield. There is no good way to address any of those issues by policy. Every attempt to do do so invites government regulation of speech—the last thing anyone should want for the internet.
Instead, recognize that all privately owned internet platforms are private publishers, with the same rights and powers to determine their own content as ink-on-paper publishers have always enjoyed. And also with the same liabilities.
Doing that would create major changes on the internet. It would create a practical requirement that all publishers read everything before publishing, just as traditional publishers must still do. That, in turn, would strike at the foundation of monopolistically-trending social media giants, which would be a good thing. Their oversized presence has stifled choices, and is now being seen to reduce the ability of potential competitors to deliver different points of view, and to serve the needs of more-various authors.
Only privately managed, non-monopolistic publishing is compatible with the needs of a democratic nation. It's a model which history has vindicated, and to which the internet should now return.
3
Back the 60s, the slogan was "Make love not war." Evidently, the pendulum has swung to the opposite side when the cultural reactionaries are increasingly seeking to control people's mind after they have seized the nation's capitols.
This is not to say some porn have serious problems. After all, there are good porn, bad porn, mindless porn and sick porn. And true, many are associated with nefarious activities. But as Justice Potter Stewart said, "I know it when I see it" is a better yardstick.
In the era of same sex marriage, do you still expect people to meet at truck stops? On the internet, hate is worse than porn.
1
Private companies do not get to do whatever they choose with regard to free speech. More than half a century ago, the Supreme Court said that banning protesters from privately-owned, publicly accessible areas through simple property rights was unconstitutional (Logan Valley). There are tons of simple solutions. Allowing users to configure their profiles to indicate they don't to see adult images is the most obvious. Why can't they find a solution that allows free speech without censoring? Because they want to censor.
3
Sorry, but the Constitution only prohibits the government from banning speech: private corporations can make decisions based on their business needs. It’s not censorship when Barnes and Noble decides not to carry a book in its stores, and it’s not censorship when Tumblr decides to disallow adult content.
6
@ERT The First Amendment does not apply only to restrictions on speech by government. Banning speech by arbitrary use of private property rights is unconstitutional. Food Employees v. Logan Valley Shopping Center, 1968.
I think the article dances around a central, uncomfortable reality: most of the "adult" content at issue on Tumblr is being curated and shared by teens, not legal adults. It is obvious that most humans are going to be exploring their sexuality before they are adults in the eyes of the law, and it is also important that there be safe spaces for them to do so, as their sexual identity is being explored and formed, hopefully in ways that will make them healthy adults with healthy relationships to their sexuality rather than producing unprocessed fear, repression and trauma that will define their adult lives. But how are we to police that? Tumblr obviously decided that the possiblity of getting sued for abetting the circulation of child pornography trumps any other benefits. We want to protect our kids, but we also don't know how to acknowledge their sexuality and allow them to explore it in a safe way in this online world.
15
Its this dystopia we have created by encouragment or laziness in dropping the ball on real life human connections
1
Umm, what’s stopping them from going to any other porn site?
@Jax very little is stopping them, of course. But Tumblr is a space where individual users have/had more control, allowing them individual expression. Much better than the brutal fare that is the norm on mainstream porn sites. I'm saying it's a shame there are not more spaces for that kind of expression, but we have to come to terms with it as a culture.
1
Despite everything people know about digital platforms, or should know about them, they continue to act as if they're digital analogs to public spaces. Nothing could be farther from the truth. These are privately owned for-profit platforms. What people believe they're losing with the Tumblr ban is something they never had the right to in the first place.
As a criminal and civil rights attorney who spends his career arguing on behalf of constitutional rights, I support anyone who feels outrage at the Tumblr ban, but to the extent they believe they're fighting for some right denied by Tumblr, they're simply wrong.
In February 2017 white nationalist Richard Spencer was removed from a Washington, D.C. hotel after a many of other people staying their confronted him for expressing his racist beliefs. The reaction throughout the far-right was outrage at Spencer's "free speech rights" being violated. They weren't. Spencer was holding impromptu racist discussions in the hotel bar. Restrictions on an individual's free-speech on private property do not involve state action and are therefore subject to limitations owners set. Private business owners get to decide the rules of conduct, so Spencer's rights were in no way violated.
Those using Tumblr have even less rights than Spencer had. The Washington, D.C. bar could not initially deny Spencer entry because under the Constitution it is a public accommodation. Tumblr does not even meet the definition of a public accommodation.
19
While Tumblr, an entity I am not familiar with, is free to control content, the Net is a big place.
I suggest teens wishing to discuss their sexuality find a) a nationstate where the “Romeo & Juliette” laws, which make it legal for sexually mature “minors” to consent to sex acts with each other extends to conversation as well.
Start a NotForProfit corporation in US and other nations to fund the site, and go for it.
Shrdlu has a close relative who had a hideous childhood because, as he would discover in high school, the apparent sexuality of his body was not the one he was mentally wired for.
He and his husband-to-be are now a very loving couple.
If he had discovered what he was years earlier, he would have found happiness earlier.
His mom’s attitude was her child looked XX and behaved XX and talk about things straight XX.
After all everyone in the family had at least seemed happily straight and oriented (hey, I am).
But she was confused because when I gave him (he prefers current ID to describe him in past) I didn’t give Barbies, etc. but gifts like arts n crafts stuff, lots of old-style Lego that didn’t tell you how to play with it, never a gender-based or movie-tie-in toy - stuff that let a creative kid create as suited.
When he started changing, I gave him my ‘gay kite’ a fantastic nylon stack kite I bought myself for 1% of its original price because the seller couldn’t move a kite that formed a rainbow-Imagine how hung up us boomers have become if we find rainbows bad.
Does anyone else think you can replace the phrase "[...] none of that alters an equally important but less-visible problem: When tech companies tackle large-scale problems with large-scale solutions, underrepresented groups are often further marginalized as a result," with "with limited exception, none of that alters an equally important but less-visible problem: When anything happens anywhere under any circumstance, underrepresented groups are often further marginalized as a result"?
2
Oh, but the LGBT community IS a community that the people opposed to adult content is trying to hurt and has been trying to erase for decades. I think this was quite intentional on Verizon, Tumbr's owner's, part. I hope Tumblr crashes and burns because of this given the law of unintended consequences.
12
Go back to the biggest selling SF collection ever, ‘Dangerous Visions’ and read the afterward on “If All Men are Brothers, Would You Let Your Sister Marry One?”. The author of the tale has a downright excellent method for dealing with those whose morality says sex is, as Carlin said “man-on-top-get-it-over-with-quick.”
Oh it’s a great way to burn down “proper morals” people, afraid sexually oriented material might get into “children’s hands”.
Too long to post here.
1
This reminds me of the local government here where they plant these beautiful trees and end up butchering them in, claiming they needed to be trimmed and never say why or hire anyone who knows how to do a decent job of it.
Tumblr was a good idea but now it's being maimed in the name of some obscene notion of censorship. Putting the censoring into the hands of account holders, allowing them to filter and control what is seen and allowing kid accounts, replete with filter controls, is a better way to accountability back into the hands of parents and out of the heavy, reactionary hands of a business which has no real solution other than going full Mickey Mouse.
Bad move Yahoo, just like the millions of hacked email accounts.
2
"Similarly, many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community have said the adult content on Tumblr provided a space to connect with those with similar interests and to explore sexuality without judgment."
I love the word "many." It is estimated that 3% of the US population is gay, which is about 10 million people. "Many" could mean 100,000 people (two sold out Yankee games), but that represents just 1% of the gay population.
We need to get rid of the word "many" in many instances.
32
Surveys among high school and college aged kids suggest that 7 to 8 percent of the population identifies as gay. The 3 percent figure you site is from old surveys that people regularly misrepresented themselves in because of fear of being exposed...a fear that is not as relevant today. Put quite simply, your 3 percent figure is wrong.
The gay population is a significant contributing part of society and should be respected as such.
5
What a perfectly empty criticism
1
I personally take issue with the fact that the lens on this is "poor LGBTQ folks, NOW where will they get their porn"? Truth be known, this platform is used for porn by straight men 10:1. Tumblr is saving their internet behinds by removing porn altogether because of the child porn incident. So, instead of acting in a way that benefits many communities, you react because you got too greedy, too fast. Now people are claiming victimship because they can't scroll past as many penises as they want in 12 seconds? Please. Get a hobby. A life. A passion. I deleted my Tumblr with a shrug and I now have more time to study for my classes. Go figure.
38
Good job Tumblr et al for getting rid of porn on your platform. I will not miss it one sec and will not waste any sleep over it either. The lost and confused so called LGBT community loses a ''safe'' space where they can spread their lies over other young and confused people. As a high school teacher, I saw what kind of moral and financial destruction prostitution, commercial sex, and pornography, hard and soft, bring to their ''workers''. Anybody who thinks that this is a great and essential service to society is seriously missunderstanding what it means to a young woman to have to sell her body and her beauty to make a living that many men find normal, but not for their own daughter; I wonder why?
23
Their new policies are so restrictive that many works of art cannot be posted on Tumblr. Censorship has always been the first tool of fascists and still is. At the same time, censorship is always wrong, partially because there are always unintended consequences that are harmful. Sexuality s a legetimate subject for art and shouldn't be censored.
9
It's the 1980s Moral Majority again, this time coming from the left AND the right.
20
Look, I'm the most liberal, permissive gal around. But come on, you can't have it all. Tumblr IS actively being used to spread images of underaged and exploited women. This should absolutely be shut down- the legitimate arm of Tumblr lends credibility to the completely immoral one.
35
Everyone deserves a safe space for their sexual discovery and expression. It's a shame that Tumblr doesn't see the unique value they have provided, and instead have decided to try to be a weak imitation of already existing social media. I doubt they will still be operating a year from now.
10
So it's OK to "destroy a safe space for self-expression, discovery and connection" if it's only straight men whose space is being destroyed, but it's not OK if women or LGBTQA are affected?
I think I'm in favor of allowing dating sites to set whatever rules they want within the law, but I don't think it should be because we privilege one group's rights over another's.
19
I am sick and tired of LGBT community, which by scientific polls only makes us about 2-6% of Americans, feeling like the vast 94-98% must constantly cater to their feelings when every decision is being made about what is best for public policy. We don't. This was a no-brainer.
33
@Roy P
Why yes, you are.
7
As far as my experience with Tumblr is concerned, it going porn-free is like McDonald's going vegan.
173
@stan continople
I had no idea that tumblr offered anything besides porn.
18
@stan continople
You mean: preposterous, but wonderful if it actually worked?
2
To paraphrase the famous quote attributed to Jack Nicholson, “if you kiss a breast, the movie gets an R rating, but if you take an ax to it, it gets a PG rating”
37
Pornography = LGBTQ rights. Pathetic.
77
Somehow people of marginality survived and even thrived for centuries without online porn. Perhaps a few will be inconvenienced by the ban but the greater good should not suffer at the behest of the few.
30
Why use tweezers when an A-bomb will do, especially when the A-bomb costs less money.
10
This is a column I never thought I would see. A feminist fighting for more pornography. Now I have seen everything. At first I thought this was a joke. But since Ms Powell is serious I will try to be semi serious. I'm not on Tumblr but there are another set of voices progressives and their co-dependents might not have heard — the voices of heterosexual men or is your preferred nomenclature cis gender....yes — who will be upset that this change will destroy a safe space for self-expression, discovery and connection for us! Nothing wrong with heterosexual pornography or is LBGTQ porno the only kind that is PC? I've thought long and hard on this and I can't think of one person in my community that is offended by the sight of a female-presenting nipple. Go figure...not one! Unlike the whacked progressive myth most of us guys if given a choice of a female-presenting nipple or guns, hate speech or violence...we're going with the nipple every time. This may shock Ms. Powell but some members of our community are dedicated to celebrating bodies of all types, love browsing sophisticated fetish images curated from a male perspective, and enjoy finding GIFs and videos that — unlike most mainstream LGBTQ sites — depict male pleasure. The author of this column is right. When you cast a wide net, you sacrifice a group you never intended to hurt...the 125 million straight (cough) cis gendered males. I know Ms. Powell will join us in our fight to reverse Tumblr's thoughtless decision.
23
False. Twitter does not ban pornography. Nearly every porn star has a Twitter page where they share adult content.
7
So - the porn actresses of the world and members of the LGBTQ++ community is asserting a special right to display their genitalia and other bits on an easily accessible microblogging site that is frequented by kids - sounds about right for the times I guess.
26
Tumblr can do what it wants. History has shown that with pornography on the Internet, where there's a will, there's a way. I bet the Pornhub folks are just chomping at the bit to get into the "tumbler" business, and now they have a reason to do that.
2
Tumblr's AI algorithm flagged a lot of things as "adult" that are not pornography. Pictures of two men kissing got flagged. According to The Guardian, an oil painting of Christ got flagged.
Users can appeal the "adult" designation on a post. But a lot of users did not bother, either because they didn't know that's an option, because it's time consuming to click "appeal" on dozens or hundreds of old posts, or because users didn't trust the human moderators.
Two days after the news of Tumblr's policy change, my normally busy Tumblr feed became a ghost town. I've since deleted my account.
This is a case study in how to destroy a social network.
11
Um, if Twitter claims to prohibit pornography, it sure isn't doing a very good job of enforcing that ban...think you might want to fact-check that claim.
4
And so goes the danger of censorship.
It’s fine when they’re censoring things you don’t like, but eventually they censor something you do, and then suddenly it’s wrong.
You’re ok with banning hate speech, but who gets to define it? The same people you're asking to define pornography? Should we just let Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook or Verizon decide? Who are they?
Social networks are private companies and can do whatever they want. The only way to fight them is for users to delete their accounts in protest, but if you don’t defend everyone’s freedom of expression there won’t be enough people on board to fight for yours.
109
@Gary Taustine
The decision not to provide a whole category of content is not properly censorship. Declining to provide a convenient soapbox does not restrict an individual's right to free expression. Such persons remain free to find or create avenues in which they can express themselves. The media are not public institutions and have the right to operate their businesses according to their own policies.
5
@Peter Aretin
Feh! As I said, these companies can censor whatever they want, and people can either live with it or revolt, but unless that censorship is applied equally across the board, based on a standard set of rules, the practice is discriminatory.
Second, social media platforms have become more than just a place to post cat videos, many people get their news through feeds on these platforms, and those feeds are being filtered and curated by the proprietors’ algorithms. If they are permitted to omit opinions it’s no different than your newspaper delivery service cutting out the articles they don’t like before you can read them. You may be ok with that when it comes to Alex Jones, but sooner or later the algorithm is gonna get ya.
And finally, while The First Amendment is still intact from a legal standpoint, its spirit is no longer a guiding principle in our society. Laws are made by people, and people are getting far too comfortable of late, with the notion that words and opinions they find offensive can simply be banished. If they're willing to accept censorship as customers, they’ll be willing to accept it as constituents. The precedents being set by private industry, if left unchecked, will become policy, and policy left unchallenged will eventually become law.
10
@Peter Aretin: Amen, Amen, AMEN!!
I don't like Tumblr's decision, but it is not censorship in any meaningful sense of that word and, as a private entity, is entirely within their purview to make.
I've said it before, and will say it again:
Suppression of expression by the government is censorship.
Suppression of expression by a publisher or broadcaster over what it disseminates is editorial oversight.
Suppression of expression of the wrong thing by oneself is discretion, restraint, and good manners.
Suppression of expression of children by their parents is necessary socialization and good parenting.
7
Create your own start-up if you want the content. Why is it that people feel entitled to things they did not create and in many cases do not even pay to use.
20
There's always porn hub and Grindr.
Porn lives on the internet and you can find it , if you want to. I don't think the LGBTQ community really cares about this.
I don't either.
8
Inadequacy wrapped in bright cellophane like hard candy.
Yes, the only freedom is freedom; anything else is tyranny. Toothpicks! There are not enough capital letters in the alphabet . . . .
It is said a man is known by his enemies. I imagine the same can be said about his problems. I have a problem with racist cops and climate change. You seem to have a problem with banning pornography on Tumblr.
If the solution to your "problem" was a seed, what would it grow into?
And just listen to the dissonant hogwash!
On one side, women screaming at you they are "objectified" by pornography and that it is society's duty not to support it; and here, a subset of women banging on about the space Tumblr's pornography allowed them to connect in! And spare me all talk about, "Not all women are the same."
1
This is idiotic. Tumblr owes no one any "safe space" or anything else. It's no different than people on Twitter claiming their "free speech" is being restricted when they get banned. THESE ARE NOT GOVERNMENT ENTITIES, PEOPLE. Grow up and start your own platform or better yet, write in a journal, go to some networking, get off the damn computer where these companies are only interested in harvesting your data anyway. I'm always amazed at people who haven't paid a dime for anything thinking that some electronic bytes are "theirs."
74
how about the pro-porn lgbt tumblr users create their own app and make their own rules?
8
That’s where I keep my porn.
So ‘female presenting nipples’ are considered pornographic? Will someone at Tumblr be deleting those photos taken by people that visit art museums ? Seriously, will they be deleting photos taken by a tourist of the Venus de Milo?
3
@dearworld2 We are surrendering our culture and freedoms to a new aristocracy and power, technological corporations. And like the old aristocracies they are puritanical in many instances, partly out of fear of liability and criminal exposure.
1
Once again humanity loses.
2
McCarthyism lives, but not on the floor of Congress but along media that was supposed to liberate us from the short-sided halls of mediocrity and censorship.
10
Most pornography is filled with expressions of female pleasure and all mainstream sites cater to women and other sexual types.
This is “women and queer people are special” pleading, not a principled defense of speech or artistic value. Equality means you get booted off with all the straight porn as well.
If you want porn on social media, there is an argument to be made. The author simply isn’t interested in making it.
23
I’m transgender, and Tumblr was an important place for me when I was researching my transition- especially seeing people post their before and after top surgery (mastectomy) pictures because different chest sizes before surgery mean different procedures will receive different results.
So after I had surgery myself last year, I posted a timeline with one pre-op picture for comparison and then a picture of my newly flat chest every few months post-op to show my healing. I posted a before/after picture of my areola resizing as part of educating about the different elements in surgery.
I put these pictures under a “keep reading” and explained that if you click to see them, one picture will be my breasts before surgery and the rest will be be a flat chest. That way nobody would accidentally see those pictures unless they’re deliberately looking to learn about it.
This update flagged them as “adult content”. So I appealed because the website said “exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with […] health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery” would still be allowed.
Then a human reviewed it- and they denied my appeal, saying “it contains sensitive content, and will be reverted to a private setting viewable only by you.”
It’s disappointing that other trans people won’t have the opportunity to benefit from these resources as I did.
5
@Lee Brown
You can easily set up a public web site that is accessible for everyone and freely expresses everything that you want.
Why is this so complicated in 2018?
14
stipulating at the start that a reader pushing
70 in January may not have the best grasp
of the internet in all it's infinite variations,
is the point of this column that gays are
angered that a porn site is disappearing
because it affects their hook up choices?
if it is, it seems to me an incredibly inane
fear.the last place I would ever want to
meet people is on a porn site. God only
knows what sort of individuals you are
likely to come across there. the news
is full of victims who are either murdered
or robbed by such people. there must be
better places to meet friends of a like
persuasion or orientation. for instance,
mutual acquaintances or perhaps social
gatherings. not a porn site, ever.
13
Tumblr was a panoply of sexual niche that was deeply appreciated by those reckoning with themselves. What a boring about-face.
5
@S.C. It's a repressive about-face.
2
I love Tumblr and its sexiness. This is such a bummer. It was such a cool “in between” site - completely agree with the “carved out space” concept and I’m a grown up middle class single mom and not young and I’m not ashamed to say that I like sex and if FB can figure out a way to track every single thing about billions of ppl then these guys should be able to figure out how to monitor their site.
8
"...it would ban all adult content — specifically, all “images, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples."
What is so darn offensive in regard to "nipples"? Last time I checked, almost everyone had them, male and female.
Furthermore, in regard to porn generally, the human body unclothed is not pornography. Almost everyone has a body, too. It is a natural state of being and it is hardly pornographic to look in the mirror. We are all made from the same model, the development process just hangs different parts on us.
It seems unlikely to me that the flood tide of pornography that has come with the Internet has improved the human condition that much and certainly has brought many examples of real harm, but the simple state of nudity is now being classified by a 1950s standard? This won't last.
12
Much of the comments here both completely miss and reinforce why this is a loss. "It's just porn" fails to recognize the difference between much of what was on tumblr and mainstream porn. As a woman, mainstream porn sites can be downright terrifying. Calling corners of tumblr "more female friendly" doesn't even begin to cover it, it's not the same type of content at all. I understand that they have every right to restrict their content, but there is huge need for similar spaces online in its absence.
8
"Destroys communities"? Is this not just a bit over the top? Will these communities not find an outlet, as water finds its own level?
4
Without Google safe filters and if you are curious about sex, the worst images will appear including child porn. I am done with it and I am feeling that I am not alone. While I appreciate the nod to artistic freedom- I remember a time when it was all celebrated in galleries and small live performances- at real life, first hand getting to know people kind of places. The LGBQ community might see online life as a place for understanding and support- but there are many concerns now that young people don't know how to interact with another real people in a sexual way without feeling inappropriate and awkward because they are used to the shield that online life allows. Don't we want to force ourselves to put away the mask for intimate human relationships that an online presence too easily allows?
3
"... the voices of women and the L.G.B.T.Q. community — who pointed out that this change will destroy a safe space for self-expression, discovery and connection."
Seriously, the members of the LGBTQ community need to electronically circulate porn to have a meaningful life?
Seriously?? How about real human connections with real people face to face? Or on social media without the porn? I have had a pretty good life, and have never circulated a pornographic image of myself or anyone else, or felt the need to. A life in which a sense of fulfillment is predicated on the ability to circulate pornographic images is a very sad, pathetic life indeed.
I am sure there are porn addicts in the LGBTQ community, just as there in the hetero community, but neither community should be defined by that addiction.
241
@NIck a heterosexual consumer of porn has many options outside of tmblr because of the economies of scale = more heteros means more profitibaility even for niche interests. for example, the trans segment of the population is a small percentage of the gay population which is already at between 5~10% of the general population. these voices are not asking for the freedom to be porn-addicts, but merely asking to preserve a public forum for expression of sexual minorities. heterosexuals do not lose their only platform platform with the demise of tumblr, many sexual minorites will.
41
@NIck Not everybody has the opportunity to interact with others in this way, especially if they're minorities. Some countries criminalize homosexuality, you know. Fir that matter, some of the content in question is erotic art used to express oneself. It's not quite fair to say that just because you don't, others can't or shouldn't. You are not them.
18
@NIck I'm not on Tumblr but there are another set of voices progressives and their co-dependents might not have heard — the voices of heterosexual men— who will be upset that this change will destroy a safe space for self-expression, discovery and connection for us! Nothing wrong with heterosexual pornography or is LBGTQ porno the only kind that is PC? I've given this a lot of thought and I can't think of one person in my community that is offended by the sight of a female-presenting nipple. Go figure...not one! Unlike the whacked progressive myth most of us guys if given a choice of a female-presenting nipple or guns, hate speech or violence...we're going with the nipple every time. This may shock Ms. Powell but some members of our community are dedicated to celebrating bodies of all types, love browsing sophisticated fetish images curated from a male perspective, and enjoy finding GIFs and videos that — unlike most mainstream LGBTQ sites — depict male pleasure. The author of this column is right. When you cast a wide net, you sacrifice a group you never intended to hurt...the 125 million straight (cough) cis gendered males. I know Ms. Powell will join us in our fight to reverse Tumblr's thoughtless decision.
5
Is the author seriously arguing that banning adult content is fine and dandy provided it just limits the rights of straight people but should be challenged when it intrudes on the lives of gay people, particularly young gay women? I gather she is saying just that.
27
@Rabid Rabbit Yes, that is exactly what she is saying.
Like an individual quoted in the article, the sexuality shared on Tumblr also helped me accept my queer identity. There just aren't that many other places on the internet (and beyond) where queer female pleasure is shown and shared. Yes, we can debate the morality of porn, but I feel that many of the downsides come from the porn that degrades women; I also hate this type of porn. On Tumblr, I could see queer sexuality that was genuinely sexy and affirming.
61
@Hypatía
There are people who feel heterosexual porn is ok but queer porn is not. so what should we do?
While the article makes some good points, I think she puts too much weight on how much the LGBTQ community relies on Tumblr for its self-identification, self-validation, and expression through "pornography." As someone who is gay and a visitor of some of the Tumblr sites in question, there are still many platforms out there that provide me those things this author claims will be lost.
10
Silicon Valley: so Puritan once they’ve made their money off a group.
105
@BDubs Don't limit it to Silicon Valley. The USA certainly stands as the largest producer of porn but Americans grwo beserk when they see a covered woman's breast. Hypocrisy like in so many things
4
@BDubs
Yawn - everyone in the entire world can set up a web site to display whatever they want in about 2 minutes.
Puritans are optional.
Laziness and lack of engagement are not optional.
2
I may be missing the nuance here, being an old white straight guy, but this article seems to be presenting a case that porn is somehow necessary for those in the LGBTQ community. I am hard pressed to believe that naked bodies, however posed or presented for the titillation of a few is of any value to the greater good of society. Further, Tumblr owns the site. They can control the content any way they see fit.
101
Yes, you are missing a “nuance.” We live in a heterosexual world, where sexual depictions of the LGBTQ community are very few and far between. There is plenty of sex on the television, it’s just 99% heterosexual. The same could be said of advertising. And why is that? Prejudice? Puritanism? The fact that the LGBTQ
1
Algorithm is ready creating havoc. I saw pics of content listed by them as possibly bad. Absolutely no reason why those posts should be a problem. In other words they aren't even doing a decent coding job. Looks an epic fail.
2
But videos and gifs of violent acts and those that depict violence as entertainment will still be allowed. Blood and gore but no naked bodies. A total joke.
14
Many years ago, I went to see The Godfather. Seated in front of me was a mother with two children, probably around ten years old or perhaps a bit younger.
She sat through this movie, replete with shootings, horse decapitations, bullet holes in the eye, and some very graphic and bloody violence. She said nothing. But when a women's breasts were bared on screen, she immediately grabbed her children and covered their eyes, obviously angered at this indecent display of a woman's flesh.
We may have gotten a little better about this, but Americans are often completely backwards about the human body and what is truly obscene.
477
@Ted Widlanski Well things have changed quite a bit since the seventies. It's not just bare breasted playboy's hidden under your mattress anymore.
It's far, far worse and far more degrading.
If playboys in the seventies were like marijuana then the stuff out there today would be the equivalent of fentanyl.
1
@Ted Widlanski The only scene in the GF with bare breasts in the final act where Michael C is whacking all the other dons. There is a brief scene with one don in bed with a lady and after she is shot the sheet drops to bare her breasts. I think your memory is a little hazy unless this family left at the end. Perhaps GF 2?
@W Henderson
I think he was referring to Michael and Appolonia on their wedding night.
1
AI does not do context, or nuance.
3
Take the word “pornography” out of the conversation because it is too hard to define. I fail to see how a restriction which eliminates photographs and videos showing nipples or genetalia limits any group of people. There may be people who enjoy those types of images, but no platform need be obligated to show them.
11
As a woman, don't you dare use me as an excuse to bemoan the loss of porn on Tumblr. Porn is almost exclusively anti-woman, depicting male pleasure over female pleasure at best, and torture and abuse of women at worst. It also has a history of being profoundly racist. Women are much better off with porn out of the mainstream. Watch any documentary about how it is made and it will sicken anyone with ethics. Young girls lured to CA at 18 with the promise that the porn will be "light" and then they are abused and used within a year or two. Most start using drugs to just deal. Of course condoms are never used, putting the "actors" at health risks that no "normal" job would be legally allowed to do.
And I have no idea why the LGBT community would benefit from that tripe either.
The reason Tumblr got rid of porn is because of new US laws against the sex trade (porn and selling people for sex go hand in hand, and Tumblr couldn't keep their immunity against it anymore.)
217
@Reader Thank you for an important post. Important both because of the substance of your message (with which I agree) but also for demonstrating that when someone like Ms. Powell purports to speak for a group she is really speaking for her own views as to what is good for that group.
30
@Reader I sincerely agree with your characterization of most porn. However, I have found that the majority of LGBTQ porn is not like this. Porn absolutely has its moral limitations, but sometimes sharing sexuality is healthy! I feel that this is especially important for groups that may feel socially repressed or invisible, such as LGBTQ folks. At its best, the internet helps people experience connection. Maybe LGBTQ porn on Tumblr isn't the most highbrow example, but it mattered to me!
56
@Reader Thank you, thank you and thank you, well said. I am sick and tired of excuses made for porn! as in "to explore sexuality without judgment", give me a break, get a brain!
26
Unless they can successfully ban children under 18 from their site, they should ban pornography. The ready accessibility of pornography has been seen as sex education by young people, education a lot more memorable than whatever they learn from teachers and parents, and a whole generation thinks that the misogynist and degrading images of women they see are accurate portrayals of the way normal sexual relations proceed.
124
@Lynn Blair Is "normal" in your last sentence descriptive or prescriptive? It matters which.
If descriptive, the obvious (but sad) response is: "Alas! That is exactly how most ('normal' being the regrettable commonplace) sexual relations do proceed in our unhealthy society."
If prescriptive, the obvious (but sad) response is: "And just where do these 'normal sexual relations proceed?'" On your own admission, not from "a whole generation", so where (if anywhere) is the healthy "norm"?
5
@Lynn Blair I totally agree with you that porn misrepresents how a sexual relationship should look like, but people use porn as sex education because federal sex ed doesn't teach us anything other than not to have sex. Queer sex ed is nonexistent, and porn at least teaches us how sex works, even if it depicts women and femmes in unsavory ways.
10
@Lynn Blair
We should just ban children from using internet and tv and books.
They might read about history and learn facts.
Then when they're 18 we can send them off to war where there is no sex.
32
You downplay with a bare few words the unlawful content involving children. Then we learn that there are other pages of near-pornography involving teenagers partially clothed and posed in suggestive ways.
The exploitation of young people, particularly girls is in the headlines (See a Labor Secretary's record as a prosecutor). I'll bet these pages are not always created by (cue the argot of the elite campus) "marginalized" people or searching youth but by the proverbial old men in raincoats.
You admit algorithms and AI must be part of any site with this much information and data uploaded. To expect human eyes to patrol boundaries is unrealistic and near impossible. It would be Travis and Crockett at the Alamo.
Then there are other forms of evil. Persons both under and over age of consent laws are tricked (with the naivete' of youth) into posting erotic material then uploaded by exploiting actors. Ask those of us with legal backgrounds, when distraught parents, fiancees, and acquaintances contact you to do something about it, and your options are limited. Ms. Powell, do you have vulnerable children?
18
This latest extension of "Me Too!" has gone too far. When someone displays their privates (even if covered in cloth) in public, why not show it as pornography for those who wish to see it in private?
This is just the latest "conservative" censoriousness to come down the pike. Craigslist personals have been "sanitized" under the false, unsubstantiated premise that they were used to promote child sex trafficking!
When our Executive Branch is essentially for rent and so is the Legislative Branch, this is preposterous and hypcritial, to put it mildly.
2
As somebody who's looked at and thoroughly enjoyed plenty of artistic nude male Tumblr images, all I can say is that I hope replacement sites pop up like mushrooms after a spring rain. As for Tumblr, it can whither and die for all I care.
Argue all you want about motives, this is just a simple case of that typically American disease - terminal prudery - that seems to infect generation after generation, from the super ancient to the young adult - for sociological reasons that I find tiresome to fathom.
289
@Tom When a man says "terminal prudery" I interpret it is "I don't get to virtually use women sexually for free whenever I want to." When a woman says something similar, I think of the brilliant piece about "Cool Girls" from Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" and/or reserve a hope that their church will bring them some peace, because intellectual analysis is out of the question.
1
@Hypatia - I will gladly defer to others on the heterosexual aspect of this issue. I know absolutely nothing about it.
9
@Hypatia Did you notice that he said "male images" in the first sentence?
12
Jessica Powell's is hardly a unique position, yet I find myself entirely exasperated by the self-righteousness with which she portrays the pornography preferences of "marginalized" people as some sort of noble cause worthy of protection. Please, don't take yourself so seriously. Tumblr's decision to restrict adult content is not a patriarchal act of oppression against Tumblr's perpetually-oppressed activist base — plenty of straight white men are going to lose their meticulously-curated porn collections, too.
The real outrage here is that a handful of tech companies — Google, Facebook, Apple — now possess enough muscle to effectively neuter the internet of its quirkiest and most provocative attractions (we would not even be discussing this issue were it not for Apple's longstanding hostility to apps and platforms that seek to facilitate sexual pleasure). For those born into the bland media monoculture of the 1980s and 90s, the early internet in all its weird, kinky, dangerous glory was a revelation, the opening act in a dazzling, awesome transformation of the human experience; there are many troubling features to the second act of the Digital Age in which we now live, but perhaps none so bitterly disappointing as the resurgence of blandness to which Tumblr has officially acquiesced.
21
As a frequent viewer and a contributor with 10 accounts on different subjects such as furniture maker Bolle, to the San Francisco's Mission District to my own abstract art. I hate this decision. It was a place for self-expression and introduction to so many posters on many subjects.
I had abstract are flagged that didn't even have a recognizable figure in it. I challenged TZumblr and they unflagged. I know many models who posted their own nudes. Tumblr went from a great site to a worthless Instagram knockoff.
5
This reminds me of gun rights arguments. Gun ownership defenders want their guns even when their demands put more guns in the hands of criminals, suicidal individuals, and evil-doers. They want them even if they do terrible harm to others.
Here we have lonely people who use Tumblr for legitimate (if too explicit for some) reasons, but there is a lot of damage being done to youngsters to say nothing of the distortion of expectations of the "sexually active". They want their freedom to be explicit even though it's doing provable harm to others.
Just because in an ideal world you should be able to, doesn't mean you should, today, in this world.
96
@JFR
What next? No sex education because teens might learn something about preventing pregnancy?
Facts are facts. The most sexually repressed places are the worst for women and LGBT peoples.
The gun argument is funny. I don't remember being allowed to bring porn strapped on my body to stop other porn.
14
@ jfr: you nailed it succinctly. Thank you. I hate all guns, like some porn but you are correct on both counts.
1
@JFR "youngsters"?!?
2
I have a more simple explanation: Pornography will just go somewhere else. I'm not even sure we should call digital nudity pornography anymore. We're talking about a social networking site. So long as everyone involved are consenting adults, who cares?
If you have a problem, don't sign your grandmother up for Tumblr. You don't use Tumblr for Grandma. That was once the realm of Facebook. Until of course it turns out Grandma is a crazy racist, homophobic, xenophobe who won't stop sharing white supremacist videos she found on Youtube.
I'm just kidding... That was probably Grandpa. He just doesn't know how to set up his own user account.
The thing is: We are all sexual creatures, LGBTQ or otherwise, looking for that private space where we can interact freely with our own sexuality. The digital world of sexuality exists. Sex is practically the business progenitor for all eCommerce. If not Tumblr, it will exist somewhere else. That's human nature.
Tumblr apparently doesn't want to be that brand anymore. However, Tumblr isn't the real problem with digital sexuality. The problem with digital sexuality is the "safe space" doesn't really exist. Anything that can be shown on a screen can be captured. The decision is therefore up to the individual whether they want to take the risk of ever getting exposed, literally, to the world.
That's why things like revenge porn laws are probably more effective than outright censorship. You love the person now but...
61
@Andy
Don't kid yourself. It was grandma, too.
Otherwise, spot on.
4
@Andy Until recently,Tumbr was something close to a safe space, which is why it's shooting itself in the foot to do this.
3
@Andy. Try Fetlife
This also points to the increasing corporate concentration of the Internet. Too few corporations controlling too much. Tumblr owned by Verizon, for instance. One more reason that it is time to start breaking up the big tech corporations.
18
Like @Neildsmith, I too am a member of the LGBT community, and like Mr. Smith, I think that Tumblr has every right to set rules for its platform. It is under no obligation to accommodate any and every sensibility that might exist among its users.
But her point is worthy of discussion in a larger context -- that context being the question of permissible content on the Internet broadly speaking. As it stands now, is still legal for websites to display adult content. So long as it remains legal, and there is a reasonable opportunity for others to come up with their own platforms to host adult content (as some surely will), I really don't see a problem. But we should keep an eye on any wider trends toward banning adult content.
3
Those of us who have lived from time to time in a foreign country know just how prudish America is. The prudery both intensifies the lure of pornography and strangely, the immunity to violence, guns and death on TV and social media. I spent time in Sweden in the 60s, and was intrigued that a documentary showing tunas being gaffed by fishermen resulted in a flood of angry phone calls to the television station while "adult content" sometimes appeared while toddlers were watching.
36
@Richard Swanson
If Europe is so progressive why did France just introduce an age of consent when none was needed?
4
@Gerald Hirsch
You got me. Why did it? Did I say Europe was progressive? I just don't care for the prudery. No further sweeping generalization was intended ... .
11
@Networthy You've clearly never been to Germany or France...
Until there's a way to verify that every person depicted in adult video or photographic media was filmed with their consent, and likewise consents to having their image and activities broadcast online, then I think Tumblr's decision was a wise one, and probably long overdue.
To everyone who found a safe space on Tumblr for adult film and art, there are plenty of sites dedicated to that subject matter. It might be time to find a new home.
45
@Holly V. Yes!! You are exactly correct. Tumblr posted naked images of victims without the victims' consent. That was completely unacceptable and the reason that I am extremely happy to hear that Tumbler is finally banning nudity. I do not believe nudity should be stigmatized, but no one should have his image posted on the internet without his permission.
As a member of the LGBT community, I am not particularly concerned about them taking this off their site. It's their right to make it into something Verizon can support and defend. It's odd to imagine anyone is being "hurt" by this change. They just need to find a different way of expressing themselves. I'm sure it will be fine... this is the least interesting problem we have to spend time worrying about.
82
@Neildsmith And yet, here you are....
2
@enemy...
I commented because of the number of pundits, blogs, and op ed opinions expressing concern about this so called ban. If the media is going to assert some harm is being done I wish to assure them they need not worry.
4
It’s porn, not art.
33
@Jennifer -- Well, maybe it's not art by your definition, nor even by mine. But that's always been the problem whenever anyone thinks they can define what is or is not art.
Consider the controversy over the nudes in Michelangelo's painting in the Sistene Chapel, The Last Judgment. Today, most regard Michaelangelo's works as some of the greatest works of art the West has produced. But an earlier Pope nevertheless hired an artist to paint loincloths over Michalangelo's nudes. Now, I am not suggesting that adult content on Tumblr approaches the work of Michelangelo in terms of artistic merit. But I am simply pointing out the folly of trying to define individual works by a standard that is inherently subjective.
Also, there is a lot of artistic expression that falls into a grey area between art and pornography. Take the photography of the late Robert Mapplethorpe, for example. It is work that unquestionably has artistic merit, and some of it contains subject matter that is also quite sexually explicit.
That said, if Tumblr wishes to change the rules for participation in its platform, it is certainly free to do so. But don't kid yourself as to any suggestion that its rules will be based on what is or is not art.
28
People are mourning over this decision as if they are losing something of value. It’s ridiculous. It’s porn. And with the internet, I’m pretty sure they can find another source.
49
@Jennifer -- That point is really irrelevant to the point Jessica Powell is making. Porn, even internet porn, is not, per se, illegal, whether you think it should be or not. The courts have consistently ruled that it falls within the scope of 1st Amendment protections.
And besides the fact that it is legal, who decides what is or is not porn, or what is or is not art? Some of the works of the late, great photographer Robert Mapplethorpe inhabit a grey area, which some people define as porn and others do not.
It is not, and never has been, the business of government to define what constitutes art.
14
A thoughtful article by Ms. Powell. Thousands of tumblr users are now, at this moment, trying to save their archives, their works their years worth of effort. And we take a moment to consider the possiblities of 'where do we go from here'? All of us who are now being dumped by tumblr, have helped it thrive financially from it's very start. Verizon purchased tumblr some time back; this is an important factor left out of the article. What else was left out of Ms. Powell's excellent article was the very important fact that perhaps a couple of months ago, APPLE refused to allow the tumblr app on it's systems. THIS, dear readers is the financial 'cause & effect' that will go unspoken, but is the real cause for tumblr to ban adult content.
114
This was a soft piece focused on the human side, but wow, the points on Verizon and Apple really change the tune of the whole song.
From the Apple perspective, I'm really not sure how they cut the difference between a safari app that searches/delivers pornography at the click of a button vs a Tumblr app that does the same.
6
@David You hit the nail on the head. As always, follow the money. So that's two things I didn't learn from the article, but that have more bearing on the Tumblr decision than anything in the article imho.
3
"What else was left out of Ms. Powell's excellent article was the very important fact that perhaps a couple of months ago, APPLE refused to allow the tumblr app on it's systems."
All the more reason to never buy anything from that fruit company. Every time a person waits on line to get a new iPhone, not only do they become firmly worthy of the slur "consumer", or even encourage awful web standards and designs, but they help appify and centralize the internet into a single point of ongoing epic fail and impending actual failure.
Non-consumers and non-corporations who still want to be able to trust their internet loathe this—but megacorps, Zuckerberg, FOSTA-SESTA's anti-sex-work snoops, the NSA and TSA, and insecure net tyrants like xi, putin, and the FCC's [un-Fit to Print] Pie love it!
Don't be a "consumer". Your purchases matter!
RIP tumblr, and I'm so sorry David.
1
I think the author did a great job covering all the nuances from every angle and I for one, am sad to see Tumblr, the last vestige of internet free speech, join the ranks of Facebook et al. But at the end of the day, Tumblr is a business that is offering a free platform to its user. It is just not sustainable to have huge numbers of human moderators of content gone awry. No doubt Tumblr will lose some users and maybe they'll reconsider but in the end its cost over content and cost over community.
3
I used to look at Tumblr not for the pornography but for the pictures of naked women. I guess I will have to find another source but it shouldn't be too hard, I hope.
11
@Stephen Kurtz
I'm sure they will be other woman for you. Just be patient and it'll happen.
1
@Stephen Kurtz Is this satire?
2
The basic human obsession - sex. We humans have been depicting sex for almost as long as humans learned how to draw. Every technical change in imaging has resulted in images of a sexual nature.
While some depictions are harmful, most are just plain human and the human fascination if not obsession with our procreative nature.
Yet society tries to control our observation of sex. Tumblr will end and somebody else will pick up where they left off.
What consenting adults want to display is up to them and if others get to view their images, so what?
66
@George N. Wells The problem is that humans are wired to have sex in private. There are important psychological and survival implications of that.
The fact that public sex is taboo in most (if not all) societies in the world shows that the psychological effect is still relevant.
Displaying sex acts on the Internet is semi-public, and people are drawn to it precisely because viewing others having sex is something the primitive part of our brain says we should not do.
While most people do not become addicted to porn, those that do can become dysfunctional. See the movie "Don Jon" for some insights.
3
No part of my brain, promotive or not, has ever said I shouldn't see other people having sex. For some people every sexual thought is highly emotional. Others can contemplate sexual acts as purely sensual experiences. But mostly they keep that opinion to themselves, because it upsets the first group.
2
@A, et al.,
A's comment is based in religious doctrine, not biology, psychology or sociology.
Yes, sex, like other human needs can be abused and even be harmful. However, total repression and disavowal can lead to other problems. There is a logical scientific argument against promiscuity - sex leads to bonding and, as many have seen/experienced breaking up a relationship where there was intercourse always results in rage and retribution. Casual sex is dangerous.
Imagery is a different matter. Humans have been depicting sex and sexuality since our earliest days. To be sure, a lot of that was destroyed by religious actors over time, but a lot of it remains (check out some temples in India).
As long a people want to willingly share images of themselves naked or in sexual situations they will do so. Will some people misuse it? Yes. Will everyone be damaged? No.
Sex is part of what it means to be human. Yes, there are those with "power" who want to relegate it to reproduction only and claim that it is always and forever evil. Humans also have this tendency to believe that anything that feels or tastes good is bad and that repression is good.
The bottom line is that the folks who own Tumblr are going to lose a lot of income when the images move elsewhere - and they will and already are.
A is welcome to his beliefs but cannot inflict them on others.
4
I think of the many Tumblr users who will be affected by this rather sudden decision. Some may have figured out a way to make a living based on Tumblr. Now, suddenly, certain assumptions about the platform are instantly vaporized, and along with those assumptions, hopes, dreams, fantasies, connections, businesses.
Humans evolved in a world that was constantly changing, but the changes usually happened slowly. The seasons changed over a period of months, and in predictable ways. We did not wake up one day to suddenly find that, say, the sun was blue and the sky was green. But on the large tech platforms, sweeping changes can happen suddenly with little or no warning.
When we finally get around to regulating tech companies the way they need to be regulated, maybe one of the first things that should be implemented are public comment periods on proposed changes, along with reasonable advance notice periods. Enough of this pulling the rug out from under people all of a sudden and causing massive upheavals in the real world for dubious reasons.
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Someone must be looking at it!
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No one should be forced to serve content they don't want ok no neither platform. tumblr has every right, both moral and legal, to do this. Porn isn't worthy of the is debate
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An ad hoc puritanical response to the word "pornography" does not actually settle the matter. If you want to establish your conclusion, you need to use substantive argument. Mere dogma is not worthy of debate.
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I, for one, am in favor of stripping most of these "platforms" of the protections of Section 230 of the CDA if they decide to preform editorial functions. Treating them as in-effect common carriers, who simply provide the means of communication and do not discriminate based on what is said on them, is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
These companies get what amounts to unlimited protection from liability while also being allowed to purge their platforms like an editor without the corresponding responsibility. If they want to curate, that's fine, but you also must accept more responsibility.
Are they providing a platform that allows for all comers to utilize for a means of communication? Or are they curated areas that want to project a certain image and will not allow content they disagree with? They should be forced to choose and be done with this nonsense once and for all.
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@Mark F Wow, how very top-controlled-down of you. This is the Wild West of capitalism, bud, and if I'm paying the costs of running and moderating a server you better believe I get to pick what's on it.
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