A Safe Space by being NSFW?

Safe

Yea it sounds like an oxymoron but Tumblr in the early days was safe for that exact reason: it protected their users from the restrictions of the (at times) conservative web. What was long marked as “safe for mature audiences”, “taboo” or simply unfamiliar to everyday society now had a home under the same roof, where art could be art. It asked it users to embrace these images and content in a way that felt like the preaching of true acceptance. 

It was more than a place where kids could go to get their first taste of porn and I would like to disagree whole heartedly with the Change.org petition stating that 90% of the reasons users are on there is because of adult content with the plan to jerk off. (Keep in mind the person who created the petition is a NSFW artist on Tumblr whose audience and traffic is dependent on this content and that’s okay too!!!). We all have our reasons for questioning this update and what it means for the future.

Expression

Tumblr was safe because artists could truly express themselves free of the policing of other sites. I never felt right posting my photos to Facebook or seeing them on spaces where I didn’t have the freedom to customize how others were seeing my images. I didn’t like the idea of posting my images in places where I was followed by family and acquaintances. I was scared of the ridicule of trying to be a photographer and trying to figure it all out but I knew I needed the internet to share, to get myself out there. 

On Tumblr, strangers and close friends could see my growth and share their words of encouragement. On a day I was feeling low, I could find content that talked about the darkness of feeling low. Tumblr was the first place I saw others sharing their struggles and reaching their hand out. Communities of strangers helping one another out on top of being a free art gallery? It was heaven.  

#girlsonfilm

As I grew, I saw my own inspirations grow. This was an incredibly crucial aspect as a female coming to terms with the unfairness of being female, of seeing how the world operates. Learning how men and how other women treat me as a young woman coming to age in a forever changing digital world, faster than the world has ever seen before and it keeps getting faster for the kids. Seeing girls being girls was extremely comforting as I grew from being a girl myself to being a woman. The female form, and I’m talking ALL females and femmes, is gorgeous and complicated which is why everyone wants a say in its existence. When people don’t know how to control it, they decide to ban it to avoid the confusing territory between desire, art, self expression and the world’s inability to safely navigate between the three. 

Community & Communication

When we are not educated enough in a subject, feel we don’t know enough about it or when something makes us uncomfortable, we tend to choose the easy path and avoid talking about the subject, avoid it entirely and place it in a category where it can no longer cause any more confusion and discomfort because it is no longer accessible. 

What we don’t want to talk about either is that evil can exist on platforms that allow any of these freedoms, even in our day to day lives. Evil exists on social media because humans exists on social media. Content that crosses the line or never even made it to the line to begin with because it is assault, rape, child porn and any act that is just straight up illegal and wrong on so many levels, exists because of humans. It can be removed and fought by humans too and not by censoring other hard working humans who create for a living and use this space for a living. 

The vulnerable and the innocent can be exposed to harm because places exist that allow the creation and exchange of unspeakable content is something that we can not avoid. I also don’t think we can place these acts in the same category as nipples and ADULT/ADULT consensual content. We have to talk about it and we have to create ways to tackle it as a community, that same community that Tumblr has built it’s foundation on. 

Signing the Petition

On December 17th, Tumblr will be removing all flagged content that it’s algorithm has picked up as violating the new terms. A lot of terrible content will be removed but a lot of artistic content will be attacked as well. I should know, I’m already seeing my own photos being targeted which I can handle as someone who grew up on this site. My younger self probably would shy away from the social media giant entirely. I had such anxiety then posting my newly created images during a period of self discovery that I couldn’t imagine having to worry about my content being flagged or removed. 

Tumblr says all things LEGAL in the U.S will be welcomed on their site but it seems like images that do not violate the terms are being wrongly flagged and it takes a manual request of a review to have it resolved, an extra step I’m not sure many users will want to do if a large amount of their work is being flagged. Regardless if it stays, the process in and of itself is stressful and no one should have to battle over their work.

Please sign the change.org petition and let’s starting having conversations and finding safer ways for everyone to hang on the internet!