These are my breasts and nipples, complete with acne, moles, and hair.
Will this image violate tumblr’s new content rules?
Examples of exceptions that are still permitted
are exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding,
birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as
post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.
I am a transgender man. I have not had the opportunity or the money to have top surgery. I am excruciatingly aware that the “gender presentation” of my nipples is in the eye of the beholder. Disconnected from the context of the rest of my body and gendered presentation, they look like “female-presenting” nipples. Hell, there are plenty of cisgender women with more chest hair than me.
Are we going to determine the “gender presentation” of my nipples based on my legal gender? That’s debatable too. My most recent legal IDs list my gender as “male,” but my birth certificate lists my gender as “female.” I cannot change the gender on my birth certificate without going back to the state where I was born and getting an order from a judge, and paying a fee. Until I have the time to and money to do that, there will always be at least one legal document where I am still considered female.
Written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or
newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and
illustrations, are also stuff that can be freely posted on Tumblr.
I would say this painting has artistic merit, at the very least from a technical standpoint. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would see no artistic merit in this painting, regardless of technical skill. The line between “nudity found in art” and “adult content” is as indistinct as the line between “naked” and “nude.”
Tumblr and Facebook’s new policies stem from SESTA/FOSTA [LINK] and corporate monopolies [LINK].
Policies meant to curtail sex work always hurt more than they help, whether the sex work is voluntary, coerced, or forced. Example: NYC, LA, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. have all had/have laws that allow possession of multiple condoms to be considered evidence of prostitution, resulting in arrest or the confiscation of the condoms. So, no safe sex if you’re doing sex work, I guess?
Policies like these disproportionately effect people and communities who are viewed as being “inherently sexual” or “overly sexual.” Facebook’s overzealous new policy prohibits reference to “sexual preferences.” I will bet money that policy won’t be enforced when a cis het man makes a status update about “I like girls with [insert physical attribute here],” but it will be enforced when a queer person refers to a top, a bottom, a switch, a Daddy, a [insert relational attribute here].
As to what constitutes art and how that concept gets weaponized against LGBTQ people (and other oppressed groups, I’d argue), just read about the history of conservative loathing for the National Endowment for the Arts [LINK].
I don’t think my little protest painting will make tumblr and their corporate overlords change their minds. But I couldn’t not express my opinion on this.
I don’t know if this blog will get flagged or deleted or whatever. I’ll keep using tumblr until I no longer have a reason to. But, just in case, I’ll be setting up a pillowfort, and maybe a poizen. In the meantime, you can keep up with my shitpost tweets HERE.
Anonymous
