Spinel's garden đđâ€
uk gardens by Mark on flickr
Happy 6th Anniversary Steven Universe! I canât believe weâve come so far!Â
I still remember watching Gem Glow and Laser Light Canon premiere in my college dorm, and now Iâve just gotten back from a whole convention dedicated to celebrating this wonderful show!
Because there is no option to appeal some of my incorrectly flagged posts, and because Tumblr needs to be reminded of their idiotic policy now and then, Iâm writing this post.
I have yet to come across one sensible explanation of how the censoring of female breasts, and the exclusion of sexuality, could lead to a âbetter, more positiveâ Tumblr. I canât see the causality at all. The implication that the depiction of sexuality (nudity, sexual activity) is negative and harmful, logically leads to the question: To whom? And how? Tumblrâs hastily drawn up, poorly worded guidelines from December 2018 lump sexuality, or specifically âfemale-presenting nipplesâ in with say drug and alcohol abuse, (gun) violence, gambling, hate speech, antisemitism, and racism as something dangerousâthe difference however is, of these, only âfemale-presenting nipplesâ are actively sought out by Tumblr bots and censored.
I really would just like to have someone at Tumblr explain to me, in terms I can understand, how this censorship of âfemale-presenting nipplesâ is leading to a âbetter, more positiveâ Tumblr. Weâre roughly six months further now, some change should be visible apart from a decrease in traffic. And also, Iâd like to know if the people at Tumblr genuinely believe in this censorship. Because who in their right mind can defend these almost surrealistically pointless guidelines, which seem cooked up by an ethical scatterbrain: Tumblr now is a 17+ app without 18+ content.
Itâs a step backwards, is what it is. The thing though about taking a step backwards is that before you know it, you start walking backwards and you end up in a backward place.
Of course, we could say that Verizon really is the culprit. And that they bought Tumblr because that is simply what such companies do, buying up platforms left and right just so they can sell more crap to you and secretly keep an eye on your browsing history so they can sell THAT crap to advertizers, but that Verizon didnât realize that with Tumblr, they werenât just buying another platform but a community with lively, diverse, blossoming subcultures, and that Verizon only really learned what Tumblr was when the new draconian guidelines were announced and everyone started protesting, and that Verizon then wanted to get rid of Tumblr as fast as possible and are now trying hard to sell it, which hopefully they will, because such companies sure as hell shouldnât go anywhere near artâwe could say all that, but weâll let others say it.
In the fishing industry, thereâs something called âbycatchâ, where certain marine species are caught unintentionally during the catch of specific targets. Every year, thousands of protected and endangered species are killed because of this process. I understand Tumblr implemented its ban because child pornography had been found on its siteâfine, but what itâs doing now, by censoring âfemale-presenting nipplesâ, is making bycatch a legitimate, indiscriminate part of it its main target. (Also, anything even remotely associated with sex or even erotica is hidden from searchesâtry to find my post on adult film logos.) If other social media platforms follow, the Internet will become one big trawl net, leaving a sterile, homogeneous lunar landscape in its wake thatâs designed for everybody and enjoyed by nobody. This is all especially harmful to the people who already belong to marginalized, sidelined groups anyway, and who so need social platforms like Tumblr pre-December 2018 to be taken seriously, or heck, even acknowledged at all. They found each other here on Tumblr when they were regarded as weirdos, outcasts, freaks; they expressed themselves through art and writing, and formed communities; and then they became people with voices.
Tumblrâs new policy itself is condemnable, the way itâs being implemented is risible. Weâve all seen the random posts that its ridiculously zealous and misguided bots flag as adult content;Â the following examples though, all part of my archive, seem to have been flagged by staff and canât even be appealed, even though similar posts have been OKâed by other Tumblr employees. Letâs have a look:
Image 4, right? Breasts. The caption though says âMutterglĂŒckâ. Thatâs German for âThe Joy of Motherhoodâ. This should give you a clue about whatâs being depicted. BREASTFEEDING. Tumblr however doesnât want you to see this vile and depraved act.
Two paintings by Richard Tennant Cooper. Well, youâre going to have to find a better way to depict breast cancer, Richard Tennant Cooper, you pervert, because Tumblr isnât having this. Flagged, and back to art school. Those artist types, eh.
Or this one, French illustrator, Jacques Touchet (1887-1949):
And how about the post below about John Wilson, an excellent animator and artist; he did those opening titles for GREASE, for example, and designs for SHINBONE ALLEY that I shared not too long ago. Spot the offending image:
Number 8 of course, which is a still from a music video from the SONNY & CHER SHOW, aired in the 1970s. Thatâs more than 40 years ago, but in 2019, those two ink dots on the female character have to be censored, hidden from view, because you know how those 1970s kids turned out. Over-sexed, sick degenerates, all of them.
Et cetera, et cetera. Whatever Tumblr is trying to do, this is the reality of their new guidelines. Also, whenever you receive an email about a flagged post, the link to it never leads to the post within the timeline even though itâs supposed to (on mobile devices anyway): it leads to the Review Flagged Posts section, which never gets updated and is only partly complete.
By making sexuality taboo again, Tumblr feeds the fear of it, which leads to ignorance about it, which leads to misconceptions about it: and misconceptions about sexuality are toxic goods. Remember that censorship, and censorship only, creates pornography⊠(Also, the liberalization of pornography, some studies argue, could lead to reduced rape and sexual violence rates. Something to think about.)
So again I ask: what for? How is flagging these posts leading to a better, more positive Tumblr? Iâd like someone with a degree in such things to tell me that.
THERE'S A DENNYS TUMBLR?! WTF SMDMDK
mmmmmm dannys lamp
@staff u pack of bastards
TFA - Smokescreen / Bumblebee / Rodimus Prime / First Aid / Optimus Pirme
Bumblebee: Leave the poor drone alone Smoky. Youâre going to break it.
First Aid: Iâm not sure Earth stuffs are safe to touch.
Ꮀá”á¶á”á”á”á¶Šá”ᔠ᎞ᶊá”Ëą
I tried to do something new Rip
Aim for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
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