They’re coming for us, kids
Tumblr is eliminating “adult” content. Facebook is cracking down on “sexually suggestive” rhetoric. (Several of my friends on there have been put in “time-outs” for things they’ve posted.) There’s even whispers of how Twitter will be going after us next, although there is no proof of that. Wouldn’t surprise me, though. Censorship isn’t new, but it certainly seems to be escalating as of late. People in the adult/sex industries are shamed, forced to find new places to express themselves in an ever-dwindling choice of venues. Welcome to the New Dark Ages.
Where do the kinky folks go? FetLife? Sure, if you want to be buried in an avalanche of trolls, sock puppets, solicitations, accusations, and flame wars. FL was fun in its early years, when it still had a community feel. Now it’s just another platform where millions of people argue and jostle for attention.
Where will all our Tumblr brothers and sisters go now? And how long before the next platform is censored as well?
I’m grateful I got to have all the good online years I did. And I’m sorry for the newer generation of kinksters who are exploring and searching, and being made to feel like what fascinates them is somehow dirty and to be eliminated. I felt like that when I was much younger. I thought those days were over.
Yes, there are predators and abusers in the various kink scenes. The scenes are a microcosm of society in general — you have good people and you have some pretty awful people too. But an entire group shouldn’t be vilified for a few bad apples. And while I agree that sex/kink workers should be protected, simply wiping out their venues is not the answer.
We are getting fucking ridiculous. I am a woman; I came of age in a very non-PC era; I know all about #MeToo. I have my stories like pretty much every other woman out there. I’m happy to see that long-time predators are being held accountable.
But… censoring holiday songs? Really??
Baby, It’s Cold Outside was written in 1944. Yes, it was a different time. Yes, the lyrics are a little creepy. But “rapey”? Please! Have you listened to some of the lyrics in rap/hip hop songs? They’re as graphic as graphic gets, and yes, they are hella rapey. But a silly song that’s been sung for generations by every performer you can think of gets banned.
Found this little gem on Facebook, and it made me laugh. Yes, this is how stupid things have gotten.
I don’t even know why this is bugging me so much, since as far as I’m concerned you can take all the holiday songs and throw them on the open fire with the chestnuts. But stupid is stupid.
But I digress. What the hell is happening to us? How could we have come so far, only to head backward? When did society get so damned uptight about everything sexual? About everything, period? Why should anyone give a flying fuck whether you say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays,” as long as your wish is sincere and well meant?
A while back, I saw a skit from the “Carol Burnett Show,” circa 1973, a spoof of “Kung Fu” called “Young Fool.” Jim Nabors plays the Chinese monk Gah Lee Gee, complete with skinhead wig, and Carol played a Native American (then Indian) brave who falls in love with them. A snippet of the dialogue:
Busty barmaid played by Vicki Lawrence: “You two can’t get married! A red woman and a yellow man? You’d have an orange kid!”
Carol: “We’ll name him Julius!”
Yeah, I admit it, I laughed my head off. Just try putting that on TV now. Or anything like “All in the Family.” But of course, you can have walking dead rotting people eating other people and gut-wrenching violence ala “Game of Thrones.” You can have sex of every flavor, every position, graphically depicted. Even the damn commercials are about avoiding skid marks on your underwear if you use the right toilet paper, bladder-leak panties, and the heartbreak of impotence. How can we be so “show it all” in some ways and so Puritanical in others?
We’re fucked up, y’all. We’re going after the wrong things and the wrong people. And sometimes, I get so tired. I’ve been in “Erica, Party of One” mode for a while now. I think I will stay there until I feel like it’s safe to come out.
Erica Scott: Life, Love and Spanking 
On FB, you are triggering my imagination. They already extended their ‘like’ icon to four more feelings to express. A time-out icon would be a great extension, from my point of view and others come easily to the mind.
But ,yes, that tendency is worrisome.
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there are people out there who are permanently offended, or more to the point just looking to stick their noses in and cause trouble. I think the best course of action is………. tell em to go fuck off
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MrJ — Facebook is extremely limited, for me. Mostly I play Scrabble and Words For Friends there, and keep up with some friends.
Graham — the problem with telling people to fuck off is that they usually don’t. (sigh)
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Hi Erica, ❤ I agree with you, I don’t understand why they get offended by a song ☹ Society gets more crazier, Its like everything offends someone ugh smh, I guess they don’t have anything better to do then complain, I miss you and Love you my awesome friend, Everything that you wrote is well said ☺💕
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Jade — thank you, dear. Yeah… people are crazy.
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I’ve been missing you on Twitter. Now I know why.
I’ve always felt the Merry Christmas thing is mostly a made up story Fox goes to when things are going bad for Cheeto or the GOP.
Things might turn around once the Dems take over the House in Jan.
This censorship is bullshit. It should reverse itself in time.
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Mind if I join you Erika? Then we can have a party of two, because I agree with every single thing you wrote here.
To me the worst thing is that much of the stuff you see happening in the US at the moment, haven’t quite reached my end of the world yet, but I can see it coming, just like everything else we’ve imported from the US over the years.
People are obsessing over the most minute and idiotic things to be offended over, and meanwhile we are ignoring actual real, growing, and increasingly urgent problems 😦
If I had the resources and any idea how to do it, I’d give serious considderations to setting up a replacement for Tumbler, and then maintain control over it, in order to keep any attempts at censorship away from it. Unfortunately I don’t.
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever you might prefer. Personally I’m probably in the least Christmassy mood I can recall ever having been in, this close to Christmas.
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Chibob — I have been taking a break from most social media, just posting on good old safe and boring Facebook, because I don’t talk about kink stuff there and I’m a lot less open with my politics. But I’ll be back.
Kyrel — yeah, our country’s values and democracy are going down the drain, the stock market is tanking, Mother Nature is out of control and killing people with her fires and hurricanes, but hey, let’s bitch about the Starbucks coffee cups. And by all means, let’s censor out all the nipples, but leave the Nazis alone. I have never craved my own planet as much as I do now.
I’m sure another platform will arise to replace Tumblr. And it will flourish wildly for a while… until it too is quashed. We need to figure out how to stay under the radar. Which really sucks. Because we have absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of.
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I think one of the big problems with Facebook/Twitter/Tumbler and related social media sites, at least when it comes to what people can or cannot post, is that these services are all free. Which means the users have virtually no input on how the site is run or its rules.
The advertisers and politicians get to dictate terms because they are where the money and rules are coming from. There is no pushback from the companies running these social networks because their users are not paying customers.
If kinky people (or models or sex workers) want a social site where they can post whatever they want then they need to either run it themselves or find a site where they are the customers.
When Twitter talked about banning adult content I offered a few groups the chance to set up their own, private twitter. But everyone is used to social media being free now so no one wants to pay for it.
Moving along… This discussion reminds me that the first time I heard “Baby it’s cold outside” as an adult, I turned to my girlfriend (who had put on the CD) and asked (somewhat confused), “Why is this song about date rape mixed in with Christmas tunes?” I wasn’t offended so much as just surprised… and a little creeped out when she explained it was a common holiday song.
People like to say the song is innocent or “from a different time”, but to anyone who didn’t grow up with it (or are symapathetic to our friends who basically have to relive their sexual assaults every time they enter a shopping mall in December) it’s just plain creepy. I’m not saying we should ban it, I listen to all sorts of rap and metal music that is like-wise creepy, but I listen to those songs in the privacy of my own home, not insist it gets played non-stop in public for a month.
I’d also like to point out “it’s from a different time” could be said about all sorts of formerly “good” and accepted things society no longer values. Wife beating, black face, hanging witches. Society’s values change over time, for better or worse. Personally, I’m okay with the idea of a woman saying “no” and being ignored being one of thoes things we put on the cultural scrap pile.
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Ben — good points all, thank you.
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WELL SAID is all I can say
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Gary — thank you.
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