The C€N$0R$H!P of Sexuality Content on Instagram
Soooo idk ifyk (I don’t know if you know) buuuut social media is extremely heavily censored and not in the way you think would be beneficial, like blocking hate speech, but in a way that actively targets content from sex-workers, sex-educators, femme individuals, especially if they are BIPOC, fat, trans, and/or queer.
On the surface, this may not seem like a huge deal (it’s just insta right?) but for a lot of people, especially those who experience intersecting oppressions in our sex-negative culture, social media can be a really effective way to promote themselves, grow their business, and share their message.
Sharing your work on social media involves little to no overhead investment, it can be more accessible than working in physical spaces (we’ve seen this especially with COVID-19), it can allow for greater creative expression, further visibility, and up until recent years, had fewer barriers and gatekeepers. Now, people who do this work and exist in these spheres experience varying degrees of targeted censorship which is effectively destroying livelihoods and upholding sex-negativity, sexism, racism, transphobia, and fatphobia. And I promise you that I am neither being dramatic or hyperbolic - the algorithms embedded into social media platforms were created by people with privilege (ie. white, cis, wealthy, men) and therefore reflect biases we witness in our world beyond screens.
The history and concept of censorship is lengthy and complex. I encourage you to research it further if this topic interests you, but for the purpose of this piece, we will be delving into censorship as it pertains to sexuality-related content on social media, particularly instagram.
Historically, the censorship of speech, books, media, etc., has been viewed as a benevolent task in the best interest of the public with the intent of preventing heretics and contamination of faith. It has been utilized to suppress expression that was believed to potentially threaten the moral and political order of society (Newth, 2010). There has always been a battle between freedom of speech and some sort of regulation against it - to what extent should we allow anyone to say whatever they want? Who is given the task of deciding what content should be censored? Why are some things viewed as harmful and some are allowed to pass? This is complex and I am understanding that our views of censorship should be dynamic, however, I view censorship to be problematic when it is used to suppress the voices of oppressed communities and uplift the ideas of the privileged.
“Demonizing the enemy and whitewashing one’s own cruel deeds while blindfolding the people through rigid censorship have been favoured strategies for many warlords and dictators throughout history.” This quote from an article about the history of censorship by Mette Newth (2010), stands out to me and highlights how people in power, the ones who are creating and upholding censorship laws, truly do view the people they are censoring (sex workers, sex-educators, black femmes, fat individuals, and the LGBTQ+ community) as “the enemy”, as heretics, as people who are contaminating society - because that’s the good-hearted purpose of censorship right? To prevent these people from causing wide-spread damage to the order of society by quieting their voices?
Similar to the application of censorship throughout history, instagram and other social media platforms monitor the content that is posted with the intent of “protecting” users. This, in theory, is great or at least necessary to an extent because these platforms host users of all ages from all around the world and anything could be uploaded and seen by the masses. The problem is with how this censorship is applied. Perhaps I am naive, but I believe far-right extremism is more “harmful” than factual sex-education content? Idk, but instagram and facebook (owned by the same people now) disagree with me. This is tricky because there will always be some disagreement and subjectivity around the terms “protect” and “harm” and which content falls into which of these categories is mainly decided by and in favour of straight, white, cis, male ideas of acceptability and in line with how they view the world (Ohene, 2020).
In December 2020, the topic of censorship of sexuality-related content on instagram gained a lot of attention because the platform updated it’s community guidelines and terms of service. The main point that has brought conflict is Term 15. Sexual Solicitation, which vaguely outlines that the platform will not allow for any sexual solicitation or sexually-explicit language (because it could lead to solicitation) in attempts to prevent trafficking or exploitation. Okay, this is worded strategically because absolutely apps should be doing everything in their power to prevent coercion and non-consensual acts, but this also brings up an age-old conversation - our nasty rape-culture which is upheld in many many many ways allows this behaviour to continue, not sexuality content from sex-educators or sex-workers posted on the internet.
I can absolutely understand restricting access to certain sexuality content on the internet - some content is truly more appropriate for people who are over 18, and even well-intentioned, well-informed sex-educators make mistakes sometimes and it can be hard for youth to find reliable, age-appropriate information. I can understand that level of censorship (although I do believe youth deserve access to all the accurate, non-judgmental information about sex that only platforms like instagram can provide). I am just not sure who these terms of service are really serving, especially when sexual imagery is still prevalent on the app, sex-workers are constantly appropriated by celebrities and then celebrated, and when way less reputable information is still allowed to be circulated. When this work is done by privileged people who fit the mold of the algorithm it’s okay I guess???
For me, the censorship on instagram has really affected my business. I didn’t account for having to work against the very platform I use to elevate my voice and I didn’t know the algorithm would be intent on my losing. I’m just trying to share factual, non-biased information about sex in a safer, trauma-informed, inclusive way! I think we need and deserve that, and can’t always find it off the internet. I’m just trying to make money selling products I put a lot of care into that can offer people a lot of pleasure and play, but insta says this isn’t okay.
I am prohibited from running ads on instagram and facebook (i’ve tried)
I am not allowed to sell my products in the instagram or facebook shop (i’ve tried - I also tried to market the ceramic dildos as massagers and they saw right through me lol)
I have to censor my actual words related to sex, otherwise I will be shadow-banned (more on that in a couple sentences) and don’t get me started on how much I hate having to do this - our societal sex-negativity is so wrapped up in our language, from how we use terms related to sex as expletives to how we view words like “vagina” or “penis” to be inappropriate.
Because I am often shadow-banned, fewer people see my content and there are additional barriers for people who want to buy my products.
This slows growth because it makes my account “hidden” and less people can discover what I’m doing!
I live in fear that my account will be deleted without warning
My creativity feels cluttered because I have to think about what the algorithm will like, rather than what I would actually like to make and share.
And this is just my personal experience. So many other sex-educators, sex-workers (especially if they are queer, black, fat) experience this censorship way more harshly than I do.
Anna Wim (they/she), queer sex educator and visual artist on insta, shared their thoughts with me on this topic:
“To me, the censoring of any, even vaguely, sex-related content on Instagram goes hand in hand with our society’s prudish sex negativity and sexist controlling of our (mainly femme) bodies and pleasure. When my Instagram account was deleted after 7 years, in the same week that I was catcalled and followed home by someone living in my own building. Even though the two seem like different things, in my eyes, they are linked – both situations are about sexist interference with owning one’s bodily and sexual autonomy.”
Anna shares incredibly informative and impactful work on instagram - if you would like to support them, please follow @annawim2.0.
Okay, so shadow-banning is this illusive form of censorship that instagram does (but does not admit to) where if you post something the algorithm does not like, rather than deleting your content, your reach will be restricted. If you’re shadow-banned, your work won’t show up on the explore page and less of your followers will be shown your content. So it’s like this secret form of censorship - you don’t really know what you did wrong and there are no rules on how to avoid it. It is the app sneakily controlling what is seen and not seen, and if you want to avoid being shadow-banned then you end up self-censoring!!
So, this has been hard for me to navigate as a white, cis, sex-educator but the minute the intersections of race, disability, sexuality, and gender are also applied, it becomes even more difficult to exist on instagram (El-Wardany, 2020). As we have discussed, the app’s algorithm favours the thin, white, cisgendered, and effectively suppresses the voices of oppressed communities.
When people are erased, when their voices are muted, it reinforces the idea that they are not a valued member of society, that their creativity, their voice is not wanted. There are innumerable instances of black femmes sharing a bikini photo or message about sexism in a post that has been deleted, this is even more common if you apply the intersection of existing as a fat person online.
Content about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was censored on a day meant to honour them on this platform. Sex-workers have their accounts deleted without warning and aren’t allowed to share a link to their OnlyFans. Body-positive activists are censored for posting photos that show similar amounts of skin as celebrities who get a pass.
Instagram often apologizes for these instances (NOTE: only after being called-out) and chalks it up to an error in the automatic detection of the algorithm. While I understand that this system will make mistakes, this repeated silencing is absolutely purposeful, it is done by and for people with privilege to maintain power and control over people who are oppressed by silencing their voices. What’s so wrong with sharing information about sex? What’s so wrong with selling sex? What’s so wrong with people feeling confident in their bodies? It is only wrong in this sex-negative, racist, fat-phobic society when we are taking control and instagram can’t profit off our work. Oh and apparently it’s also wrong to bring attention to this and other injustices on the app too (you’ll be shadow-banned).
The aspect of this that reaaaallllyyyyy bothers me is that fucking Gwenyth Paltrow via shitty Goop can sell $80 candles that “smell like vagina” and promote her new vibrator that “is more intellectual and less embarrassing than something hyper-sexualized that you’d buy in a sex shop” (how fucking sex-negative of her) and I can’t promote my candles or dildos? Kim Kardashian can post an essentially nude photo and a Black, fat model posts something similar and it gets removed? And celebrities (FKA Twigs for ONE) can appropriate sex work and have their posts amplified on social media, when actual sex workers live in fear of their accounts being deleted? That’s how you know this censorship is targeted, it’s not about WHAT is being posted or talked about, it is about WHO is doing it and if they are trying to break free from the single narrative we allow for society.
Social media is a microcosm of society so I don’t know why I expected less racism, fat phobia, sexism, homophobia on this platform. Pay sex-workers, pay sex-educators, black femmes, fat people, body-positive activists for their work and please go out of your way to uplift what they are doing (through a save, a share, a comment, or a like at the very least) because they are facing targeted prejudices irl and online. Show the people running these platforms that you value this diversity, this straying from “the norm”, and the work people in these communities are doing - this content is unique, it is important, it is valuable and we want to see it! Xxx
References
El-Wardany, S. (2020). Like Our Society, Instagram Is Biased Against Women Of Colour. https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/12/10150275/shadow-ban-instagram-censorship-women-of-colour
Newth, M. (2010). The Long History of Censorship. http://www.beaconforfreedom.org/liste.html?tid=415&art_id=475
Ohene, A. (2020). School of Sex Ed’s Instagram account censored and deactivated by algorithms. School of Sexuality Education. https://schoolofsexed.org/blog-articles/2020/09/17