The death of Tumblr porn left a void no other site can fill

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Tumblr was a place to express not just sexuality, but an 'alternative' sexuality not popular in the mainstream.
By Anna Iovine on February 17, 2022
Tumblr's traffic dropped 30 percent in the months after the porn ban. Credit: Mashable / Ian Moore
Fifteen years ago, Tumblr changed the internet forever. Generation t examines its complex, colorful legacy.
When porn performer Arabelle Raphael entered the adult industry over a decade ago, she found it difficult to find work because of her tattoos. "I didn't fit the beauty standards of the porn industry back then," she told Mashable.
Then, in 2010, she joined the microblog site Tumblr โ€” and she found her audience.
"I justโ€ฆbuilt everything, my following and everything like that by myself," she said, "just running a Tumblr blog."
For Raphael and many others, Tumblr was a place to express not just sexuality, but an "alternative" sexuality not popular in the mainstream at the time: tattooed porn, LGBTQ porn, and fetish porn, sometimes inspired by a beloved TV or movie.
Prior to Tumblr's "adult content" ban in 2018, a swift decision by the company to remove all sexually explicit posts, the site was a hub for sex workers, queer kids, and anyone else who wanted to display their sexual interests alongside different aspects of their personality. There was nowhere else on the internet like Tumblr โ€” and, unfortunately, due to current and potential legislation, that's likely to stay the case.

The golden age of Tumblr porn

"There was a certain aesthetic" to Tumblr porn, explained sex worker and porn performer King Noire, who used Tumblr alongside his partner and fellow performer, Jet Setting Jasmine.
The term "Tumblr porn" is sometimes akin to "pretty porn," or explicit images with soft lighting and exquisite posing. While it's possible to find such stylistic content elsewhere, it boomed on Tumblr.
"People actually put some time, energy, and effort into something beautiful that might have just been erotic art," Noire continued. "Most people might not even label it 'pornography.'"
There was so much explicit content on Tumblr, pretty or not, that Noire didn't know there was anything else on the social network. Indeed there was

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Pub: 21 Sep 2023 05:17 UTC

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