It's been a while since I posted anything in the NSFW category and I feel it's time for a general discussion about the lack of support for photographers and artists that share their work "requiring" the nsfw tag. The conversation is being sparked by the buzz around the upcoming VICE platform that will cater to content related to the adult industry.
In my early days on Steemit I was happy to know that nudity and topics of sexuality were not banned from the platform, although I quickly found how censored content tagged as nsfw actually was.
Bodies As Art
As a photographer I have done countless photo shoots for models (and non-models) looking for glamour and artistic nude photos to add to a portfolio, or give to their significant other as a gift, etc. For me, nudity and the human form is both a non-issue (bodies are bodies) and a source of artistic expression. So I was happy to know there was a community where I could share my work and get feedback from other photographers and people who could appreciate my photography for what it was - a form of artistic expression.
I did not feel "Not Safe For Work" as a general label for porn was appropriate for professional artistic nude photography, paintings, or art. However, I was required to add that tag or face flagging backlash from others on Steemit.
Contests
I entered photography contests almost every week in my first few months on Steemit, many of the contest were in the nsfw category. I did well against a very competitive field of other great photographers who really had an eye for capturing beautifully creative pictures using the human form as a central focal point.
Underwater Projects
I also created a series of posts showcasing my underwater photography projects and detailing how I captured the images and what camera settings were used to help others who may be interested.
Common Reaction
So what did all these posts have in common? A lack of support by the my followers and the Steemit community at large. I would get 4X the post views, but 1/4 the number of upvotes I would usually get for any of my other posts, and the only people to comment would be other photographers... or the typical "nice post" bot replies.
The crazy thing was how many people would comment privately in Discord about how much they loved my photography, how incredible my underwater images were, etc - but that did not translate into votes by any of them. In fact, over time time a lot of my solid base of followers stop voted for anything I posted. I have no idea if my willingness to share my artistic nude photography turned them away, or if the change in voting rules with HF19 played a bigger role. However, about a month after my last nsfw post my core following upvote group increased. So who knows.
It was amazing to see my true fan base follow through supporting my nsfw posts to the end and still be around supporting me today. It was also amazing to see how the "negative stigma" of porn and nudity could act to censor an limit the reach of artistic post like I was creating.
The silver lining to all this was the fact I won a lot of contests which earned me Whaleshare Tokens I could use to upvote the posts that had such miserable support. Just like I will do for this post. But, in time I figured it wasn't worth the effort to share things that were enjoyed by many, but supported by so few.
Whatever!
It was only a matter of time before we say the development of an "adult industry" crypto-based platform spring up. Soon the VICE platform, based on a fork of the STEEM blockchain, will launch and embrace all things nsfw and give photographers and artists like myself a place to share our work and receive the support we should have gotten here on Steemit.
We are just 5 months away from the launch of this new platform that will merge the social community features of Steemit with the uncensored world of the adult industry. Since I am not in the "porn industry" by any stretch of the imagination, I am hoping to at least find a place on VICE to showcase my human form/nude photography.
Meanwhile, I have reserved my place on the token distribution whitelist. I will be ready to leverage a MUCH LARGER voting power to support others in the community on VICE when it goes live.
Let me know what you think, please leave your comments below.
As always, please upvote this post and follow me if you like my work and want to see more.
If you think others will enjoy this
Please ReSteem it!
Thanks for reading!
My nsfw content is not better or worse in terms of monetisation than any other.
But anyhow I looking forward for this Vice project.
It depends on the metrics you base that on...
Ropefest NSFW = 13 votes with 81 views
Freindsday = 13 votes with 20 views
Many more people view your NSFW posts without voting for them. Which is kind of the point. if your vote/view ratio was the same for nsfw you would earn a lot more on them.
Hmmm... you got the point
hi @steempowerpics I love your work. I think it is silly that we have to group all content into one pile of not safe for work... work is not safe for people :) I hope the Vice platform gives more support to artists like yourself. The body is a beautiful form we all have one and we should get over being ashamed of it. Thank you for stepping out and sharing your work. I appreciate it and and am not scared to post replies on NSFW.... best of luck my friend.
I appreciate the kind words and support. True, work is not safe for people :-) It has been crazy to watch how people have become so polarized on topics here on Steemit when it started out as such a great place to share and interact in genuine back/forth conversations. Thanks for stepping out as well to comment on the topic.
You are welcome... I was marked as not safe for work years ago... had to fire my boss was taking up too much of my time. :) As this world of steem grows I think we will all find a nice audience that matches what we love to do.... Keep posting I keep voting :)
Really great work. I think maybe some of the aversion to commenting and upvoting on "nsfw" is the possibility of people outing themselves as "pervs" or something. Because Steemit is reputation based it might cause a bit of swing away from commenting, especially if the commenter in question doesn't have anything really valuable to say. But I ain't scurred:) I hope Vice Token brings the reputation and income you deserve. Great work @steempowerpics
So silly how we all think that "what if others" fill in the blank.... I share stuff that I find on NSFW with my love @unityeagle we are both open minded adults that love the sexy body of a human. So if that affects my rep so be it. :)
You're so nice for commenting on this post. For that, I gave you a vote!
liking sex isn't perverted. people need to flip the script on that repressive narrative. <3
Yep, it's been interesting to see how things played out here on Steemit and how I ended up censoring myself and leaving this type of content out of my normal posting cycles. I appreciate your support and look forward to what VICE and other platforms bring to the table later this year.
Cheers!
Iβm glad I grew up in a society where nude and sex are no taboo. I personally believe that sexuality is the purest form of art that exist.
And come on we are all born naked.
Iβm from the Netherlands and over here we are very open minded about this subject but when I started engaging with Americans I noticed with them itβs often still not done to talk open about it and everything gets censored on tv but at the same time they get overloaded with violence. I rather see that more censored.
So please keep sharing and talking about your amazing and stunning pieces of art.
I agree 100% - they should censor violence and ease up on the taboo of the human body. But... body shaming and gender inequality drive billion dollar clothing, lingerie and cosmetic industries here in the states. My wife and I, and a few of our friends, are care-free on the topic opt to clothing option beaches when we find them. But like you said most people here are too closed-minded.
Yes so true one day itβs all gonna change because more and more people start to wake up.
And decentralized platforms can be very useful to achieve this
And soon we will have a platform in Vice that is going to be lots of FUN!
honestly. what does "not safe for work" even mean? get to work. what the fuck are you doing looking at blogs and stuff? lol
i've been on the shit end of this stick recently in my community... and let me tell you, policing ariolas isn't very productive for any blockchain.
it's a pretty common occurence for a site to build themselves up using porn, then casting them aside once they "have 35 million users, and many of them children..." - i suppose in that respect, we could thank steemit for not being kind to us from the beginning. lolol ;D
Very true, that's been the debate and uphill battle even from when I joined 7 months ago. People pouncing on me telling me I needed to tag my photography as "nswf". It's like well just skip over and don't open my post at work - you can see the main image and title says "Underwater Nude Photography". LOL
At least it will all have a home on VICE if they build it correctly.
Thank you for sharing your experience and of course the exquisite photos. Using the nsfw tag was actually quite different for me. Facebook had given me a hard time, whenever I posted a painting with a female (!) nipple, so I quite enjoyed a more free environment like this one here.
In my earlier posts I used the tag frequently, due to my experiences with fb and it almost seemed as if I got more votes with it than my "regular" posts... however my artists friends almost always ridiculed the use of the tag in my "harmless" posts, only showing painted nudity... which I guess is safer for work then ;-)
I'm curious how VICE will improve the situation...
Absolutely beautiful pictures - actually, I cannot understand, how such pictures can be NSFW.
Thank you. I appreciate the support.
We as a society are unfortunately sex negative. We see the human form as something to be ashamed of. Believe me, you're not the only person who's bothered by it.
I suspect there's some discomfort with making public votes on nsfw material. The blockchain is forever and completely open for the public to analyze.
It'll be interesting to see how this Vice turns out. Maybe it'll be the digital equivalent of that place in the back of dad's sock drawer where he keeps the magazines he thinks nobody knows about.
LOL nice. It will be interesting.
HECK YES!
to like everything <3
You have great photo, let's hope the NSFW or "adult" community grows and the mainstream starts to embrace such beautiful pieces of art. I've also reserved my spot on Vice, it's one of those things that, in m opinion, will either do very well or go bust. Hopefully the former ;)
@shonariver @azzurra92
Very true. Hopefully the former indeed! It will be interesting to see how it plays out in June for the launch. I'm still waiting to get answers on how the initial tokens will be distributed to us, all vested in as "vice power", liquid funds we can move, or a mix.
If i have actually learnt nothing here, i am sure i learnt to keep my nsfw setting right! There is actually nothing wrong with having a good of View of great images of the most valuable being on the planet.
The nsfw settings would definitely stay on as i look foward to more. My vote might not count much but i voted all the same! Lols
Perfect timing for your posting on this topic, I have just released my first "soft-core" NSFW post (not tagged, as it has no explicit media) to introduce my ambition to remove more of this stigma around sexuality. I plan on creating content about many aspects of sexuality: anatomy, physiology, products, protection. I want to celebrate women's sexuality in particular, however plan to address relationships so the guys will get some love as well.
This is the first I'm hearing about VICE and am excited to know that my content will have a like minded community to call home, I believe it is important to keep my project active on steemit to reach people who may have inaccurate or a lack of information on a topic that has many long-lasting consequences of inexperience/misinformation. I approach this topic as I do all others, as a skeptic, and therefore will provide peer-reviewed evidence as possible. I hope my content will reach enough people despite the NSFW tag that the images and videos will certainly require.
Interesting, I will keep an eye out for you future posts.
ViceToken.com, crowdfund sale is Feb 1st, unfortunately using ETH for that, but what can ya do. It promises to be a very cool platform and a good home for all things "nsfw" by association. :-)
Thank you for your feedback on the subject.
I'm actually hearing about vice for the first time...
Thanks a lot for mentioning. I promise to keep am eye out for the CFS(I love ICO more).
You know about the art form called body painting?
I'm making a post on it based on the works of Craig Tracy and it'll be up by evening.
Sad that I'll have to mark it as NSFW.. But what can I do?
I loved your post.
Well said post I don't believe many photographers are getting the up votes they deserve on steemit I am struggling to get the up-votes and in the end you think why bother to be fair I might as well keep posting on Instagram and Twitter ect. I would of thought when I joined steemit and posted what they class as NSFW images they would of had a better reaction than what I was getting and still am it's rather fustrating when you spend time and effort on the content posted not only from the shoots themselves and then to post processing to eventually posting the content on steemit to see people stealing images and posting them and getting more up votes than you..... Rant over . I have followed and up voted you and look forward to more posts keep up the good work .
This is an interesting point. I too have wished many times that there was some sort of distinction in nsfw that separates art from porn. I suppose it's in the eye of the beholder.
Thank you for this important topic and values I share the same opinion and sense because I am a painter and long time I was longing to find areas like that gave me it will be named to express the sexual drawings in my imagination and which I consider a mere space for the solution and here I find what I used Here at Stemit
Your photography wonderful..
Thanks for proving my point!
You're so nice for commenting on this post. For that, I gave you a vote!
Great... creativities
excelente @steempowercics
amazing
very good post (Y)