WHAT'S AT STAKE WHEN SEX IS DEPLATFORMED?

Abstract

Although sex an essential part of the human experience, there are increasing attempts to remove it from social media. This paper brings together two researchers’ extensive research (~ 50 total interviews between 2011 and 2020, an extended 2011 to 2018 ethnography with a community of NSFW bloggers on Tumblr, and a year-long observation of multiple sex related Reddit communities) with people who have incorporated various social media platforms and apps into their sex lives. Out of the analysis of this material, we argue that analyses relying on people’s lived experiences mandate a sex-positive but platform-critical approach to sex on social media, where sex deserves to be part of social media for consenting adults.