Tumblr updates community guidelines as its management allows NSFW, naked human form and female-presenting nipples again

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Tumblr updates community guidelines as its management allows NSFW, naked human form and female-presenting nipples. (Read More Here).

Tumblr has made an update it hinted at in September, changing its rules to allow nudity — but not sexually explicit images — on the platform.

The company updated its community guidelines earlier today, laying out a set of rules that stops short of its earlier permissive attitude toward sexuality but that formally allows a wider range of imagery. “We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form). So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label,” the post says. “Visual depictions of sexually explicit acts remain off-limits on Tumblr.”

A help center post and the community guidelines offer a little more detail. They say that “text, images, and videos that contain nudity, offensive language, sexual themes, or mature subject matter” is allowed on Tumblr, but “visual depictions of sexually explicit acts (or content with an overt focus on genitalia)” aren’t. There’s an exception for “historically significant art that you may find in a mainstream museum and which depicts sex acts — such as from India’s Śuṅga Empire,” although it must be labeled with a mature content or “sexual themes” tag so that users can filter it from their dashboards.

“Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome. We’re not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer,” say the community guidelines. However, users can’t post links or ads to “adult-oriented affiliate networks,” they can’t advertise “escort or erotic services,” and they can’t post content that “promotes pedophilia,” including “sexually suggestive” content with images of children.

Though Tumblr had a thriving NSFW community in its heyday, its 2018 ban on adult content gutted the blogging platform and led to a drastic drop in traffic of nearly 30 percent. Today’s announcement appears to be trying to undo some of that damage, and re-establish Tumblr as a sex-positive place where nudity is allowed and embraced.

“We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form),” Tumblr said in a post on its staff blog.

“So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label so that everyone remains in control of the types of content they see on their dash.”

Introduced in September, Community Labels allow Tumblr users to mark their content as depicting drug and alcohol addiction, violence, or sexual themes — including “erotic writing or imagery.” 

“Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome,” reads Tumblr’s Community Guidelines, newly updated today. “We’re not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer.”

This doesn’t mean Tumblr is letting users go balls to the wall on posting porn. “Visual depictions of sexually explicit acts” as well as “content with an overt focus on genitalia” are still firmly forbidden, so any actual action will have to remain implicit. However, the platform does make an exception for “historically significant” images of people going at it, such as those you might find in a “mainstream museum,” as long as the appropriate Community Label has been applied.

It’s unclear whether this pass extends to historically significant art that depicts bestiality, such as 1814 Japanese block print The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife or an ancient Roman statue of god Pan with a goat. Tumblr’s Community Guidelines still explicitly prohibit bestiality under “violent content and threats, gore and mutilation.”