Prudish Tumblr Puritans

I logged into my Tumblr account this evening, as I was getting an error from IFTTT regarding automatic posting. I send my Instagram feed direct to Tumblr, as it’s a real time-saver.

Looking at the Tumblr admin panel, I clicked on the ‘Review flagged posts’ to discover that an intentionally blurred photo from the 2018 World Naked Bike Ride in London has been removed.

I want to be clear: it was a mess of blurred flesh colours and nothing bar my face was in focus. But still, it’s been removed my Tumblr. I’ve previously written about their puritan streak when it comes to the human form and their mis-guided focus on removing nudity, as opposed to stolen porn.

And this isn’t the first time they’ve challenged innocent photos I’d shared on the platform. Honestly, I think they have an algorithm tuned to fleshy colours and ban anything even remotely resembling a buttock automatically.

Anyway, their loss. I thought it was quite a good picture – do you know how hard it is to take a photo at WNBR and avoid all the penises?! So here it is for posterity.

I’ve no idea how long it’s been banned, as it’s been quite a while since I last logged in. Who knows when I’d have noticed if I hadn’t encountered the IFTTT snafu.

I’m more amused than annoyed. I’m sure Tumblr has their hands full (pardon the pun) battling the penises and ‘female presenting nipples’ coming at them from all directions. But really…it’s 2020. Aren’t we going to grow up when it comes to the human form and just get over ourselves?

(Photo by Charles on Unsplash)