Ode to LGBTQ defamation on StumbleUpon...
I'm very angry, having just discovered the way that StumbleUpon lets users differentiate between what is Safe For Work and Not Safe For Work and anything LGBTQ-related seems to fall under NSFW. I've written to GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), and I wanted to post my letter to them explaining the situation and I'd love this to get spread around and eventually - hopefully - rectified on StumbleUpon.
I'm not sure if this is something that is already of attention, old news that I've just heard of, or something that doesn't fall under the umbrella of GLAADs concerns (that is not meant to read as rude or critical, I honestly am not sure if this counts) But it as literally JUST come to my attention that the popular social media site StumbleUpon.com is categorizing anything LGBTQ-related as "Not safe for work (NSFW)".
There are not many options for the "not safe for work" label, but most of them are not the expected actually NSFW categories. The list of options, in full & in order is:
-Adult Humor
-BDSM
-Bisexual Culture***
-Bisexual Sex*
-Erotic Literature
-Fetish Sexuality
-Gay Culture***
-Gay Sex*
-Hentai Anime
-Lesbian Culture***
-Lesbian Sex*
-Lingerie
-Nude Art
-Pornography
-Sex Industry
-Sex Toys
-Sexuality***
-Swingers
-Transexual Sex*
*-anything I've marked with one asterisk, is something I find potentially understandable, but still find GLARING problems with. Clearly StumbleUpon are stating that specifically only non-heterosexual sex is unsafe. I think we all know that as far as NSFW websites are concerned, anything with sex is probably what you want to avoid, so really it should just have a generic "Sex". In addition, in the Safe For Work category, they have "Sexual Health" as an option.
***-anything with three asterisks are the obviously offensive items that I'm mainly here to bring to your attention. I'm not going to go into details, because it's FAR too obvious what is wrong with considering these topics as NSFW. But I will say that, by far, the most offensive aspect of this list is the presence of "_________ Culture". The implication that ANYTHING to do with Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Culture is sexually explicit and equal to pornography is so infuriating, I'm surprised I'm managing to type anything coherent at all. And let's not leave unmentioned the fact that, according to StumbleUpon, there is no Transexual Culture, whatsoever.
This implies that any StumbleUpon user could mark anything LGBTQ-related as NSFW, and therefore limiting un-knowing parties from seeing something potentially important. Obama talking about the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell = Gay/Lesbian Culture. Stephen Fry's twitter page = Gay Culture. So, how is it that anything involving, for example, Race isn't in the "not safe for work" category, yet Gay, Lesbian & Transgender CULTURE is? Would it be okay to add "Negro culture" to the NSFW category? What about "Female culture"? This is outrageous, and I have written to their feedback address, and I know I can't be the first to write to them or GLAAD about this, but I don't know what else to do, and I can't just let this happen!
Please let me know what you think, or if I've come to the wrong place and if so, where else I should go instead. Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
[my name]
Please reblog if you're on Tumblr, or alert me if I'm really late to this really shitty party and just don't know, etc.
ETA: I've searched the StumbleUpon Public Support Forums, and found only one comment regarding this issue (linked here):
ORIGINAL COMMENT:
Hello,
I've been away from stumbleupon for a long time and wanted to go back on stumbling but then, reviewing my interests, I noticed both gay, bisexual and lesbian culture is in the adult section. meanwhile, interests like matchmaking, dating tips and men's and women's issues are in society. this both bewildered and frustrated me as I believe that something is wrong. gay culture ain't adult. gay sex probably is (so keep it there) but gay culture? And as far as I can remember stumbleupon has some kind of a -18 filter so any "sensitive" problems shouldn't be a problem by default. Any valid explanation for this?
RESPONSE FROM COMMUNITY SUPPORT ENGINEER:
as you probably already know, the majority of our content is user-submitted and user-categorised; while we do indeed have a separate 'gay sex' topic, the percentage of pornographic content submitted to the various LGBTQ culture topics is high enough that we have to put them in the r-rated topic grouping.
RESPONSE FROM OFFICIAL REP:
It is really infortunate because we totally agree with you, vasco.ac! But until people properly use the category as they should, we are forced to make this choice because on the flip side that means we would show pornographic content to people under 18, which is against the law.
I replied with a shorter version of the above letter and this to add: "...it's severely insulting to so many people to sweep [this] under the table by blaming the users of mis-categorizing pornography when really it's their fault for even creating these options to begin with."
What do you guys think? Am I overeacting? Is GLAAD the right place to go to about these things? In general, what are your opinions??
Angrily,
Jamie
I'm not sure if this is something that is already of attention, old news that I've just heard of, or something that doesn't fall under the umbrella of GLAADs concerns (that is not meant to read as rude or critical, I honestly am not sure if this counts) But it as literally JUST come to my attention that the popular social media site StumbleUpon.com is categorizing anything LGBTQ-related as "Not safe for work (NSFW)".
There are not many options for the "not safe for work" label, but most of them are not the expected actually NSFW categories. The list of options, in full & in order is:
-Adult Humor
-BDSM
-Bisexual Culture***
-Bisexual Sex*
-Erotic Literature
-Fetish Sexuality
-Gay Culture***
-Gay Sex*
-Hentai Anime
-Lesbian Culture***
-Lesbian Sex*
-Lingerie
-Nude Art
-Pornography
-Sex Industry
-Sex Toys
-Sexuality***
-Swingers
-Transexual Sex*
*-anything I've marked with one asterisk, is something I find potentially understandable, but still find GLARING problems with. Clearly StumbleUpon are stating that specifically only non-heterosexual sex is unsafe. I think we all know that as far as NSFW websites are concerned, anything with sex is probably what you want to avoid, so really it should just have a generic "Sex". In addition, in the Safe For Work category, they have "Sexual Health" as an option.
***-anything with three asterisks are the obviously offensive items that I'm mainly here to bring to your attention. I'm not going to go into details, because it's FAR too obvious what is wrong with considering these topics as NSFW. But I will say that, by far, the most offensive aspect of this list is the presence of "_________ Culture". The implication that ANYTHING to do with Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Culture is sexually explicit and equal to pornography is so infuriating, I'm surprised I'm managing to type anything coherent at all. And let's not leave unmentioned the fact that, according to StumbleUpon, there is no Transexual Culture, whatsoever.
This implies that any StumbleUpon user could mark anything LGBTQ-related as NSFW, and therefore limiting un-knowing parties from seeing something potentially important. Obama talking about the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell = Gay/Lesbian Culture. Stephen Fry's twitter page = Gay Culture. So, how is it that anything involving, for example, Race isn't in the "not safe for work" category, yet Gay, Lesbian & Transgender CULTURE is? Would it be okay to add "Negro culture" to the NSFW category? What about "Female culture"? This is outrageous, and I have written to their feedback address, and I know I can't be the first to write to them or GLAAD about this, but I don't know what else to do, and I can't just let this happen!
Please let me know what you think, or if I've come to the wrong place and if so, where else I should go instead. Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
[my name]
Please reblog if you're on Tumblr, or alert me if I'm really late to this really shitty party and just don't know, etc.
ETA: I've searched the StumbleUpon Public Support Forums, and found only one comment regarding this issue (linked here):
ORIGINAL COMMENT:
Hello,
I've been away from stumbleupon for a long time and wanted to go back on stumbling but then, reviewing my interests, I noticed both gay, bisexual and lesbian culture is in the adult section. meanwhile, interests like matchmaking, dating tips and men's and women's issues are in society. this both bewildered and frustrated me as I believe that something is wrong. gay culture ain't adult. gay sex probably is (so keep it there) but gay culture? And as far as I can remember stumbleupon has some kind of a -18 filter so any "sensitive" problems shouldn't be a problem by default. Any valid explanation for this?
RESPONSE FROM COMMUNITY SUPPORT ENGINEER:
as you probably already know, the majority of our content is user-submitted and user-categorised; while we do indeed have a separate 'gay sex' topic, the percentage of pornographic content submitted to the various LGBTQ culture topics is high enough that we have to put them in the r-rated topic grouping.
RESPONSE FROM OFFICIAL REP:
It is really infortunate because we totally agree with you, vasco.ac! But until people properly use the category as they should, we are forced to make this choice because on the flip side that means we would show pornographic content to people under 18, which is against the law.
I replied with a shorter version of the above letter and this to add: "...it's severely insulting to so many people to sweep [this] under the table by blaming the users of mis-categorizing pornography when really it's their fault for even creating these options to begin with."
What do you guys think? Am I overeacting? Is GLAAD the right place to go to about these things? In general, what are your opinions??
Angrily,
Jamie