What’s a Smut Peddler to Do These Days?
upstart writes:
With platforms caving to pressure from payment processors, adult content creators are left to figure out what's next.
Ash Parrishis a reporter who covers the business, culture, and communities of video games, with a focus on marginalized gamers and the quirky, horny culture of video game communities.
In the aftermath of itch.io pulling the sale of over 20,000 pages of adult content, the creators of that work are left feeling betrayed, exhausted, and fearful. The number of platforms that permit the sale of adult material is shrinking, and there's no guarantee the ones that remain will still permit it in the future. But now, with their livelihoods at stake, many creators and their communities have begun to push back and search for new ways to thrive.
"Before [itch.io], the NSFW comics community would grouse and complain and share feelings of anxiety," said Brad Guigar, a smut comic artist. "This time around, we're actually doing something about it."
For some, that means organizing massive call campaigns to pressure payment processors to reverse course and allow itch.io to host the content it had before. Others have decided to abandon the fickleness of platforms for their own websites. And yet others have decided that if they can't sell their game directly, they'll just make it free.
To some creators, the most disheartening thing about itch.io removing thousands of pages of adult content is that it's relatively unsurprising. The storefront is one of several in recent years that have embraced adult content only to shun it later when payment processors start asking questions. They've now found themselves booted from platform to platform, moving from Tumblr to Patreon to Gumroad, only to have the rug pulled out from under them each time.
"This time around, we're actually doing something about it."
When adult creators are regularly forced to find new places for their work, their business overall suffers. "I can never get ahead," said PixelJail, a creator who makes BDSM and other kink-related comics and illustrations. "I have to stop doing paid work to set up new accounts, backlog posting, pay for new subscriptions or services" and other administrative tasks.
PixelJail has now opted to set up their own websites. But even without the burden of conforming to a platform's rules, having one's own website isn't a guarantee of absolute safety. In the UK, where PixelJail lives, the recently implemented Online Safety Act requires that online platforms have "strong age checks" in place to prevent children from accessing pornographic or "harmful" content.
"I had to geoblock my websites in the UK, including my webstore," PixelJail said, meaning they no longer sell their work in their own country.
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