How to Post Sex Positive Content on Social Media in 2023
I build websites and run social campaigns for all kinds of businesses — including adult performers, kink educators, and even a dungeon space in Portland,OR. That means that I have had to learn how to walk the line of each platform’s content guidelines and the potential dangers of posting on each one. Here’s what I’ve learned in the last 8 years and my best advice for 2023.
This post is dedicated to Mx Luna Izel for raising a very important question that deserved a well-researched answer.
Owning Your Audience (AKA downloading your email list)
The safest thing you can do is make sure to connect with your audience off of any platform that could potentially shut you down. While some platforms are more sex-worker and kink friendly, others have fully deplatformed sex toy manufacturers and even doctors who educate about sexual health. Gotta love that good old american puritanical non-sense and subjective ethics by tech monoliths!
If you have your own website, or even a google form you direct your social media followers to — you can collect contact information such as email, phone number, and old fashioned mailing addresses (if you’re the type to send post cards). I personally use MailerLite ←affiliate link, I get money if you click it and sign up| to keep track of my audience. I think it’s a good practice to download a csv of your audience once a month to make sure that you fully own the sign-ups and don’t lose the information if your newsletter platform decides to shut you down.
If you need a website or help setting up a contact management system, hit me up. Better safe than sorry 🤷♂️ Now let’s get to the platforms themselves.
Facebook Sexual Content Rules
Facebook is notorious for censorship of sex positive content (while being pretty down to clown with white supremacists). In my experience managing sex positive accounts, we haven’t been shut down or punished as long as we don’t do anything too explicit. Innuendos are fine. I once talked to someone on their advertising team who told me that “a picture of someone eating a banana is fine, but not if she puts it in her mouth and looks suggestively at the camera”. You also have to be careful with linking directly to sexy content, and it’s best to have a non-sexy landing page if you’re directing users to your site from social media. Midori (an amazing sex educator + kink professional) has a great example here.
To get the nitty gritty of facebook’s content guidelines, you can click here, but here’s the TLDR:
- Don’t post content showing genitals or your naked butt. Breasts are okay (even nipples) if the information is for medical purposes. Breastfeeding and post-mastectomy scaring are also okay. Paintings + sculptures of nudity are also generally allowed, but it’s a fuzzy line for where it gets too sexy.
- Don’t post images of actual sex acts Are we shocked? This includes art and video. Sometime’s its allowed if it’s educational or to make a joke. I have no idea where they draw the line on jokes, to be honest.
- Don’t go into written detail about sex. Sorry erotica writers. You’ve gotta head to twitter. Again, it’s hard to know where the line is here, but I would stick with inuendo or just find other ways to reach your customers.
Instagram Sexual Content Rules
Instagram’s sexual content rules are the same as Facebook’s. You can even show live births on instagram, if it’s for medical or educational purposes. However, the concern has been raised MANY times that white, rich, and famous people can get away with way sexier stuff on Instagram than the rest of us. If you want to read their official content guidelines, go ahead and click here.
Sort of par for the course in these “trying times” but let’s hope that eventually sex work can be treated with respect and professionalism in the future. Here’s a cool page that posts about the history of sex work. You can see in their bio how they navigate the guidelines.
Banned instagram hashtags
I also advise using this banned hashtag checker if you want to make sure you’re not breaking any rules. Some of the banned hashtags might surprise you.
Twitter Sexual Content Rules
Twitter has traditionally been the go-to online space for sex workers to find clients. You can post fully explicit videos and pictures. Talk in detail about whatever you want. Apparently, Elon Musk is even talking about a way to monetize sexual content, which is kind of wild. If you do decide to post sexy stuff on there, you have to mark it as sensitive.
To mark your media as sensitive on twitter:
1. Navigate to your safety settings
2. Check the containing material that may be sensitive option
3. Be sexy
If you don’t mark your media as sensitive, Twitter might do it manually if your content is reported.
According to twitter, the only rules they have are that the sexual content you post is fine, as long as you don’t do illegal stuff. For example, you:
- Can’t feature minors or imply that someone is a minor
- Can’t be too violent or imply non-consent
- Can’t post nudes of someone without their consent
- Can’t directly advertise sexual services
You also can’t show explicit sex during livestreams or in your banner image.
YouTube Sexual Content Rules
YouTube has strict guidelines around sexual content that are pretty clearly defined. Youtubes takes this stuff really seriously, and if you get 3 strikes, YOU’RE OUT! These guidelines apply to videos, titles, thumbnails, live streams, playlists, and comments.
YouTube’s rules are much the same as Facebook’s. Basically…
- You can post sexy stuff if it’s artistic or educational
- No kids, no violence
- No pornography
You’re probably not shocked to learn they made a video about it.
After discussing this with some sex positive clients of mine, we discussed some ideas for storytelling and education as a way to let folks know that you do adult work, without explicitly depicting or advertising it. If you’re a dominatrix, you could also boss people around on youtube shorts without needing to reveal anything, but let people fall in love with your personality and style. Get creative! I believe in you! And you can always reach out if you need some help coming up with ideas.
LinkedIn Content Policy for Sex Workers
This might shock you, but I have it on very good authority that some sex workers do quite well on LinkedIn. I mean… you can target people based on geographic location and job title. You can get creative with storytelling and sharing your expertise as a business person on your feed, and you never know who might show up in your DMs.
Just like the other platforms, LinkedIn’s adult policy is basically — no kids, no violence, no explicit pornography.
Also, thanks to Oliva LaRue for this hot tip: LinkedIn considers phrases like “text me” “contact me” and “visit my website” as solicitation, even if you are a legal sex worker. So if you are posting on LinkedIn about your sex positive business, be careful about your CTAs (Calls to Action). To stay safe, focus more on getting comments on your posts and then reaching out to individuals who engage with you often.
LinkedIn has a very strict policy around sexual harassment, which is actually great news. So, keep your content focused on the business side of what you do, make some friends, and see what happens. I’m no expert, but I can put you in touch with one, if you’re interested.
Also, this is a rule for EVERYONE on linkedin… don’t share links in your posts. LinkedIn doesn’t like it when you send people off their site. Comment on people’s stuff in a meaningful way, go to events, make friends, and you never know who you might connect with.
TikTok’s Sexual Content Policy
While there are rumors that tiktok is going to add an 18+ option, for now they have been cracking down on sexy content.
Tiktok has the same policies as the other platforms. No sexual violence, no sex with minors, no non-consensual revenge nudes. But also apparently they say that you can’t have “erotic kissing” or “sexual arousal”. But you can be an unrepentant f-boy or post completely innacurate tiktok advice, based on what I’ve seen. So… who knows. It’s a grey area, try to stay on the “not-banned side of it” and hold out for the 18+ option. For now, similar to youtube — focus on storytelling and education, make friends, and see what kind of conversations you can start.
Personally, I’m not too confident TikTok will be a long-term sustainable platform anyway, but if you LIKE making videos, it can be fun to spend time there. You’re likely to get more engagement in your comment section there than instagram, and you can even post carousels there now. So, time will tell, I suppose.
Conclusion
Basically, you can be hot on the internet anywhere you want, just don’t show people your junk or go into toooooo much detail about sexual services or steamy storytelling. You can share tips and tricks related to sexual health and think outside the box to show off your dominatrix skills without tripping the radar. Always stay safe out there, never disclose your location, and make sure you have a customer management system that you can download monthly, in case you get deplatformed.
That’s probably more than enough info for now, but if you DESPERATELY want to know more about posting sexy content on tumblr, reddit, snapchat, pinterest, or even web3 decentralized social, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add to this.
Have a great day!
xoxo
Chuck C
www.magicalweirdo.com
@magicalweirdoChuck on instagram, tiktok, and youtube