It's kinda funny/sad... I'm a #toplessEquality #freeTheNipple activist ("seeking to destigmatize the sight of nonsexual female nipples so that maybe someday we can have the right to go topless in public and online that men get) but I rarely feel like posting any topless photos or videos online anymore...

Part of that is because we're in winter now and it's effin cold, part is because even when I pre-censor the hell out of my content before posting to mainstream platforms, it still gets banned--see www.toplesstopics.org/banned for receipts 🙃)
But mostly it's because I HATE giving the pornbots anything new to blatantly disregard the purpose of my content by unabashedly spanking the monkey to it. I'm stuck in such an effin catch-22; because American (and most world cultures) view female nipples as *sexually explicit nudity," then if they do see female nipples, they treat them as sexually explicit nudity, regardless of context or consent. And it's certainly not helped that the only place I CAN post my nonsexual female nipples where more than ten people can see them (a slight exaggeration, but that's what it feels like on mastodon and Peertube 😜) is on sites INTENDED FOR PORN... I can only state so many times that "my nipples are not on display for your sexual pleasure," but people don't go to porn sites looking for nonsexual content, so of course the vast majority of people who stumble onto my content on porn sites treat it as, well, porn.

Gender-based #censorship is so blatantly absurd and #sexist / #misogynist (not to mention transphobic - at what point in transition does someone "look male" or "look female" enough to lose the right to go topless in public and online?) that I can't help wondering why more people don't question this status quo, and especially speak out about it. Pretty much any time I talk to a millennial or younger (rarely but sometimes, Gen x or boomer 😋) they go "yeah you're right, it doesn't make sense!" but then that's the end of it, conversation over. They don't have the interest or will in bringing it up to anyone else, or posting about it on their own social media. So while do greatly appreciate the words of support, it remains depressing that the only one actually putting her neck on the line (as far as posting my actual tits to the internet, where I get stalked, doxxed, shamed, discriminated against, and possibly even endure threats to have my children taken away by CPS) seems to be me.

Even just in words only.

How do I galvanize people enough to make their own original comments about this, even just a text post? I KNOW it's risky to let your friends, families and coworkers know that you believe in something as radical as "people who 'look female' shouldn't have their chests invariably banned from viewing outside of explicit sexual situations if people who 'look male' don't" but like, even an anonymous account...?

Anyway. Time to get ready for my livestream on a sex site so I can try to appeal to people going to a sex site looking for sex content to not treat my nipples as spank bank material for sex. 😩

I'm currently outside in 90+ degree weather, #gardening #mowing and picking up dog poop on preparation for the kids' birthday party this weekend and I sure wish I could take my shirt off in this heat exactly like my husband and male children, but alas we live in a #sexist #misgynist society controlled by #thePatriarchy who have decreed that "female looking nipples are sexually explicit" while "male looking nipples" aren't, and I don't want our trumper neighbors recording me for "child abuse" just for being topless in front of my kids 🙃

#feminism #genderEquality #censorship #freethenipple #toplessequality

Meme I quickly made about responses to the ongoing discussion about #searchability on the #fediverse. As a #contentCreator and #activist for #toplessEquality--which gets me banned repeatedly on all mainstream platforms even when I DO censor out my heinous female nipples (see https://www.toplesstopics.org/banned for receipts!), a primary motivator for me to use platforms like #mastodon is to be able to spread the word about #GenderEquality anti- #censorship among more potential supporters. But the lack of #searchability on Masto makes this very hard. I'm dependent on existing followers to boost my posts so others following -them- can see it, etc, but for whatever reason very few of my existing followers do. I also can't really find posts by other people outside of my instance and the people I'm following--like I've never seen another post about #vidcon besides my own, so I have no idea if anyone else on the fediverse is even messaging about it.

#Consent is of course a cornerstone of the fediverse experience, including someone consenting to whether or not they want a certain kind of content to pop up in their feeds. And having #contentWarnings and #altText encouraged if not required by most instances makes this place leagues more of a safe space for marginalized and/or traumatized people in a way that they cannot experience on mainstream platforms. But this can be very time-consuming and cumbersome, both remembering to add CWs and Alt Text to everything, coming up with custom text every time, and also on the end of it--when you follow enough people (or check out the public timelines) pressing "show content" over and over and over on each post gets REALLY annoying. But again, I'd rather have that tedium then have to subject myself to content that I find really triggering (for me, it's pretty much anything to do with kids and #gunViolence...I live in America where my kids are at risk of getting shot every day they go to school, and while I want to stay informed, I also need some mental prep before I look/read too much about it). And I know for others who have even more triggers, especially around things that the majority of people wouldn't find triggering (like pictures of food), then again, the fediverse is leagues better than the "normal" sites.

But back to searchability, as a veteran Twitter user (I cold-turkey quit in November, don't worry) I am well versed in how dealing with reactionary bullies who can take a tweet out of context and share it with their thousands if not millions of followers to dunk on you all at once. It can also open you up to a lot of haters in general, who will search out content like yours to leave hateful comments (like the comment sections of my Tiktok/Instagram/Youtube posts any time I mention #gunControl ...) BUT, even for content that I WANT people to find--primarily my topless equality content--again, it only shows up if followers of mine boost it to their own followers, and that's a very small niche. The only way we can ever hope to normalize gender-equal topless rights is if there are enough people putting pressure on social media sites and lawmakers to change their policies, and that requires a groundswell of support that's just not possible in isolated communities like Masto currently is. So I would LOVE some more methods for searchability, for people outside of my instance to find my content--and for me to find theirs.

I'm not a programmer, so I don't know how difficult this would be in reality. But the solution seems to me to be creating a searchable index, but making it opt-in only--accoounts like mine can opt-in to be found by people searching for #topless (who thereby might be influenced to think about topless equality, not just searching for porn), while others who want to keep their content protected (maybe searchable among their followers who they already trust, but not to the world wide web) can stay in the default opt-out status until they choose otherwise.

I've seen a few mentions of projects in the works LIKE this, but haven't seen one that's all the way working yet. If there's one that's mostly in working order, please recommend it! I'd love to give it a try.