Do you make SFM featuring hypnotized video game chicks downing their tongues deep into a sticky pink donut hole? Or perhaps you make drawings of lovely monster girls under the magical spell of a lascivious wizard who forces her to lick the dripping cream off a moist cookie? Well, you won’t be able to make that kind of content for your patrons on Patreon anymore, because the company now considers those kind of topics “coerced consent”.
Sankaku Complex collected a number of cases involving artists who had to regretfully inform their audiences that erotic hypnosis is no longer on the table as far as content creation is concerned.
Twitter user Meek posted up the response he received from Patreon informing him that he had to remove his erotic hypnosis content because it was perceived by Patreon as “coerced consent”. The tweet was posted on May 30th, 2019.
— Meek (@anothermeekone) May 30, 2019
If you’re unable to view the message image from Patreon, it reads…
“My name is Blake and I’m on the Trust & Safety team here at Patreon. I’m writing to inform you that your account violating our Community Guidelines.
|Per our guidelines, we have zero tolerance for the glorification of sexual violence, and this includes depictions of sexualized minors, non-consensual sex – such as coerced consent (e.g. blackmail scenarios, “hypnosis”, drugging, or “consent” obtained through deceit), incest, and bestiality.
“This extends to any short or loli content, since this type of content exclusively references characters who are minors.
“Please remove this type of content from your page and let me know when you have done so – if you have any questions during this process, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m happy to help.”
In a follow-up tweet Meek attempted to further negotiate and reason with Patreon about the issue, but it was all to no avail. Patreon responded by saying that even animated content that glorifies non-consensual activity through “hypnosis”, “drugging”, or “consent” obtained through “deceit” was off the table. Meek updated his followers about the rules after receiving a response on June 6th, 2019.
Hey guys, sorry to bring this up again–it’ll be the last time–but a lot of people asked me to triple-check and attempt to negotiate getting bopped on Patreon.
Yes, it’s a real email, and yes, there’s no negotiating. Patreon don’t allow hypnokink on there. 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/XSs2NqxQN9
— Meek (@anothermeekone) June 6, 2019
It turns out that if you actually visit the Patreon community guidelines page there’s nothing there even hinting at erotic hypnotic content being banned.
However, it turns out that this was silently added to Patreon’s policies behind the scenes, as it was told to the Daily Dot by a Patreon representative on July 12th, 2019, where they stated…
“[A] violation of our policy is when hypnosis is used as a coercion mechanic for nonconsensual [sexual content], typically in a fictional scenario, at which point we consider it to be a glorification of sexual violence.
“We also do not allow other fringe sexual fetish creations, such as incest, necrophilia, or fetish creations that is hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex. When a creator’s account is placed under review, we work 1:1 with the creator to bring them back within guidelines, as was the case with the creator you mentioned in your email.”
As noted by Sankaku, various other Patreon artists making content themed around erotic hypnosis were also hit by the policy enforcement, informing their audiences that their accounts were under review.
Welp, my Patreon is under review. That was fun while it lasted.
— HypnoticHarlequin (@Hypno_Harlequin) June 9, 2019
And like, yeah, I could still write without it. But prior to the Patreon I was doing about a chapter every two years; with Patreon I was doing two chapters a month.
Realistically? None of what I was planning to write is likely to see the light of day now.
— Jennifer Kohl (@midorikonton) May 31, 2019
Patreon gave me those. Now it’s arbitrarily taking them away because it’s squeamish about my fetish.
— Jennifer Kohl (@midorikonton) May 31, 2019
Basically what started with a crackdown on fringe porn back in October of 2017 has slowly escalated, like all forms of censorship do.
They then began cracking down on users who committed “hate speech” off-site, which saw Milo Yiannopoulos, James Allsup, and Sargon of Akkad banned for reasons shrouded in opaqueness.
Studio FOW was hit in late 2018 by Patreon, along with other porn artists, and now the rules have extended once more, this time targeting those who make fringe art and content themed around erotic hypnosis.
The company was also called out for their hypocrisy when certain users attached to zoophilia exploitation forums were still allowed to make bestiality content and get funded through Patreon, while other artists couldn’t. This led to certain groups calling for Patreon to enforce their rules fairly.
However, as evident by almost every Left-leaning corporation out there, the rules will never be enforced fairly and will always target certain groups above others. But in the case of censorship, no one opposite of the corporate busybodies come out winners.
(Thanks for the news tip msoltyspl)
(Main image courtesy of Seamless)