Ok people, I caved in and went on TikTok. Why? Well, first of all because I wanted to corrupt the youth and bring them to the dark side. Secondly, because I was genuinely interested in how the platform dealt with and moderated pole dancing content. Is it different from Instagram? Does it like butts? Read … More A Pole Dancing Academic’s First Month On TikTok
It’s been an eventful week in cyber sexy land – she says, on Wednesday night. I was interviewed by the BBC’s amazing “unofficial porn expert” Thomas Fabbri for an article on Instagram censorship and quoted in The Next Web‘s piece together with indie porn director Erika Lust. Salty World leaked Facebook’s community guidelines for nudity … More Algwhoreithms: Why Social Media Censor Women Over Hate Speech
What does being a pole dancer online in the age of oversharing mean for your perception of self? For this post, I’ve decided to dig deep and share things that have hurt me and made me think about the ‘attention economy’. So get ready for a short essay about living as a woman online (and, … More Fetish and Fiction
Early this week I emailed Instagram to clarify the reasons behind the shadowban and censorship of pole dancers. Instagram has now come back to me, denying they are censoring pole dancers or sex workers. This post is about what they told me. If you want to read about what this means for social media for pole … More Instagram Denies Censorship of Pole Dancers and Sex Workers
If you follow a pole dancer on Instagram or are friends with one on Facebook, chances are you’ve seen she is fuming about the shadowban this week. Pole dance Facebook groups have been set alight with anger, and even the biggest pole stars have been complaining through their profiles. Why? Because the majority of pole … More What Instagram’s Pole Dance Shadowban Means For Social Media
If you’ve been reading me/following me for a while, you probably know I get a lot of traffic through Instagram, but that I’m getting increasingly annoyed at the platform’s censoring of (mostly) women, erotic artists and sex workers. After receiving what was basically a set of non-answers by Instagram, I decided to speak to artists that were actually affected by account deletion and shadowbanning – namely, the iconic Exotic Cancer. … More Interview With Artist Exotic Cancer
I often talk about my pole or personal life on this blog, but not often enough about being an academic. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in a (university-funded) PhD writing retreat at the gorgeous Monkton Wyld Court in Dorset, so I’m taking it as an opportunity to spam you … More PhD writing retreat at Monkton Wyld Court
“My name is XY and I’m an Instagram influencer. I may seem to have a perfect life, but behind my beautiful pictures is a tough mental health struggle.” FYI readers, this is not a “token Instagram influencer” meme. This is the main type of language used on TV by influencers discussing mental health, internet safety, … More Let’s Get Real About Mental Health and Influencers
This week I’ve decided to do that very emo thing where I promote being unapologetic about yourself and your weirdness, whether it’s about your social media, your dating life, your awkwardness, or whatever it is that makes you you. I realise this sounds like the inspirational bullshit you repost on Instagram, or pin on Pinterest, but this … More Being Unapologetic
In the past few years I’ve been to/spoken at many events where I explained how I became a blogger. I’ve also had loads of coffees and drinks with people who wanted to ask me how I got started. So since my body can only handle so many events, caffeine or alcohol, I’ve decided to write … More Blogging for beginners: tips from a veteran (ish) blogger
