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In A Country Where Xtube Is Banned, People Are Creating Their Own
Porn Instead
No porn? No problem. Local creators of adult content bend the law by operating on Tumblr, where they find safety in numbers.
M
en do it, women do it, couples do it too. For the producer, all it takes is a camera and simple editing software. For the viewer, a declared age of 18 or above.
Blogs with adult content make up more than 10 per cent of Tumblr pages worldwide, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb.
And in Singapore, the microblogging site has no lack of users who view, create and upload sexual content, despite the 100 mainly pornographic websites that are banned here as a symbol of the government’s stance.
Face value
Adult content creators here generally bare it all — except their faces. The visuals range from soft porn, or titillating photos of girls in underwear, to videos of people having sex and close-up pictures of genitals.
Asianato*, who is in his 20s, uploads photos and videos of himself masturbating three to four times a month on Tumblr and video-hosting sites for porn. But he keeps his face hidden.
Most do.
Only Stacy*, 25, sent us a video showing her face, although she declined to meet in real life. She started posting photos of her genitals after her boyfriend accidentally sent her nude picture to his friend.
“At first I was shy because I don’t shave, but when I saw what his friend commented I felt turned on,” she said. “My boyfriend likes it but I thought most guys won’t.”
Her blog became much more popular when she posted content revealing her face, but her story became one of many that causes paranoia among Singaporean creators.
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The social networking site has a 'safe mode' function that can only be turned off by users above the age of 18.
Stacy used to upload on Tumblr every day but stopped when her personal information was leaked.
“People left comments with my full name and other details like my address, work, school, Facebook and Instagram,” she said.
She quit her job, changed her number, shut down her social media platforms and stopped posting.
While Stacy’s family did not find out, many of her friends did. “My female friends mostly say it’s disgusting and look down on me. My male friends usually send their dick pics and ask to meet up,” she said.
“That’s the majority,” she added. “Some guys showed concern and helped me remove comments.”
She went back to posting when she lost her next job and needed money, as many people were still contacting her on Tumblr offering money for photos and videos. She now places a premium on content revealing her face, with starting prices four times higher than those without.
Money is often what drives such online activity. Alice* sells panties, photos and videos on her blog, as it gives her an income.
She first heard of panty selling when she read a Yahoo! article about sellers on Tumblr. She was intrigued but “kind of turned off” by the idea.
“But afterwards when my family started to get into tight financial situations, I thought it might be a good way to make money,” said Alice, 18, who is also working three part-time jobs and wants money to fund her university education.
“I thought why not just try it out, because it’s quite simple to just wear your underwear and go about your daily activities. It’s not very time consuming because you have to wear underwear no matter what.”
But that’s not all there is to panty selling. Some customers make special requests.
The “standard” is wearing her underwear for eight to 12 hours. “If they want to add on anything like say… masturbation or they want me to sweat in it, you know some people want very intense things. Based on what they want, I’ll just quote them a price,” she said.
“Honestly, I’m still a virgin so I’m not very experienced. When I am exposed to this kind of thing, I find it very strange.”
Alice does decline requests, like one by a client who asked her to wear her panties for five days straight. She also draws the line at complete nudity in photos and videos she uploads or sends to customers.
“I wouldn’t call myself very moral any more because I do this, but I think because I’m still a virgin I still hold some sort of value,” she said. This is why she wants to save something for her future boyfriend or husband.
“No matter what, I’m selling myself. In a sense, from a ‘moral’ perspective, I feel my value has gone down already.”
If it seems like Alice has her reservations, it’s because she does.
“The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I can stay anonymous and no one knows who I am online so it’s ok, in a sense. That’s the only way I can justify myself doing this ‘business’,” she said.
“No matter what, I’m selling myself. In a sense, from a ‘moral’ perspective, I feel my value has gone down already.”
- Alice*, panty seller
Lustra*, who is a student in his 20s, trusts his gut when it comes to privacy.
“Don’t feel right? Don’t upload,” he said in an email. “One week, two weeks, even months to edit and make sure the videos will not in any way compromise you or the other party’s identities.”
He describes his content as “primal lust and innate desires summed up” and posts videos of him and different partners having sex.
“My identity is of secondary importance,” he said. “The women’s identities are more important, so in some ways, I protect their identities via my own, making sure nobody can trace them through me.”
When asked why this is so important to him, he called the majority of Singaporeans “hypocritical and judgmental” who think women in such videos are promiscuous.
“Everyone loves sex. Nature intended us to be like this. This is how you, me and everybody else was made, including everyone’s mum and dad,” he said.
“The only difference is she appeared in an adult video.”
Which is true, but many would point out that it’s a very big difference. And it crosses a legal line.
Risqué behaviour
Part of the reason privacy is so important is the law. Under Singapore’s Undesirable Publications Act, the content of these blogs may be considered objectionable or prohibited. If prosecuted and found guilty, publishers could be fined S$10,000, imprisoned for three years, or both.
But there is a strong demand. According to Alex Hawkins, vice president of xHamster, the porn site has close to three million unique users from Singapore every month. It is the city’s 10th most-visited website.
For local creators, Tumblr appears to be the right platform for such content.
Said panty seller Stacy: “My dream was to be a porn star, and being in Singapore, I guess this is as far as I can go.”▝
* Names changed to protect their identities
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