Sex Positivity & Social Media

Our Naughty Events Instagram has been suspended and will probably not be able to be recovered. Why? Who the heck knows….

Just days before Naughty N’awlins 2023, I signed on to Instagram to check the accounts as I regularly do. The Naughty N’awlins account was buzzing with tagged posts, friend requests, shared stories, and comments, all positive excitement about the upcoming event. This event is so popular, that it truly required an account of its own. We get tons of engagement, lots of DMs, and of course a consistent flow of spam and bots all wanting a piece of our Naughty social pie. But that WASN’T the account that was suspended.

For all our other events: cruises, resorts, Naughty Beach, Naughty Island, and other various adventures we think you might be interested in, we have (had) the “@naughty_events” Instagram account. On this day, when I switched to this account, feeling great about the Naughty N’awlins one, I found that I couldn’t get into the Naughty Events page. A brief and minimal notification filled my screen saying “We suspended your account, Naughty Events. Your account is not visible to people on Instagram right now and you cannot use it.” The only explanation it could give me as to why this happened was “Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Guidelines on adult sexual solicitation.”

Perplexed and totally freaked out, I immediately looked at Instagram’s Community Guidelines to find out where, I, the content creator, went wrong. First, Instagram is now part of “Meta” which is the technology conglomerate consisting of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. Its overall policy on adult nudity and sexual activity is a little misleading in ways, and to this day, I still can’t figure out what post did us in.

In brief, here are the things Meta tells you NOT to post:

• Visible genitalia

• Visible anus or buttocks

• Visible female nipples

• Imagery of Sexual Activity/Stimulation (including any kind of stimulation, intercourse, oral, or rear play)

• Erections

• Presence of by-products of sexual activity.

• Sex toys are placed upon or inserted into the mouth.

• Stimulation of naked human nipples.

• Squeezing female breasts - defined as a grabbing motion with curved fingers that shows both marks and clear shape change of the breasts. (I had to giggle)

• Fetish content that involves:

  • Acts that are likely to lead to the death of a person or animal.

  • Dismemberment.

  • Cannibalism.

  • Feces, urine, spit, snot, menstruation or vomit.

  • Bestiality.

• Adult sexual activity in digital art, except when posted in an educational or scientific context, or when it meets one of the criteria below and shown only to individuals 18 years and older.

• Extended audio of sexual activity

Nothing shocking in any of this, but if you read the fine print, all of these rules go out the window as long as it has to do with pregnancy, giving birth, breastfeeding, gender confirmation surgery, or genitalia self-examination for cancer or disease prevention/assessment. So if Meta deems it “educational” then you’re good!

But if you’re a sex worker, a vendor selling sex toys, or an educator providing information on topics such as sexual pleasure, or if you’re an events company that throws the largest lifestyle event in the world for the last 25 years, then this can and probably will happen to you at some point on social media. But by all means, keep the breastfeeding posts coming and show me another minor who wants a sex change.

While we as a company strive to make sure we give you a Naughty, completely sexually explicit experience, we’re pretty good at keeping all the juicy stuff for our Naughty Members platform, which is a vetted, adult-only, membership-based platform that our people can sign on to and be as Naughty as they want without these weird constraints.

So, I’m not sure what happened to our account, not sure what post put the nail in the coffin or if someone reported it, I have no idea what for. Because Meta won’t dare tell you these things so you can adjust your content to better fit their strange requests, they’ll just shut your whole account down without warning, give you a little button to press to say that you “Disagree with this decision” and off into the mysterious land of Meta it goes never to be seen of or heard again.

Why is this platform coming down so hard on sexual wellness, education, and entertainment? In this rapidly changing, AI-driven world that we are living in, Meta doesn’t have the technology to tell whether we’re selling packages to Naughty N’awlins or a Desire Cruise vs. selling actual people for sex. It’s okay for people to post half-naked pics of their babies playing on the beach, or for mega influencers like Kim Kardashian or Megan Fox to post photos in sexy bikinis with their entire butt hanging out, and with nothing more than a little emoji to cover their nipples, but our whole operation gets shut down over some side boob or pictures of people dancing? Something is not right.

I’m beginning to wonder how “positive” this sex-positive movement is when it comes to the internet. On one hand, we’re trying to normalize people to be fluid about their gender and sexuality, but we aren’t allowed to provide them with the education (other than surgical) to back it up. We’re seeing more normalizing of non-monogamy, but can’t post anything about the meetups, events, or parties that provide a safe space for such a thing. We’re supposed to be normalizing promiscuity in an attempt to end “slut shaming” but definitely can’t post anything about that, or anything that simply implies it, because it’s “sex work” or soliciting sex. And we’re supposed to be body positive now, loving our bodies, appreciating our bodies, celebrating our bodies but don’t dare think of posting your nipples unless you are pregnant, breastfeeding or male, or all of the above.

We (the lifestyle, sexually charged industry) just can’t seem to catch a break! Our industry leaders, educators, and vendors are constantly getting turned down, censored, suspended, and shut off due to other decision maker’s notions of what we are and what we stand for. And without the ability to be able to express ourselves, how do we ever change the narrative? How do we get taken seriously when the media that surrounds us paints us like we’re a bunch of sex-addicted freaks and that we’re doing something bad? Meanwhile, there are people out there begging to be appreciated, seen, and welcomed into a world like ours, they just haven’t found us yet. So what can we do?

Here’s what we suggest:

• Go easy on the skin - be very cautious when posting photos of you scantily clad, especially if you’re having fun. Because you could be selling sex (gasp).

• If you have additional websites you want your followers to go to, especially a site that sells things, have a separate landing page to send followers to feature links to these sites. Don’t market directly on Instagram or Facebook. Be subtle on these sites and just direct your followers to the link in the bio for more information.

• Get on the Naughty Member site! It’s safe, adult-only, uncensored, and a great place to meet like-minded people just like you. You can chat with these people, see and send nude pics all you want, join groups for various interests, and learn about upcoming events happening in the lifestyle and around your area.

Be sure to follow the NEW Naughty Events Instagram here.