Wait, so, no nsfw?

[kalematsuba]

alright, time for another question.. already.

the comic i have planned is a sexually positive comic. the target audience for this comic is the adult lgbt+ community, particularily trans people, like myself.

it is not a PORN comic, but will feature sex.

is that not allowed on tapastic?

after going through the forum i'm getting this feeling that sex positivity in comics is somewhat looked down upon. i can understand outright "fanservice" and "porn" comics not having their place (i dont really like them either.), but what about stories featuring sex and sexuality as just a part of them? it looks like many people believe that putting sex in drawn media is ALWAYS forced and it doesnt belong. i strongly disagree with this sentiment, and i believe that art can be erotic and sexual and frankly, show sex without being tastelessly pornographic.

i've also been seeing there are a lot of "grey areas" in terms of nsfw content. i wish there weren't. i'd rather know now if i should just not bother wasting my time here and post my comic somewhere else.

[Niles]

If it helps, my first chapter/first few pages has sexual interaction in it - No genitals, but obvious sex. And it was well received when I first uploaded - Including some shock factors - Which is good! I think like you, I believe in tasteful interaction between two people and in future chapters wish to make it more beautiful. It's your comic, never think about it, do it. That's why we make comics, because you have freedom in to do what you want with that world. If that's your target audience then that's that - Keep going, you'll get people enjoying it still. I've seen the grey areas because I've been apart of the conversation where anything will go in my comic. I think the majority of people out there would rather write something everyone can read over the other side, and of course something they feel comfortable doing and something they would read themselves if they were the ones browsing. But again, that's fine too! Don't hesitate with your ideas, embrace them! I did. Look forward to seeing your work.

[AnnaLandin]

Sexual content is allowed! You just have to keep it from being TOO graphic, and you have to put it behind an NSFW-filter!

To quote from the content-policy:

Tapastic ALLOWS mature content featuring nudity, non-graphic sex,
extreme violence, and strong language as long as it is behind our NSFW
filter.

HOWEVER, it also says this:

Tapastic DOES NOT ALLOW pornography or hateful content that targets a
specific person or group of any kind. Any content deemed unsuitable that
is not behind our NSFW will be requested to take action.

So it's perfectly okay to have a comic featuring sex, or that has sexual themes, you just can't get TOO graphic (basically, avoid too many bodily fluids, and don't draw the genitals, and you should be fine), and if you DO have sexual content, the pages with that content has to be put behind the NSFW-filter.

I personally don't have any issue with sex-scenes in comics, as long as they make sense for the story, and aren't just shoehorned in for the sake of drawing boobs, you know? If it's a romance story, sex-scenes make sense! If it's a story about someone exploring or coming to terms with their sexuality/gender identity, sex-scenes make sense! It's all about context. : )

[kalematsuba]

right okay.

but now i'm seeing the "dont show any genitals and its fine" and i dont agree with that, either.

again, i believe that showing the sex can be done tastefully, and this includes genitalia. for some people, their genitalia and how they use them during sex is very important (and frankly, when it comes to depiction of transgender people in sexual situations, something that is VERY important to shed light on and be compassionate towards).

so, the main limitation here is one of the key things preventing me from properly depicting my characters. and that is a problem.

[heterodont]

There was a similar topic where this was brought up and someone linked a comic that had sex scenes with penetration, genitalia, ejaculation, so on and so forth - and it was behind the NSFW filter. In fact, the whole story was revolved around the main character working in the porn industry?

And to me it seems like the way the content policy is worded, is that its only an issue if its not behind the NSFW filter. Graphic is way too broad of a term and since you said you're gonna show it tastefully, I doubt whatever sex scenes you're going to draw are going to be considered 'graphic'.

[AnnaLandin]

It might be, yeah - and you're right, you CAN draw a sex scene showing genitalia and still be tasteful and well below the "pornography" limit. That was just a general rule of thumb.

Honestly, as long as you put it behind an NSFW filter and you aren't drawing it explicitly as masturbation-material for your readers, you should be fine.

ETA: The important thing is the NSFW-filter - a lot of people read comics on their lunchbreaks and work and so on, and you need to put stuff behind the filter to avoid them getting in trouble.

[kalematsuba]

oh, not to worry. i knew from the start i'd be needing to use the nsfw filter. haha.

i have a lot of qualms myself about artwork/comics being made specifically as masturbation material and nothing else and i try very very hard to avoid my own work becoming that, while still making it erotic and enjoyable to look at. its quite the tightrope to walk across honestly, but i firmly believe in it being a valid thing. i guess i'm just the type to want people to think outside the box a little bit or something. lol. (i'm also a little tired of sex and nudity and both of those things together being utterly demonized due to the pandering/tasteless representation we've become so used to).

i'm sorry to keep talking after i've already made my point.. thanks for talking it out with me though. i appreciate it.

[kalematsuba]

yeah, i definitely think context is key.
i think an actual story ABOUT sexuality that depicts sex in a proper context (even a story about a porn star) is far more appealing overall than just porn for the sake of porn and nothing else.

so maybe that's what makes it more acceptable on a platform like this. which, i hope is the case.

and yeah, that policy is so insanely vague it makes my head spin and fills me with even more questions. lmao. but thanks for helping me make sense of it. 👍 i had planned to use the nsfw filter from the getgo because i figured that was just common sense.

[AnnaLandin]

i'm also a little tired of sex and nudity and both of those things together being utterly demonized due to the pandering/tasteless representation we've become so used to

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm Swedish, and I grew up in the 80s and 90s, when Swedish tv still aired a lot of live-action kids shows from the 70s - and people were naked in those all the time. And it was never in a sexual context - it was more done for comedy, or for the simple fact that hey, people are naked sometimes! - so my perspective on nudity is different from a lot of other people's. It's genuinely not a big deal to me.

It's also part of why I find cheesecake pinups boring, to be honest: it's just nudity - and not even full nudity at that - who cares?

[Niles]

I guess in the end of the day, soon as you've been well informed on here by @AnnaLandin, just upload and see what happens If it gets removed or whatever then you know this isn't the place for your work! You can just upload somewhere else. But the rules are always simple guidelines anyway - Look at some of the art community sites, they say NO pornographic images NO sexual images NO harmfull -yadayadayada- And yet the first thing you are hit with is tits, butts and wangs with lots of sticky stuff.

[kalematsuba]

I guess in the end of the day, soon as you've been well informed on here by @AnnaLandin, just upload and see what happens If it gets removed or whatever then you know this isn't the place for your work! You can just upload somewhere else. But the rules are always simple guidelines anyway - Look at some of the art community sites, they say NO pornographic images NO sexual images NO harmfull -yadayadayada- And yet the first thing you are hit with is tits, butts and wangs with lots of sticky stuff.

Yeah, now that i've had a chance to actually hear some reasonable takes on it, it makes me less unsure about actually posting my work, for sure.

So, I guess I'll give it a shot. It seems to me that tapastic is a little more lenient than people are giving it credit for, from the looks of it now.

[PotooGryphon]

Yep this answer is correct however showing genitals is allowed as long as it's behind the NSFW wall. There are a few popular series that show genitals and a few that blur them out and post the uncensored version on their main website.

[SaruCharmed]

Forgive me, but it doesn't sound very sex positive to me to talk down on porn and material for the sake of masturbation and nothing else as a bad thing... I mean, I eventually want to put up a comic that's a romance of sorts, with a lot of story and exploration into their lives, but I also want to show the sex scenes with genitals and fluids and whatnot, because I really like that kind of thing. And personally, I do prefer my porn with a plot. But I also think it's wrong to judge porn with no context as a completely valueless thing. I'm cool with nsfw filters, but if I wanted to do this kind of comic, would I not be allowed to do it here, even if all the mature stuff is under nsfw filters? I mean, I suppose I could link the really mature stuff to its own Tumblr page or something... but still, like I said, I have no problem with the filters, but having what I am and am not allowed to write about being controlled is something I really don't like.

[Simon_M]

Well, maybe they want to exclude porn for advertisement purposes... I guess advertisers wouldn't be so keen to appear here if they hear that the page has porn material.

[heterodont]

True. Even if there are people who don't see porn as a bad thing or think human sexuality isn't Bad, the majority do see it as such.

not to mention tapastic does, obviously, have an app on the IOS store which is kind of notorious for rejecting apps if the apps have adult content.