Alright, this could get very awkward very fast. So let’s just get on with it, shall we?
The Changes to Come
I received an email on Saturday the 19th of March from ManyVids, informing their uploaders of content rule changes. These are not totally unheard of, as clipsites are constantly having to update keywords, categories and allowed content on their sites.
But this was a little unexpected.
This is because the change with ManyVids is something a little bit… odd for a site that hosts porn. As their core business.
The change is that from April 1st, 2022, all profiles pictures, portraits (the really cool pics you will see on the left hand side of a model’s profile when viewing on a PC) and contest entrance images must be Safe For Work. Here is the clause directly from their T0S as of 19th March 2022:
So… just so we are crystal clear. Now on a porn site, where you can purchase XXX content, my profile photo must be safe and acceptable to a public audience. It cannot be sexually explicit. It cannot have full or partial nudity (partial nudity, what even is that?) or depict sex acts. On a clip site. Where you can buy porn. And where you have to click an 18+ acceptance to get in.
Ok. Got it.
The Obvious Question to Ask
The obvious question to ask is why? Why, all of a sudden does my avatar and portrait need to be safe for work on ManyVids? By other platforms standards, this means it can only show my face.
My suspicion is that this is tied in with ManyVids trying to position themselves as a platform for “lifestyle content,” not just porn. When you first enter the site, you are greeted by the following screen:
The official word from ManyVids is that this new landing platform is to give a more tailored experience to their users. But I thought the majority of their users were people looking for porn? Totes confused.
Therefore, I think this is part of a bigger strategy to make the site sustainable into the future. If the war on porn continues to progress as it has so far, the ramifications that this has on adult content on the internet are huge. I don’t have a crystal ball, but going by past actions, I think it will mean that sites promoting adult content as their bread and butter are going to be number one targets for the anti-porn crusaders. ManyVids, having porn as their prime commodity, are going to have to be able to pivot to survive. These changes look to me like baby step pivot points.
So what do these changes mean?
I like visual stuff, so let me show you what these changes will look like.
Here is my ManyVids profile before:
And here is my ManyVids profile now. Clean, sanitized and safe for work:
New avatar, new portrait, same Rem Sequence.
I have moved on from attacking platforms for these kind of changes because I understand that this is an industry with a tonne of moving parts. Check out my piece on the changes to AVNStars to get an idea of what I mean. Instead of attacking platforms, we really need to focus on attacking the root causes of all of this, namely rampant misogyny, whorephobia and sexual conservatism.
But that is a conversation for another time. Till then, if you are a model on ManyVids, for the love of all things holy, change your avatar and your portrait and be careful of the pics you use for contests.
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
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