Please note: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE YOUR WHOLE NAME TO SIGN. You can use a nickname or an online handle, too.

Minors becoming involved with NSFW blogging on Tumblr - Yahoo's blogging platform - has become a frustrating and stressful norm for many users on Tumblr. Every day, more children invade our 18+ kinky communities, our NSFW blogs, and our BDSM posts, and every day, more children act like they're entitled to kink when kink has been and always will be an adults-only concept.

Tumblr/Yahoo has been sorely non-responsive when it comes to this issue; reports upon reports are sent in daily, with no response from Tumblr's/Yahoo's staff members, and no action taken to delete the blogs of minors involving themselves in kink. This makes these communities unsafe for all of us, children and adults included.

Why is it so important to keep minors out of the kinky 18+ adult communities, you ask?

Here are a few good reasons.

1: As per federal laws, it is illegal to allow minors access to obscene materials. Kinky content is considered pornographic, and therefore is not "okay" viewable materials for children under the age of 18.

531.030 Distribution of obscene matter to minors.

(1) A person is guilty of distribution of obscene material to minors when, knowing a person to be a minor, or having possession of such facts that he should reasonably know that such person is a minor, and with knowledge of the content and character of the material, he knowingly: (a) Sends or causes to be sent; or

(b) Exhibits; or

© Distributes, or offers to distribute, obscene material to a minor.

(2) Distribution of obscene materials to minors is a Class A misdemeanor unless the defendant has previously been convicted of violation of this section or of KRS 531.020, in which case it shall be a Class D felony. Effective: January 1, 1975 History: Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 406, sec. 267, effective January 1, 1975.

Other federal laws that are being broken include:

Adults who persuade or help minors commit acts of juvenile delinquency may be charged with the crime of contributing to the delinquency of a minor (or “CDM”). A minor is anyone under the age of majority, 18 in most states. (In some states, it is 19, 20, or 21.)

Under the law, child sexual abuse is often used as an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification.

2: The very second you allow kids in kink is the second that pedophiles and abusers come to follow them. They will prey on these children under the guise of people who "support" them and want to "educate" them, but in reality, they will be priming and grooming that minor for sexual abuse.

3: People who "support" children in kink are showcasing predatory behaviour. This is not good! It makes it easier for pedophiles, predators, and abusers to hurt or manipulate these children.

4: Children do not have the necessary emotional maturity to give full and informed consent when participating in kink. BDSM's rules have been and always will be "safe, sane, consensual" - and allowing children to participate in 18+ adults-only kink communities on Tumblr is none of these things.

5: Kink is already frowned upon! If you invite children into kinky 18+ adult communities, people are going to start thinking that BDSM and kink in general invites and supports pedophilia. This is not true, and the Safe, Sane and Consensual adults of kink fight against children in these communities every day.

6: It's absolutely ludicrous that Tumblr/Yahoo has shown a severe lack of inaction when it comes to children running NSFW blogs. If main-stream porn websites have an 18+ limit on NSFW content, Tumblr should, too. Tumblr/Yahoo has allowed kids to run BDSM blogs, porn blogs, kink blogs and more for far too long and reports and objections have fallen upon deaf ears. There is no other website that allows children into NSFW spaces as unchecked as Tumblr/Yahoo does! No other kinky community has this problem, and this problem is occurring because of Tumblr's/Yahoo's inaction versus these children-run blogs.

These are only a FEW of many, many reasons why kids should not be allowed to participate in the kinky side of Tumblr!

Here is what this petition asks for.

REQUESTED FEATURES:

Age-check feature: When this is turned on, it will automatically block all Tumblr users who input their age as under 18 when they signed up for the website. They will not be added to your main blocklist, which will prevent it from getting clogged up, but they will not be able to view your content on their dashboard, reblog or like it from other people's blogs, or view your blog when they enter the URL. An error code will pop up when the minor goes to a blog (as in: http://BLOGNAMEHERE.tumblr.com) that reads something along the lines of "You are too young to view this blog! Please come back when you are 18 or older." They will not be able to view your content, period, unless they log out.

This will require a timer implementation and better age input - such as the user's birthday. This will be a required update for blogs already on Tumblr. When a user inputs their age, an invisible clock will start counting down until their 18th birthday, at which point all blogs that had been unavailable to them before (due to the age-check feature) will become available.

Better blocking feature: When you block someone outside of the age-check feature requested above, they can't see your content or interact with it. However, this does not prevent YOU from seeing THEIR content - which a lot of users do not wish to see. There is no current and present way to hide somebody from your dashboard unless you use third-party applications; however, with this better blocking feature, you will be able to block them COMPLETELY. They will not see you, and YOU will not see THEM. This will help immensely when it comes to not interacting with content posted by children!

Content removal: When you block somebody, it will automatically delete all content with you as the source, or with your user-name in the comments. This will prevent potential harassment by people who support minors, or other minors themselves.

Responsiveness to reports involving minors and kink-blogs: Tumblr/Yahoo has been ignoring this issue for months, now. Minors have been running rampant in the kink, BDSM, and NSFW communities, and Tumblr's/Yahoo's staff has been blatantly ignoring this issue. Many children have been stating that they run "SFW" kink blogs; as in, nothing with penetration or other acts of sex - however, this does not matter. Kink content, regardless of penetration or sex acts, is still pornographic material. SFW kink blogs are a myth! They are still kink blogs, and Tumblr/Yahoo should not be allowing children to run them.

Responsiveness to child pornography posted by minors: This has also become problematic. Minors will post pictures of themselves participating in kink, or worse, they will post child pornography, themselves. Tumblr/Yahoo has shown no action on these issues, either, despite numerous reports and attempts to open dialogue about the problem that is becoming overwhelming. No non-pedophilic or predatory adult wishes to see photographs of minors participating in kink, and due to the nature of Tumblr's blogging platform and how content is spread, Tumblr/Yahoo's inaction on this is putting MANY adults at risk of being exposed to content that is downright disturbing and disgusting because it involves children.

A clear and unmistakable policy that disallows minors from running NSFW kink, BDSM, or porn-related blogs and also disallows minors from FOLLOWING NSFW kink, BDSM, or porn-related blogs. Tumblr does not have a clear policy like this at present. The fact that one of these has not been implemented is a severe oversight and irresponsible, as well.

Please sign this petition and spread it around as much as you are able; nothing will get done if people do not pay attention to it, and minors in NSFW spaces on Tumblr will continue to be a growing and dangerous problem.