Dick Pic NFTs and adult content: A rising problem?

Since the beginning of time, and as far as human civilization has existed; where there was art, there were always erotic images that followed. With the avenue of NFTs paving the way for image ownership, it’s not surprising that many creators have tapped into the world of NFTs to create NFTs that teeter on the edge of the erotic.

Just last August, Budweiser found themselves victim to a bunch of quasi NFSW NFTs being dropped into their Ethereum Wallet. The NFTs, namely a “Minimalistic cock” drawing from the Minimal Cocks NFT set, and the cute phallic character of the PeePeeBoyNFT, can still be brushed off as a comedic occurrence in this case, although it does allude to a bigger topic of conversation – when is an NFT art, and when does it venture into the category of adult content?

The grey area

There is a thin line between what constitutes art and what constitutes adult content. Art is in the eye of the beholder for sure, which makes the question of “art or obscenity?” all the more tricky. What exactly are the conditions that set them apart from each other, and ultimately, what would be considered acceptable for creators to mint? What are NFTs that do not cross the boundary into obscenity and subsequently find removed from a platform?

NFT artist and sex worker Cryptonatrix expressed in an article that one of her NFTs had been removed by the platform she had minted on, with no clear explanation as to why. She further expressed that the terms weren’t entirely explicit about more mature-themed NFTs, making it difficult to discern what was acceptable.

The grey area that sits between art and adult content makes it hard for marketplaces to set out clear terms for what is acceptable for artists to mint. Most platforms leave it to creators themselves to discern what might constitute obscenity.

Why creators should be sensitive

There are plenty of reasons why creators should be sensitive when minting digital items that may traverse the vectors of adult content. One of the reasons being that most marketplaces, such as Mintable, for example, are not able to be responsible for the content and subjects portrayed in these images. Mintable is simply a platform for which users can invest and indulge in their creative passions, with the possibility of generating revenue from their creations. Whatever consent agreements the subjects, artists, sellers, or buyers do or do not come to are not within the platform’s control, and therefore platforms are not able to guarantee security for the parties involved. What’s more, any type of content that depicts or captures real humans on the web is always going to be prone to vulnerability and is an area to tread with caution.

Mintable’s guide to adult content NFTs:

Mintable does not explicitly ban adult-themed NFTs on our platform, as we do not want to limit creators – we believe that there is artistic merit in exploring satirical or poetic interpretations of such themes. However, we also hold the opinion that there are palatable ways to host these images on the blockchain.

Here are some of the guidelines we’ve drawn for our creators:

Most likely to be taken down:

• Anything that depicts sex acts
• Gory images depicting real-life injuries, violent events, or blood. 
• Full nudity
• Real-life genitals 
• Real-life nipples on female bodies

Some of the things that are acceptable:

• Depictions of nudity
• Written erotica
• Censored materials
• Illustrated caricatures of genitals

Mintable is certainly not immune to seeing these “adult” themed art or daily erotic-themed images showing up on our marketplace. And like every other marketplace (except for NSFW dedicated marketplace Cumrocket), we’ve had to take down the ones that were deemed obscene – either filtered by our internal team or flagged by the larger community. Unfortunately, once an image has been taken down, creators cannot relist them anymore. This is why we hope that by providing these guidelines, creators can find creative freedom – without the anxiety of potentially having their artwork removed or losing their listing.

Turn your valuable work of art into NFTs http://www.mintable.app