Pinterest Is A Porno Site (Among Other Things)

Pinterest Is A Porno Site (Among Other Things)

As some of you may already know if you read my previous post, or have been following my Twitter updates, I’ve been having trouble with policy violators (aka porno pinners) over at Pinterest. A gaggle of them (for some unknown and creepy reason) have targeted one of my group book boards on the site. I’m not saying this is an attack or anything, but I’ve been getting at least one of these sleazy, sexist profiles following my book board each day for weeks.

Now I’m not overly prudish, or against nudity, and I’m not talking about art shots, nude paintings, sexy celebrity photos, or even those lingerie boards. What I’ve been dealing with is full frontal, sexist exploitation of women (plus a few men as well) and the very definition of pornography. Many of these images are very graphic, very sexual (and sexist) in nature, and in some cases designed to imitate under age schoolgirls. This is not what I signed on to view, and I believe it SHOULD NOT be displayed on a public forum like Pinterest. And I’m betting NOT ONE of those sexist jerks that post these photos would take copies into a crowded public place like a mall and show them to strangers. Yet, they have NO problem doing the virtual equivalent on Pinterest.

But wait, Pinterest has a policy against these types of pins, doesn’t it? Supposedly it does. Yet by my recent experience it is turning a blind eye, and these profiles, boards and pins are flourishing on the site. And to make my troubles worse is their recent change to their reporting process. Now you have to get up close and personal with the pins to report them (so good job Pinterest—to get rid of graphic sexual photos, you have to interact with them). Plus the system is not working properly, at least for me. I may be biased, but it seems Pinterest is making it harder to report violators and to want to report violators. Making it a hassle to report a violation does not encourage people to use the process. As well, they’ve certainly been giving me the runaround about fixing my problem with their system.

I used to love Pinterest, in part because it wasn’t a place I had to navigate around creeps and sexism. I guess that’s changed. I feel like I want to chuck the whole thing, but I put a lot of time into my profile, so I probably won’t leave (though I may have to delete that book board). I do know I certainly won’t be as frequent a visitor on the site anymore. To sum up, all I have to say is this—Pinterest isn’t a family friendly site, so if that’s what you are looking for, either stay off the site or pay very close attention to who is following you and exactly what they are pinning.