On March 12, we reported on a situation where an artist had alleged that they were in contact with Patreon staff and that they were told Patreon would be banning anime style content creators.
“Basically all Japanese styles can be said to be out.”
Along with our coverage, other outlets also reported on this situation.
In a short period of time, Patreon seemed to become aware of the coverage and has now issued a statement;
We'd like to clarify a recent rumor about our guidelines. We do not limit any specific style (like anime) of art. But our guidelines do not allow sexualized depictions of minors. If you have questions or want clarification, you can always reach our team at guidelines@patreon.com.
— Patreon (@Patreon) March 13, 2020
I had even said in my original report that I had hoped it was simply a miscommunication between the artist and the alleged Patreon staff they were in contact with.
Still, the situation seems potentially problematic as part of the alleged discourse that occurred was regarding how Patreon would define “depictions of minors”.
As the artist alleged Patreon would claim “basically all Japanese styles” would be considered minors, another artist seemed to back this up.
At this point there is a lot of hearsay.
I think all we can really do is wait and see if more artists who create anime content get banned from Patreon simply for doing such. Or not.
Stay tuned for further updates.
7 Response Comments
Glad that I left Patreon a long time ago. Their capricious, arrogant “morality” is completely unnecessary. Patreon is supposed to be a place of alternate profit from a totalitarian platform of YouTube. Patreon makes me want to upload Maggot Baits to Patreon to see how quickly I get banned.
@OneManCast “capricious and arrogant ‘morality'” is by far the best way I have seen it described. YOu totally nailed it right on the head, those are EXACTLY the qualities. Totally.
“We do not limit any specific style (like anime) of art. But our guidelines do not allow sexualized depictions of minors.”
There is an implied correlation in this statement that Anime is an art form of “sexualized depictions of minors”.
I don’t think they realize that they are admitting this preconceived bias and so they are going into any reviews of this content with a prejudice to interpret Anime art style in this negative way.
Patreon’s guidelines are subjective (heck, ALL of these Social media guidelines are subjective). Tack on a prejudice that Anime art styles are inherently representative of a universal taboo (in this case P*) and we now have a whole new realm of Justice Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” flawed interpretation of the ‘obscene’.
@Yumi I see this style of argumentation everywhere these days: rationalizations built on subjective assertions which are almost always IMPLIED, buried in the argument as if they are a given. They bypass the ludicrously weak point and hammer on it’s trivial corollary. It’s like a whole school of rhetoric growing on the slippery slope 🙂
Patreon having a shit ton vague and broad rules. = Patreon Mods having a lot of excuse to ban something they don’t like.