Hey yall!
So I have some disappointing news to share
A few weeks ago my stripe account was put under review and closed, after a brief back and forth with stripe it became clear that there would be no moving forward with them as a payment processor (which affected not only this shop, but my ko-fi as well for a moment).
My stripe account was closed due to breaking their terms of service (“adult content”) due to the nature of my artwork. While some payment processors make exemptions for “classical artwork” showing nudity, any modern or alternative artwork showing nudity gets banned from using these platforms and payment processors. Myself and many other artists have noticed that this happens ESPECIALLY for queer artists and artwork, and for more alternative artworks portraying nudity.
On top of this I could not get approved for a business PayPal account, I put in all of my information and then soon afterwards it was closed, I’m assuming for the same reasoning.
My only other option for the time being is Square, which sadly holds the same policies about “adult content” and I don’t feel it’s worth giving another entity my personal information just to have the account closed immediately or after one sale.
All of this comes after my WooCommerce shop being closed with no reason given, and they seem to not have any policies about “adult content” in place, though it’s been some months since I’ve looked into it so that may have changed by now.
Censorship in these forms affects marginalized people and artists the most. The amount of poor, queer, Black and brown artists that I’ve personally known (online and in real life!) that have lost sales or means of making sales is huge. The question that I keep hearing is “what do we do now?” and “where do we go?” I’d like everyone to remember that WE protect us, WE help eachother. These companies and corporations were never designed for us to use, especially without a fight. The systems are not broken, they are working as designed.
For now you can find and purchase my non NSFW works on depop and ko-fi I’m probably going to purchase the pro WP EasyCart which will give me access to 30+ other payment processors, but I’m going to have to look into it first to ensure that there are one or more options that will accept “adult content” and NSFW artwork. If you’d like to purchase my other artwork, my shop here will stay open (though you can obviously not purchase from it) and we can negotiate payment outside of here. My NSFW artwork can be found (with me!) at various upcoming events where you can purchase it in person.
As always, much love and solidarity to everyone and thank you for your support, understanding, and love
<3 Em, protean art