YouTube's unfair termination of women empowerment channel
Last Saturday morning I woke up to an email from YouTube saying that my channel was terminated. The channel where I shared videos from my photoshoots and interviews with women talking about body acceptance and learning to feel comfortable in their own skin, was taken down.
I started the channel back in 2015 when someone said, you need to have a YouTube channel. I started uploading videos about photoshoots that I’ve done, the spiritual events I attended and more.
Over the last year I decided to focus more on video creation because I thought videos would be an amazing way to amplify voices, connect in community and better ourselves.
YouTube says I violated their sexy and nudity policy.
I studied YouTube Community Guidelines thoroughly to make sure I follow the rules. From ideation to filming and edition, it can take me anywhere from 10 to 40 hours to create. How foolish of me would be to do all the work KNOWING that there is a risk of having it all disappear in an instance?
Let me walk you through the types of videos I had on my channel, and how they compare to other content that is plentiful on YouTube.
One of my recent videos was an interview with a woman named Katie who lives at a naturist resort. I admired Katie for how confident she was in her body and I decided to film an interview with her, in the hopes of inspiring people. Video interviews with Katie focused on:
body acceptance
rising together in sisterhood
living in nature
being authentic and true to yourself
Though this video got close to 230K views, it has ZERO NUDITY in it. A lot of people commented on what a good interview it was explaining the nudist lifestyle and how it is conducive to body acceptance and cultivating self-love.
There is some nudity in my videos, but it is NOT of sexually gratifying intent.
Nudity that is present in my content is of following nature:
artistic nude photos of women, taken during a Goddess Gathering. These photos fall under the category of ART in the YouTube Community Guidelines, and therefore, should be allowed.
documentary style video of a woman living in a naturist resort where her private parts are blurred out AND the video is classified as for viewers of “18 and older"
This is the style of artistic nude photography I do to show women that they are A BODY OF ART:
I KNOW FOR A FACT that other creators who take photos like this share their work on YouTube.
When I got interested in artistic nude photography, I came across an amazing site called Model Society. I found it through a video on YouTube that was a slideshow of photographs with a voiceover over it. So why is it ok for THEM to share it, and not for me?
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Model Society. But they are even showing her nipples in one of the THUMBNAILS. Is it because that video has 17 MILLION views at the time of me writing this and therefore keeps driving traffic and revenues for YouTube???
As you can see from the screenshot above, the message in the preview says that “the video may not be suitable for all viewers”. This is what happens when a video is classified as containing adult content, for viewers over 18 years of age. It is the same type of content - ARTISTIC NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY - that is present in my videos!
The purpose of nude photos in my videos was to show how women can feel beautiful and confident in their bodies, how having a photography session like this helps them feel empowered, how they learn to accept their body and be more at home in their own skin.
Another video of mine was a recipe of ceremonial cacao that Katie shares. Katie lives in a naturist resort, and when she made the cacao, she was nude, because that’s her lifestyle! I thought it was ok to share the video just like that, because she didn’t get naked just to entertain the viewers, but she lives and functions like this, I posted the video as is.
YouTube removed that video for violation of sex and nudity so I blurred out all the private parts and posted it again. The ceremonial cacao video is also meaningful because it talks about women’s circles, a powerful connection and healing tool.
The updated cacao video was classified as “for viewers 18 or older” AND had all the fun parts blurred out. Just like this video here does:
It is possible that YouTube bots flagged my channel because of the words “nude”, “naked”, “naturist”. When I run a search using these words, A LOT of channels and videos pop up. Those videos do not violate Community Guidelines and neither do mine! The only difference between me and these channels is that they have huge subscriber base.
I read somewhere online that YouTube is more lenient toward large channels. Is it because they are a source of higher ad revenue?
The thing is, my channel didn’t even violate the rules!
Another video on my channel was about a bodypainting experience that I personally had. The video touched on the subjects of body acceptance and stepping away from an idealized version of what a body “should look like”. It was also an art transformation, and body painting videos are plentiful on YouTube. Though it may look like I am nude at the first glance, I had pasties over my nipples and nude color thong on. Does that make me nude?? I don’t think so.
There was one more video that could have potentially been problematic. It was a video about a tantra healer’s Goddess Photoshoot. In one of the scenes Kim is topless and being playful on the beach as I photograph her. The entire scene is less than a minute. Again, it falls under the category of ART, but if YouTube is so offended by it, I can cut out that part, or blur it out.
Do you see now where the frustration comes from? When I read the rules and self-identify that it is ok and then see that others are doing what I identified as ok, then I’m ok too, right? Is it a double standard? The big YouTubers with millions of views who bring in tons of revenue for the ads are ok, but small creators like me are not? IT’S NOT FAIR!
For me, this YouTube channel is not just a way to promote my photography business, which provides livelihood for me and my three kids, my family. This is my LIFE’S MISSION.
Seeing beauty in ourselves, loving and accepting ourselves is the first step to loving, or at least accepting others. It’s a path to harmony and peace with oneself and with the rest of world.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
The very fact that you are reading this helps a lot! Thank you!
Other ways in which you can help me get my Goddess Mirror YouTube Channel back:!
leave a comment with the words “I SUPPORT YOU” underneath this article. Feel free to leave a longer comment but I would advise against profane or violent language;
share this article on social media;
Tweet (X?) at @TeamYouTube on X about unfair channel termination;
if you know a publicist, or someone who works for a newspaper, magazine, TV station, or another publication who would want to talk about this publicly, please connect us. I intend to reach all channels and not give up until I get it back!
if you know anyone who works at YouTube who could help, please pass this on or connect us. If a human (not a bot) looks at my channel, they will be able to see that there is no pornography or sexually gratifying content there. They should be able to see my channel for what it is - a place to empower women, amplify voices, and rise together in sisterhood.
Thank you so much for reading this and for supporting me. This is the time when I most need you support and your willingness to help means the world to me! I appreciate you so much!
With love and gratitude,