Yesterday (11th May 2026) I got an e-mail from Kickstarter confirming what I already knew was coming: a ban on mature content across Kickstarter.
The push for sites to bring in these restrictions typically comes from payment processors, and Kickstarter is no exception. Shortly before the announcement of these new rules, Kickstarter also started warning anyone with active Kickstarters on the site that our money might be withheld if Stripe considered the content to be too explicit. They promised to fight if our funds were withheld, however also suggested we be open with our backers about the fact that their pledges might be kept by Stripe if we were running anything remotely sexual. In my case, this e-mail came the day after Stripe tried to restrict my payouts from this website over mentions of sex work.
Here is the full text of the announcement e-mail of the new mature content ban, before we get into what the new guidelines are.
Hello,
Kickstarter has always been a home for bold, boundary-pushing creative work, including mature content projects like romance novels, nude art books, and provocative comics. Creators working in this space are a valued part of our community, and that hasn’t changed.
At the same time, some projects have experienced challenges during review or after launch. We want to be transparent about why and what we’re doing to address it.
As standards around mature content continue to evolve globally, we’ve needed to be more clear and consistent about how this type of content is presented on the platform, particularly on public project pages. In addition, our financial partners operate under their own legal requirements and policies for the types of projects they can support, which have impacted some of the creators on our platform.
To provide more clarity, we’re publishing clear, specific guidelines for mature content on Kickstarter for the first time. These guidelines are designed to help you understand what’s allowed, avoid what falls outside of our rules, and plan your project with confidence.
See the full Mature Content Guidelines here
To go alongside the guidelines, we’ve put together a Mature Content Creator Guide that walks through what’s supported, how to set up your project page, and what to do if something gets flagged.
We know these updates may require some adjustments, and we’re here to help. If you have questions about an upcoming project, our team can help you navigate the guidelines before you launch at support@kickstarter.com.
Kickstarter continues to believe that creative expression in all its forms deserves to find its audience. We’re glad you’re a part of this community.
— Your Kickstarter Team
Whether Kickstarter “values” creators like me who are making projects that centre around sex or not, the result is the same. We’re being censored and pushed off of their platform. The idea that these guidelines are merely a clarification rather than a significant change in policy is also insulting.
Let’s see the extent of this suppression. You can read through the full rules here.
Kickstarter has, of course, been home to many adult-only or sexually explicit projects. The question of how many of these are now prohibited is answered mostly by how they’re defining what is sexually explicit.
What is no longer allowed:
“Any project specifically stating it or the rewards being offered are being created for sexual pleasure.“
“Any project that distributes or enables distribution of pornographic content.“
This is a broad ban on a wider range of content than visual porn or smut, which is why the ban on pornographic content gets its own separate rule. Anything with sexual pleasure as a goal being disallowed could be used to ban sex education content, discussions of sexuality, and artwork of characters intended to be viewed as attractive – though Kickstarter exempts many of these from the rules explicitly so they can keep certain projects at will. The primary goal is to target real people making content of themselves or hiring sex workers, as we will see from the listed exceptions Kickstarter is making to this rule later.
Our primary concern should be the porn ban itself which is the source of this misery. It is those who work independently or for small groups who are most harmed by these changes. Large porn studios can rely on subscription charges from customers to fund new videos, well-known sex toy companies can sponsor sexual education influencers to push their products, and it is always independent groups trying to pay sex workers, writers and artists well for the content they make who are forced into closure.
Why should porn not be allowed on Kickstarter? It’s a platform where people pay to access the final creation itself, making it easier than ever to confirm buyers are over 18 if Kickstarter feels the need to do so, and people are very happy to spend their money on something NSFW for their enjoyment. All of the benefits of exclusion are artificially created by payment processors and governments seeking to limit sexual expression. Why should Kickstarter get to decide that you shouldn’t get to see sex?
“Any project that seeks funding for receiving or providing sexual services or spaces that offer sexual services.“
A first read might lead someone to conclude that it’s reasonable for Kickstarter not to allow itself to be used as an escorting platform, with someone offering sex as a reward, but this is a much more sweeping ban compared to solicitation. According to this rule, strippers wouldn’t be able to Kickstarter fundraise to buy their own club venue. Depending on what is counted as a sexual service, any project seeking to support sex workers may be prohibited entirely, including apps made to screen clients.
“Any project that promotes, glorifies, or praises sexual or abusive content or language that is coercive, degrading, humiliating, or otherwise sexually exploitative or abusive. For example: derogatory terminology (“slut”, “whore”, “MILF/DILF”, etc.) and explicitly violent (rape fantasy, etc.)“
Forget reclaiming terms like whore and slut in your work if you’re hoping to fund it through Kickstarter. This is direct censorship of specific words, with no exceptions being offered based on intent. Someone who seeks to fund a misogynistic work that degrades women by calling them all sluts and whores is treated the same way by this rule as a group of sex workers challenging the whorearchy.
You can say goodbye to projects like these being funded in future:
Modern Whore: A Memoir, Star Whores: Episode V – The Sluts Strike Back, REFORMED WHORES: Debut Album!
“Illegal content (bestiality, incest, etc.)“
Kickstarter has no control over the law, however I would be interested to know if they will be applying rules similar to those the UK government has set for not permitting staged incest roleplay porn – given that it is not illegal to play pretend in any other context, this is an expectation they are in a position to push back on.
“Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material. Kickstarter takes the protection of children and vulnerable populations very seriously. We prohibit any and all sexual content and nudity of actual, or inferred, minors and vulnerable persons.“
Personally I think that CSAM and CSEM should be in a separate category to “mature” content, because of its non-consensual nature and for the same reason it is preferable not to refer to CSAM as porn. Regardless, it was included in these guidelines directly below other illegal content. This rule would be perfect if not for the inclusion of “vulnerable persons” after minors and the ambiguity of this phrase.
A disabled person may be classed as vulnerable. Does this mean they shouldn’t have the same rights to freedom of sexual expression as anyone else? Women are vulnerable to misogyny. Does this mean women should be restricted from presenting themselves sexually?
To better make the same point about how Kickstarter will combat CSAM, they have the option of saying that all non-consensual nude or sexual content is forbidden including that of minors. It makes me angry that real concerns about exploitation of children are being used as a cover for suppressing sexual expression of adults who are viewed as likely victims.
“Photographs, photo-realistic depictions, printed models, sculpture, and illustrations of:
1. Sex acts or implied sex acts, inclusive of masturbation.
2. Nudity inclusive of female nipples/areolas, genitalia, anuses, gluteal cleft (buttocks).
3. Implied nudity where the subject is wearing lingerie, fetish wear, or clothing that is see-through or very tight and shows human genitalia, the anus, or the nipple/areola of female breasts.“
Sex workers cannot even retreat to heavily censored versions of our content, nor will we be permitted to share images of our bodies without covering them up in loose opaque clothing. The way sex acts are being singled out here without Kickstarter even feeling the need to justify it is maddening.
I know that misogynistic rules about who is and is not allowed to show their nipples are so commonplace as to feel normal, but I do think it is worth pointing out yet again that this ban on showing the full chest only applies to “female” nipples whilst the rest of the list is gender-neutral. There is no gender disparity on who has nipples and no good reason that exclusively women should be barred from showing them. It’s no better worded than Tumblr’s ban on female presenting nipples with “the nipple/areola of female breasts”.
Forget about more projects like these:
Temperance | a fine art nude book, Nymphea, GARAGE And BACKWOODS: Two New Books By Paul Freeman, Red Hot X – A nude male art book, Red Hot Fire Island – A nude calendar for 2025
“Sexual wellness products that:
1. Are explicitly designed for sexual stimulation through insertion or penetration, or are intended to have body parts inserted into them.
2. Are marketed or presented primarily for sexual gratification in a manner that creates heightened safety or moderation concerns.”
Of course others kinds of stimulation and pleasure are permitted, whilst the sexual is a taboo.
“Dating or meet up type websites, applications and other software.“
This rule is yet another reason that sex worker run platforms struggle so much to get off of the ground, because we don’t have the capital to start them ourselves and anywhere we could crowdfund to do so will blacklist us. Forget a sugar dating site that is honest about the sexual nature of sugar dating. Don’t hope for an application built around sex worker safety.
This mature content ban is an example of yet another site refusing to lend credibility to sex worker projects and to deny us the ease that other people have access to for their fundraising.
Nothing makes this more obvious to me than what remains allowed.
What kind of sexual content can you still have on Kickstarter?
- “Romance/”spicy” literature, including comic books.“
These could be just as explicit as erotica that is solely about sex, so the exception being made is purely about what is more palatable and is not created by sex workers. - “Sexual wellness products that are not designed for insertion or penetration and are not marketed primarily for sexual gratification. Examples may include lubricants, nipple jewelry, and other intimate items such as bras and underwear.”
- “Any photographs or illustrations containing:
1. Revealing photographs in a non-sexual setting. Examples of this are: a model in swimwear or an actor in their boxers getting ready for work.
2. Intimate acts that are not explicitly sex acts. Examples of this are: two people kissing, two people cuddling, etc.
3. Nudity (breasts, genitalia, anuses, gluteal cleft/buttocks) found in projects that are portrayed in a non-sexualized, scientific, educational, or documentary style where the focus is not on genitalia or reproductive organs.”
Who decides what counts as a non-sexual setting? Getting read for “work” is allowed, but I’ll bet you that doesn’t include a sex worker getting ready to strip or sell sex to a client even though there’s no sex included. For that matter, what acts are considered intimate without crossing the line into sex, between kissing and penetration? Does dry-humping count? Or regarding nudity, what counts as a “focus” on genitalia and what makes a depiction sexual compared to aesthetic – is it only about what we say when advertising?
All of my successful projects on Kickstarter thus far have had sex work as a major theme. My first, a translation of Contemporary Prostitution: Study of a Social Question made £4,655. My second, Working Guys: A Transmasculine Sex Worker Anthology, made £8,916, and most recently Transactional Intercourse made £19,195. I am by no means a huge creator, but this money has meant a lot to the sex worker writers I’ve been able to pay for their work and to me as a sex worker struggling to afford my rent each month. Across projects, sex workers were paid more than £10,000 because of the ability to fundraise with pre-orders. Losing this avenue to bring money into my community and support sex workers living without sick pay or time off is devastating.
In theory, I shouldn’t run afoul of these rules with projects that platform sex worker writing. Unfortunately what is technically permitted is often punished in reality, and I can imagine the (awful) arguments now that these projects fund or glorify sex work meaning they would not be accepted. I can’t afford to pour time and effort into a platform that could dismiss it all at the last moment when I submit for approval.
What I would respect more in terms of a response from Kickstarter, if they are convinced they must do this for their business to survive, is an admission of why they are doing it and what they think of the payment processors and laws forcing the issue. Tell us that out of concern Stripe will stop serving your site, making you unable to function at all in the short to medium-term, you’re implementing the restrictions they expect. Note how this discrimination will most severely impact sex workers, racialized people, queer people, and anyone who is especially sexualized by others. Don’t insult sex workers and other sexual content creators by pretending this change is not exactly what it is; capitulation to the wave of sexual censorship overwhelming the internet.
Kickstarter now joins an ever-increasing list of platforms leaving adult content creators behind.
The Kickstarter I am currently running is likely to be my last if this content ban is not rolled back. It complies with the rules as they are written, though I am sure that with discriminatory application any projects that touch on sex, sexuality or transness will be impacted in future. With that in mind, funding beyond the goal would be especially welcome to allow me to put money aside for later projects which I will not be able to fundraise for through Kickstarter:
Warped will be a trans+ anthology of horror and sci-fi short stories by a minimum of 12 writers. It will include gore, smut, and other things advertisers and payment processors are not a fan of. You can support it on Kickstarter here.
If you could also share this project, it would be strongly appreciated. For obvious reasons, advertising works that include mature content and trans perspectives is hard, and it’s only getting harder!
Jack Talks About Sex Work 