LOS ANGELES—Lips, a sharing platform and marketplace for uncensored sexual self-expression, has announced it has reached it’s $10K crowdfunding goal to build their sex-positive, blockchain-enabled, web and mobile app.
Interested persons can still contribute at iFundWomen.com/projects/lips, where they can gain exclusive beta testing access and purchase discounted premium membership with the following features:
• Uncensored posting - your account will never be deleted or banned
• Set up your online store in the Lips marketplace and sell directly from the main social feed
• Exclusive, free access to promote your work in events and gallery shows
• DM with fans
• Network with companies that want to hire sex-positive artists and models
Once launched, the app will be free to use, but premium Lips users can sell directly from the Lips feed.
Lips CEO and Founder Annie Brown—named by Forbes to a list of innovative women in blockchain to follow—is rallying fellow pleasure innovators to support the platform and provide feedback.
“As adult industry professionals know, raising funds and awareness for sex positive companies, especially ones focused on female pleasure, is not easy when done through traditional methods. This is why we turned to our community of supporters to help us fund and inform the technical development of the platform,” Brown said.
According to the company’s website, Lips’ mission is to provide a space for women and those in the LGBTQ+ community to share their experiences openly and honestly, as well as a space for all humans to enjoy and support empowering and authentic content without the harmful aspects of online culture, such as harassment and unnecessary censorship.
“Lips will be a game changer for creating a reliable source of promotion and income for artists, performers, models and brands within the NSFW space,” Brown said. “It will also mean providing independent creators with a platform that respects them and values their work—which in turn, builds self-esteem.”
Lips features various forms of sexual self-expression, such as writing, photography, memes, gifs and paintings, that empower creator and consumer alike. Brown originally released the project as a printed zine—an independent, self-published magazine—as part of an assignment for her Introduction to Women’s Studies Seminar at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The Lips MVP (minimal viable product) can be experienced via LipsZine.com. The next iteration of Lips will be a further built-out website and mobile application where users will have the option to post their art anonymously, without sacrificing intellectual property—utilizing cryptographic and blockchain technologies to do so. The forthcoming Lips app will also enable users to purchase directly from the main feed, allowing for a seamless discovery and shopping experience.
With the $10K raised from this crowdfunding campaign Brown and the Lips team has begun to develop their vision for the Lips app—a next generation sharing platform that integrates feminist philosophy into algorithms, allowing for artistic expression, discussions of sexuality, sex work and sex education without censorship or trolls.
Lips is poised to become an online oasis for sexual wellness consumers and creatives who feel abandoned by social platforms like Tumblr, who recently banned all nude and sexual content. This is especially timely given Instagram’s recent announcement that even “suggestive" posts will be deleted.
You can see examples of social media censorship on Lips’ Instagram profile in the story highlights.
“Currently adult industry brands, sex workers, sex educators and sex tech companies are simply not able to advertise on social media. All of these groups will be able to advertise to targeted, sex-positive Lips users who are eager to support them,” Brown said. “Besides advertising, we provide a platform where brands can post, sell products and gain followers without having to self-censor themselves to avoid account deletion or shadowbans.”
The development and growth of the Lips platform will aid the entire sex-positive community by providing a safe, comfortable space to call home while promoting and developing their businesses and art online.
Brown envisions a platform that would ultimately bring a new understanding to how collective society views and consumes consensual sex work.
“We are embracing sex positivity in a way that empowers sex workers, educates users of all genders and sexual preferences, and stands up against tech companies that are silencing marginalized groups,” Brown concluded.
Lips aims to launch for beta users in late 2019.
To learn more, visit iFundWomen.com/projects/lips.
