Some days ago I received an email and it gave me Déjà vu. This story started back in 2022. I had been told that I should explore Tantra on many occasions over the years. Tantra? Should I explore sexuality with random partners and call it spiritual sex? No, thank you, that is not for me, I thought. Maybe it triggered my ultra-Iranian origins ; who knows? However, in the spring of 2022, I took a brave step and threw myself into a tantra massage course. It turned out to be utterly different from wild sex with different men! And of course, I had to interview Shalini Lind, the tantra teacher. Shortly afterwards, YouTube removed the video from my WordPress. I contacted them to ask why the video had been removed; and this was their answer:
“We reviewed your content carefully, and have confirmed that it violates our sex and nudity policy. We know this is probably disappointing news, but it’s our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all.”
I could not disagree with them more, but did not feel like wasting energy on arguing with them. Until I received an email.
Dej́a vu
Reading the email was like having Déjà vu. It was from the Innerlife Center where I had attended the tantra massage course. Reading their email made me wonder how crazy our world is. We see violence everywhere but raising consciousness through our sexual energy is regarded as sex and nudity in a negative way. For anyone who may be curious, here is the email that Innerlife center circulated:
“InnerLife is undoubtedly in an industry that engages in human trafficking; yes, is it slavery and sexual exploitation that we engage in?
That’s the reasoning we got when Facebook shut down Shalini’s account entirely, and it was shut down not just once but twice in two days. By then, we had weeded out every single word that could resemble sexual or erotic in our ad. But the algorithms of Meta want to avoid dealing with the word Tantra, too. The account is up and running again now. We sent a beautiful photo of Shalini, which they requested, and luckily, a human behind the algorithms believed in our innocence. But it is scary to feel how social media controls us. Should we leave it to Facebook to have the defining power over the concept of Tantra? And let it be associated with prostitution, porn and sexual exploitation when it is the complete opposite? Our appeal to you is: Talk about Tantra! Talk about what it means to you! Tell us about the beauty of Tantra and what it does to your self-image, your relationships and, not least, how it contributes to a more loving world. FB rejection.”
I invite you to follow their appeal, and watch my video on YouTube. The video has English subtitles. Decide for yourself if it has anything to do with sex or nudity?
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Shalini Lind as much as I did.
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