Why Erotic Review Finds More Freedom in Print

Lucy Roeber leads Erotic Review, a 30-year-old magazine about erotic culture. She took on the title in 2022 and relaunched it in 2024. She expected problems in print publishing. But she did not expect so many barriers online. In May 2025, Instagram told the magazine that ermagazine.com was on a block list. Meta said the site contained or promoted pornographic or graphic sexual content. There was no investigation or chance to appeal.

An online presence is important for almost every business in 2026. Statista says 73.2 per cent of the global population is online. Bionic Services says UK adults spend 76 per cent of their waking lives there. However, several services treated Erotic Review as a risky business. Shopify and Stripe froze payments in August 2023. Stripe allowed payments within three weeks. PayPal later released frozen money, but permanently blocked the company.

Other platforms also limited the magazine. Google SafeSearch hides its website. At the Barbican’s Dirty Weekend in late November 2025, about one third of people trying to join its newsletter were blocked. A former audio platform connected to Spotify also rejected advertisements. It said the podcast image looked like a female body, although the image was not explicit.

Roeber says these rules affect more than one magazine. Cindy Gallop of Make Love Not Porn argues that large platforms hurt smaller makers. Queer, feminist, and art projects can lose access to audiences and payments. Dr Carolina Are links some of this change to FOSTA/SESTA in 2018. Platforms may reduce the reach of posts through downranking or shadowbanning.

Broad filters can place educators, doctors, artists, and publishers in one erotic category. A sexual health service called MV had information about STI treatment hidden. Jack Fertility also had LinkedIn posts about sperm blocked. People then use words such as “seggs” to avoid filters. Roeber believes this weakens honest language and useful discussion. For now, the printed page gives serious erotic commentary more freedom.