Our House Rules

Get to know Etsy's legal terms and policies

Our House Rules

Adult Nudity and Sexual Content

At Etsy, we are committed to enabling creative expression, while also ensuring content is appropriate for a wide audience.

This policy will go into effect on July 29th, 2024.

Please read on to find out more about the types of adult nudity and sexual content that are allowed, and what is prohibited on Etsy. Our policies apply to all parts of the Etsy platform where text or images might be posted, including listing contents, reviews, digital download files, and shop banners. Please note that we have a separate, strict policy governing Imagery of Minors, which prohibits nude, partially nude, and sexually suggestive depictions of minors, among other things.

You must tag some permitted content as ‘mature’, as a heads-up to people who may not want to see this type of content. Read more about Listing Mature Content Correctly.

  1. Content depicting adult nudity and/or sexual activity
  2. Adult toys and sexual accessories
  3. Sexual language referencing familial relationships

1. Content depicting adult nudity and/or sexual activity

Pornography

Pornographic content is not allowed on Etsy.

We define pornography as:

  1. Printed or visual materials that explicitly describe or display sex acts, sex organs, or other erotic behavior for the purpose of sexual arousal or stimulation.
  2. Materials produced by pornographic publishers (e.g. Playboy, Brazzers). This includes vintage adult magazines and films.
  3. Materials marketed and/or described as pornographic in listing titles, descriptions, or tags, regardless of whether there is any nudity or sexual content within the listing images themselves.

Items modeled by a human in listing or review photos

When a human model is featured in a listing or review photo for an item, genitalia, anuses, gluteal clefts, and female nipples/areolas may not be visible.

This policy applies even if the above body parts are only partially visible, including through very tight, sheer, or mesh clothing, or through insufficient use of blurring or “censor” bars.

To ensure compliance with this policy, we recommend the following:

  • If modeling sheer items, have the model wear skin-colored underwear beneath the garment
  • Consider using a mannequin instead of a human model
  • Utilize flat lay photography techniques to display the item

Photos and photo-realistic content

Etsy does not allow photographs or photo-realistic depictions of sex acts, genitalia or anuses, even if they are obscured in listing images. We do allow photos and photo-realistic depictions of buttocks and nipples, so long as these body parts are obscured in the first listing image as described in our policy for Listing Mature Content Correctly.

Non-realistic content

For content that is neither photographic nor photorealistic (such as paintings, illustrations, sculptures, and line drawings), we permit some kinds of adult nudity. For example, the following are permitted:

  • Visible breasts and buttocks
  • Genitalia or anuses without any additional sexual context (such as sex acts, visible arousal, sexual stimulation, sexual body fluids, or sexually suggestive posing)
  • Sex acts without visible genitalia or anuses

For non-realistic content, the following are prohibited:

  • Sex acts with visible genitalia or anuses
  • Depictions of genitalia or anuses with other sexual context (such as sex acts, visible arousal, sexual stimulation, sexual body fluids, or sexually suggestive posing)

Other prohibited content

We also prohibit:

  1. Selling or advertising sexual services, such as fetishised items (e.g. items that have been intimately used by a specific individual, such as worn underwear), and custom photographs and videos depicting nudity or sexual content, or content that sexualizes a specific body part (e.g. “foot pics”).
  2. Depictions of illegal sexual acts, including bestiality, necrophilia, incest and non-consensual sex.

We reserve the right to remove any other content that violates the spirit of these rules.

2. Adult Toys and Sexual Accessories

Etsy prohibits the sale of adult toys that are:

  • Inserted into the body
  • Applied to the genitalia
  • Designed for genitals to be inserted into them

This includes adult toys such as dildos, vibrators, anal plugs, sex dolls, and fleshlights.

Etsy allows the sale of non-insertable and non-penetrable adult toys and sexual accessories, as long as they meet our requirements for sale on Etsy. This includes items such as restraints, handcuffs, nipple clamps, body harnesses, sex furniture, and BDSM accessories.

Permitted adult toys and sexual accessories may not be shown in use or worn by human models in listing or review photos. Consider using a mannequin or flat lay photography instead.

3. Sexual Language Referencing Familial Relationships

We define ‘sexual language’ to include references to sex acts, sexual bodily fluids, fetish acts (including BDSM acts such as spanking), genitalia, sexual arousal, and sexualised terminology such as “slut” or “whore.”

We define references to familial relationships as terms that refer to parents, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, grandparents, aunts or uncles, and nieces or nephews.

Etsy does not allow items bearing sexual language or slogans that contain references to familial relationships. This includes slogans such as “Daddy’s slut” or “Choke me Mommy.”

Last updated on Jun 27, 2024