MaleGeneral: Beware of gay nudes forum used for revenge porn
Beware of MaleGeneral.
A gay porn forum called MaleGeneral is being used as a platform for revenge porn.
Dazed reports that people have been using MaleGeneral to share explicit photos of unaware victims.
The site is used to post nudes of men, but once they’re uploaded, it’s very difficult to get them removed.
What is MaleGeneral?
MaleGeneral is a gay porn forum where users can share photos, videos and comments. On its site, it reads: “lurk more at male general bringing boys together. Male oriented, English language imageboards and discussion boards.”
Its simple design is similar to 4chan, which is an image-based bulletin board where users can share images and comment anonymously.
“I figured out how horrific that website is. I kept quiet because I didn’t exactly want people seeing that of me.”
— Victim of revenge porn on MaleGeneral
Dazed reports that users also use the forum to “post photos identifying any male they know (on or offline), with the purpose of asking other users to share explicit images and/or videos of the male in question.”
MaleGeneral is made up of subject-related threads such as ‘malegeneral dongs’ where users can search for nudes of their choice and even request them.
A screenshot from MaleGeneral’s site.
Many users have their own profile with their own photo and personal details. Others choose to remain anonymous.
The explicit content includes photos of penises and videos, some of which are even downloadable.
Indeed, some of the content comes from willing participants—for example, a lot of MaleGeneral’s porn content is made by men willing to sell porn through the site, much like the case with OnlyFans.
But many of the gay porn photos include men who have fallen victim to revenge porn and sexual exploitation. Pictures are uploaded against the person’s will.
Meet one MaleGeneral revenge porn victims
Dazed reports that one man, who’s referred to as ‘Jack’ to protect his true identity, is one of the many victims who’ve had explicit content shared on MaleGeneral without his consent.
Like many people, Jack exchanged nudes with a guy he was talking to through gay app Grindr.
The photos were later distributed on MaleGeneral for its millions of users to see.
“I actually saw a post of a guy who was under the age of 18.”
— Victim of revenge porn on MaleGeneral
Jack told Dazed: “Last year, I received a DM on Twitter from someone I didn’t know. It said something along the lines of ‘Hey, have you seen these photos of you naked on this website?’ and it included a link.
“I thought it was just some fake junk mail circulating but for some reason I clicked on it and there it was. I just closed it down as fast as I could, and when I got home I looked into it more and I figured out how horrific that website is. I kept quiet because I didn’t exactly want people seeing that of me.”
How to remove the images on MaleGeneral
There is a bizarre external page for removal requests for affected people to visit.
“When reading the terms of how to get the post removed from their website,” Jack continued, “I saw that you have to send (the people running MaleGeneral) a picture of yourself holding a sign with your details, and if you don’t do it ‘correctly’ they publicly post the photo on the site to shame you.”
Jack added: “I was disgusted… and of course, I didn’t want to do that so I kept quiet about it, thinking no one knew the website existed. I was never ashamed because I knew a lot of people do send photos like that, it was just unfortunate it was me that all this happened to.”
Be cautious about exchanging images
It’s very common for men to exchange images through platforms such as Grindr, but it’s important to understand the risks, especially if you share images that include your face to people you’re not sure you can trust.
Sadly, Jack is one of countless people who find themselves in a state of humiliation as a result of revenge porn.
The internet and social media is a “dangerous place” for explicit material, especially for young people.
“I actually saw a post of a guy who was under the age of 18. I didn’t know who it was – a comment was posted anonymously which said ‘Delete this quick, he isn’t of age’, so that alone shows teens are also involved.
“On social media, it’s easy to lie about your age. Teens can just type whatever they like into a box and are taking a risk by sending stuff like that, for it to end up on a website they have no clue about. So I do think there needs to be some form of education to a degree, just so young people know how out of hand this can become.”
