A Note from The Red Foxxx

You may have noticed we’ve gone quiet on social media.

We didn’t go silent. We were silenced.

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Our recent account suspension is part of a much bigger issue around how women’s bodies, pleasure, and expression are policed online.

On June 15th, Meta permanently shut down both my personal Instagram and The Red Foxxx account. No warning, no real explanation, just a single word: pornography. Years of work building a thoughtful, empowered, passionate community...erased in a moment. To a big corporation that might sound trivial; to a small, independent boutique, it’s everything.

Those 2,000 hard-earned followers are real people. They’ve visited us in Woodstock, sent love notes, ordered gifts, and connected with an experience far more personal than average e-commerce. Losing that space isn’t a branding inconvenience; it’s a direct hit to our revenue, our visibility, and our ability to exist online.

When the Algorithm Is the Patriarchy in Disguise

I understand that platforms like Meta have a duty to protect users, especially minors, from explicit content. That is not lost on me, and thoughtful moderation is essential.

But there is a difference between protecting children and policing women. Between preventing harm and punishing nuance. When the system treats a cotton nightgown as a threat and erases a small business rooted in empowerment, it’s not moderation; it’s digital erasure.

Think of Meta like the Wizard of Oz: a booming, omnipotent face booming about “community standards.” Pull the curtain, and who’s there? A man at the levers, sustaining an outdated belief system that still insists women’s sexuality must be performed for men or hidden altogether.

First "Violation": Daring to Call My Store “The Red Foxxx”

Instagram rejected our handle the moment I tried to register it. “theredfoxxx” was flagged for “violating community standards.” The crime? Three X’s.

"XXX" the same three letters splashed across neon signs to lure men into adult-entertainment venues are apparently fine for the male gaze but “obscene” when a woman uses them to celebrate female pleasure and empowerment.

I chose the name deliberately: cheeky, bold, rebellious.

Audre Lorde explains why reclamation matters:

“The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation. For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic. But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling.” --- Audre Lorde, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power (1978)

Our shop isn’t just about lingerie. It’s about helping women reconnect to that erotic resource, to feel powerful, sensual, and unapologetically whole in their own skin.

The Cost of Being Censored

For years Meta sent warnings, flagged photos, and eventually disabled our ability to sell on Instagram and Facebook. We lost nearly 17% of our monthly revenue when our Meta shop was shut down over simple, elegant photos of lingerie, often on hangers or flat lays. A plain beige bra on a white background was enough.

I tried everything. Hours on support calls. Finally, I reached a human who seemed willing to help until he heard my email address, sales@theredfoxxx. He scoffed: “Why would you put three X’s in the name? That’s disgusting.”

It wasn’t just frustrating; it was shaming. As if women can’t claim sexuality or bold language unless it caters to male consumption. He fixed nothing. Our shop stayed closed.

This Double Standard Isn’t Accidental

And let’s be honest, this isn’t applied equally. Men’s underwear brands regularly advertise on Meta without issue. A man flexing in tight boxer briefs, fully visible from the waist down? No problem. Those ads run millions of impressions a day. But a woman, photographed from the waist up in a plain beige bra, simply smiling, not spreading her legs, not pouting, not performing is flagged and removed.

Meta’s standards claim to police nudity, but what they actually police is female presence. This isn’t about skin, it’s about power.

We’ve seen this dynamic play out in broader cultural movements, too. The Free the Nipple campaign has highlighted how images of male nipples are allowed across Instagram and Facebook, while female-presenting bodies, regardless of context, are censored. A 2020 study from the NYU School of Law and the European Union’s Ranking Digital Rights initiative found that female-presenting bodies were censored at up to four times the rate of male ones, even in non-sexual or artistic contexts.

When it comes to advertising, the disparity is even more blatant. According to the Center for Intimacy Justice, 100% of female-focused sexual wellness brands surveyed had ads rejected by Meta while male brands selling erectile dysfunction pills and testosterone boosters faced no such scrutiny.

So no, it’s not about nudity.

It’s about who gets to be visible and who gets silenced the moment they stop performing for someone else.

Our Final Post

The image that finally did us in? A woman in a long cotton nightgown, hip tilted, arms raised, confident, strong, unafraid to take up space.

Too much, apparently. The algorithm snapped, and everything disappeared...years of posts, community, customer relationships. Gone.

And to Every Woman Reading This

It’s hard not to feel disheartened when the world seems determined to shout us down. The backlash against our autonomy, voices, and bodies grows bolder, more shameless, more systemic. So hear this:

We are not too much.

We are not too bold.

We are not too loud, too sensual, or too ambitious.

The only way to disturb the placid waters of misogyny is with intention. Every woman who chooses pleasure without shame, every artist, writer, healer casts a stone and ripple by ripple, we make waves.

Let’s Stay Connected

The Red Foxxx isn’t gone; we’re simply off Meta’s platform. Find us, follow us, and support us on our terms:

• Subscribe to our newsletter. No algorithm stands between us and your inbox.

• Follow us on TikTok, Pinterest, and Lemon8. We’re rebuilding community where our voices are still welcome.

• Bookmark this blog. Our new home for storytelling, beauty, and conversation.

• Visit us in Woodstock. Come say hello! We love seeing friendly faces.

Thank you for standing with me.

- Daisy, founder of The Red Foxxx