what is lips?

Lips is a feminist technology organization and zine at the forefront of the inclusive design movement, creating spaces and tools that center the voices, creativity, and needs of intersectionally marginalized communities.

Our first product is a feminist digital zine and social media platform designed for women, non-binary folks, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and their fans to share art, writing, and ideas in an environment free from the toxic norms of mainstream internet culture—no harassment, discriminatory censorship, or plagiarism.

Alongside our publishing work, we are building more inclusive Machine Learning and Contextual AI technologies that can be applied across industries to improve the online experience for communities historically excluded from the design and decision-making process.

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What is lips distro?

Lips Distro is our online hub for research, information, organizations, and zines working at the intersection of technology, feminism, and equality across class, race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, religion, and more. It’s where we bring together product discussions, co-design resources, and advocacy tools to support inclusive design and community-driven change.

The term “Distro” (short for distribution) comes from zine culture, referring to places that share and circulate zines. Since Lips began as a feminist zine, we carry that legacy forward by calling our information hub a distro—connecting ideas, resources, and people across movements.

why is lips needed?

The Internet, as it exists today, discourages honest expressions by marginalized communities online. Current platforms not only unfairly censor us, but also encourage low self-esteem, and body image issues.

as studies show, after spending only a short time on mainstream applications, women experience lower self-esteem and more insecurity about their bodies.

lgbtqia+ community members are more often bullied and experience hate speech, and can’t find role models due to hashtag censorship and shadowbanning.

to make matters worse, a large portion of body-positive, sex-positive content, ads, and products are unjustly removed from platforms when they are in fact, empowering, beneficial, and even essential. for example, Content promoting birth control options, HIV prevention information, breast exam techniques, and more are often taken down for violating platform policies.

Some unfortunate truths:

our solution

Now imagine a platform where historically marginalized voices are allowed, acknowledged and valued. Lips not only amplifies the voices of all women and LGBTQia+ identifying persons, but also exists as a space for all people to enjoy and support empowering and authentic content. In this way, we aim to improve the mental health and self-esteem of all our users.

dive into the specifics of our solution via our tech page.

for more information about lips, visit lips.social/settings/faq

get in touch with us via team@lips.social

download the app @ lips.social

 

artwork for this site provided by @helbait