Category: Free the nipple

#deactivationday1

Deactivate Facebook and Instagram for 24 hours on 20 August. Let’s show them that they need us more than we need them.

They don’t do enough to stop racism being promoted on their platforms – and they impose sexist controls over how women’s bodies can be shown, but not on men’s.

Give them a day off – deactivate your accounts for 24 hours.

Please share this on.

Facebook – A codependent relationship or one that is wholly abusive?

I’m unable to post on Facebook – one jokey comment that I offered ‘twopenny wanks’ got me silenced for 7 days. It’ll be 30 days next time.

It’s pretty clear that it’s a joke comment and that the word ‘wank’ is not banned and niether are words considered to be far stronger. It’s possible that Facebook and Instagram just set their algorithms to challenge some people’s posts more than others.

I’m pretty much sick of trying to keep within their rules now. But over the 13 years I’ve been using I’ve filled my profile with images of my life, family, friends, views, angers, joys and all. It’s a way to link with friends, to find events, to plan parties and to see what’s happening in a very large community.

Facebook, much more than Instagram (as I’m finding now I can’t use Facebook) has become a near essential for me. And while they may say it’s not so for them, I can see it is for most of my friends. It’s a great party and event planning platform, and a way to share info and views that bring us together.

But say the wrong thing, offer a twopenny or threepenny wank, or some other form of unlikely anachronistic sexual favour and Mr Facebook-Sir will tut and make you stand in silence for longer and longer. And while, once upon a time, it needed us to love it and to stick with it, now we need it more than it needs us. There’s too much for individuals to loose.

We need to ditch it, get away from it’s hold and the prim right-wing norms it enforces. We want to say wank, we want to say we like to fuck, we want to show our bodies and our joys without being judged.

I don’t want to have to continue to destroy my photos to trick the algorithms. I want to tell them to fuck off.

Naked bodies

I came across this photo project yesterday 1000 Bodies – it’s several years old now. I flicked through the images of the naked participants with my partner – steadily, click, click, click like a slow, jerky animation.

1000 people, different genders and shapes and sizes – mostly younger, mostly white, mostly not visibly disabled (not intended as a criticism, it’s an observation). Standing, posing, sitting, stretching – caught in a moment.

Their nudity being less of interest than their pose and their presence. We noticed some parts of their bodies – remarking at bald shaven vaginas and the one man with an erection. Mostly, we were quiet and didn’t remark at all – the silently passing flicker of bodies, not that relevant to us, everything to those people.

The question always posed is why is nudity an issue, those body parts special, wrong etc. An answer is usually that they are sexual, and somehow that explains it. But what’s wrong with sex?

What is sexual, and who gives a toss anyway.

Messing about in my garden with my partner we took some photos that were intentionally censored by hands etc. I thought we’d post them on Instagram as they don’t show breasts or genitals. I added a sticker over the hand I was using to censor her fanny as I thought that might be needed to avoid being blocked.

But the image was immediately removed with a warning that it is a sexual image. Here it is, without the triangle. I don’t think it looks sexual, and we were not being sexual – we were playing about.

Once again, this is some Instagram bot determining that our behaviour was sexual as, presumably, it’s not blocking the image for showing genitals or (god forbid) nipples. There’s no appeal against its automated, soulless decision. Some dick has programmed it with a basic idea of what equals sexual, and it’s wrong.

But what business is it of Instagram anyway whether our behaviour is sexual or not? And why should we moderate or behaviour to be inline with its expectations – essentially it can piss off. Sexual, or simply full of joy (which is what that image actually capturing), is Instagram’s judgement. It doesn’t like sex and seems determined to seek it out and to find it where it isn’t present.

But, in any case sex and feeling sexual, is something most people seem to enjoy. If the image had been of us enjoying sex that, of itself, seems an odd thing to ban.

Someone might not want to see us having sex, but why can’t Facebook and Instagram just allow people to tag images as ‘adult’ and those people who would rather not see it could filter it out. If someone posted a sexual image untagged that might be a reason to block the image until it’s suitably tagged.

A further point that goes around my head is why, when such a huge amount of porn is produced and used for sex, do we baulk at seeing non-sexual or other sexual nudity. Why is it okay in porn but not when it’s an image of two people, who are in love or whatever, having a good fuck?