In fact, it was a picture from The Full Body Project, a book of photographs by Leonard Nimoy, which is Amazon’s number one best seller in Women’s Studies. What’s more, my posting wasn’t just of the photograph, but a link to a lovely tribute to Mr. Nimoy in the New York Observer — My Friend Leonard Nimoy was a Fervent Feminist by Abby Ellin.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Facebook and political correctness …
… Is Obesity the New Obscenity?Facebook Censored Leonard Nimoy’s Photograph of Nude Women on my FB Page. - Daniel Grotta & Sally Wiener Grotta.
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Actually, the photograph was removed because it's a nude photo, not because the women in it are obese. Facebook has rules against any photo that shows genitals and nipples, and has even removed photos of breastfeeding (which sparked protest, of course). When it comes to paintings, that's a different issue- people argue that it's art, and so far it seems to me that fb doesn't object to them. With photos it's more complicated. I once had a nude art album on facebook and someone reported it, and afterwards 50 photos in my album were deleted. Also, I have a photographer in my friend list, Gregory Colbert, and some of his art photos of naked women with animals were censored because of the nipples.
ReplyDeleteIf you notice nude photos somewhere on fb, perhaps nobody has reported them, but fb does have clear rules.
Note, I'm not defending fb, only clarifying 1 point.
That may be true. However, I often see quite a few photographs of nudes on Facebook, and not of obese nudes. That may relate to the fact that people are more offended when the women are fat, which is another subject we need to address: our society's prejudice against the overweight.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Facebook may have a kneejerk reaction to what they perceive as potentially offensive.
Or some algorithm or third-world outsourced FB censors may be involved.
These and other suggestions (including ones similar to yours) have been posted in the comments on the blog and on my Facebook page.If nothing else, it's generated an interesting discussion.
What I want to say is: it has to do with the people who reported the post, not facebook itself. I doubt that fb can control everything and know everything that is published there, but once something is reported, they look at it, and if it violates the rules, they censor or remove it.
DeleteSo I agree with your point about people's prejudice against the overweight.
Interestingly enough, blogspot has just made some policy changes: now they don't allow what they call adult content. Because of the threat to make blogs private or even delete them, I had to remove all the nudes on my blog. Couldn't believe that blogspot would do that- while tumblr allows everything, even porn.
Ah, you could try this: when you see on fb a nude photo of a skinny person that clearly shows genitals or nipples, report it for nudity and see what will happen.
DeleteSally, I am from the third world and while I am against FB's policies on nudity, I am sure my compatriots make an informed choice based on the company's rules. Outsourcing is a business decision; it does not change the nature of the work and it certainly does not affect its quality otherwise no company in its right mind would shift base. Do I read a hint of racism in your comment?
ReplyDelete