I
was eating dinner with my boyfriend in our kitchen watching a Facebook live stream debate about guns on campus at the University of Texas when suddenly the video stopped. A pop up said something like, “Session expired.”
Someone reported a photo of me my friends at the beach as nudity, and Facebook responded by restricting my ability to communicate with you on their platform in two ways. I can not post on my wall or respond to messages using Messenger for the next 3 days.
I feel sad that I can’t use Facebook. It is the primary way I communicate with the world. Especially the Messenger app. An acquaintance I met at a conference asked me a question, and I am not able to respond. I am not even able to explain why I can’t respond. That is embarrassing and frustrating. I want to maintain a good reputation with this new friend, but I can’t respond to him, and he doesn’t know that I can’t. Fortunately I have been using Signal, Telegram, and other messaging apps, so I am still largely able to communicate.
The part that upsets me is that it is likely someone I know, not an enemy, who caused this to happen — totally unintentionally. I posted that photo two places: my public wall, and the private event wall. One would assume the public one got flagged by a hater. I checked. It’s still up. In fact it had several “likes” and “loves” in reaction.
However, to my surprise the one I posted in the event page for “Speedo Day” was gone. Could someone from this event get me banned from Facebook for posting a photo? Bizarre indeed, but what other conclusion can I draw?
I suspect that what happened is that someone good-hearted saw this picture on event page and clicked, “I don’t want to see this.” And then have the reason, “Contains nudity” as the reason. They didn’t know it would cause Facebook to lock me out for 3 days and make it easier for haters to lock me out for longer. They just didn’t like the picture and didn’t want their kids to see it or something. Boobs are bad, right?
A great irony is that this picture was taken the same day as Go Topless Day also known as Free the Nipple. It’s a day to promote the idea that everyone should be free to be topless without fear of molestation, especially by government agents.
There is partial nudity in the picture. Everyone has their bottoms covered with a speedo or bikini bottom. None of us has a top. 3 generations ago, it was illegal for everyone. Even gay civil rights hero Harvey Milk was arrested for being barechested in New York in 1947. Only recently did anyone win the freedom to be shirtless without fear of punishment. Isn’t it well past time that everyone enjoyed that freedom?
Shame on Facebook for enforcing a busybody policy that discriminates against and body-shames women for dressing in the same perfectly acceptable way as men.
