An oversight board at Meta (Instagram and Facebook’s ‘parent’ company) consisting of academics, journalists and politicians has recently advised that both social media platforms reevaluate their censorship rules to loosen the restriction on bare breasts, chests, and bosoms across all genders.
You may recall the ‘Free The Nipple’ movement of 2015, which saw celebrities and activists fighting to end censorship of the bare female breast on Instagram. The sentiment behind the movement, as skewed as it may have become, was just. Why should a female breast be sexualised and censored, when men are free to pose topless?
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Daisy Jones, a British Vogue journalist writes, “there is no reason that a woman’s breast ought to be inherently offensive when a man’s chest isn’t.”
She continues:
“These are centuries-old social conventions that position men as observers, and women as the observed, with no room for gender variation.”
In the recent appeal from the oversight board at Meta, the panel recommends that the company redefine criteria within their Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard, to allow for “rights-respecting” policies that don’t restrict the freedom of self expression on the basis of sex or gender.
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The report reads:
“[Current censorship criteria] makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, nonbinary, and transgender people, and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender, which is not practical when moderating content at scale.”
Continued:
“Here, the Board finds that Meta’s policies on adult nudity result in greater barriers to expression for women, trans, and gender nonbinary people on its platforms…”
Is it ethical to assume a gender based on what a person’s body looks like? No, this is in wide disregard of people who identify as LGBTQI+. Even if it were ethical to do so – which it is not – why are men allowed to go bare-chested on social platforms, when women are not?
You’d think the world would have moved past the archaic view that a woman’s body is an object of the male gaze, and therefore inherently sexualised.
Alas, there are those (some who are women themselves) who still believe that female breasts are ‘private parts’ and ‘should be covered up’… but aren’t these people just falling into the same restrictive narrative?
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Well, at least Meta’s oversight board has started to understand how restrictive these standards are. However, there are concerns about how these platforms can develop more inclusive community standards whilst still keeping factors like child protection and pornography at top of mind.
According to reports, Meta has 60 says to respond to recommendations put forward by the oversight board.
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Feature Image: Instagram / @chadknight
