Nude art and sculpture has no problem making its way into your Facebook feed.
But it wasn’t always the case.
Now that the social media platform finally recognizes that sculpture and art can depict nudity and still be considered worthy of high society, nude photographers are hoping that Facebook will recognize their right to showcase their art on its platform as well.
The National Coalition Against Censorship explains, “In recent months, Facebook has faced scrutiny for its community guidelines and censorship practices…The site’s policies, which make an exception for nudity in paintings and sculptures, exclude photography. Photographers reported having their accounts and photos deleted without warning or explanation.”
Nude photographers aren’t the only people getting the ban hammer from Facebook’s automated image monitoring system. Totally legit photos of other things such as breastfeeding mothers.
PetaPixel cites photographer Scott Tunick’s work with the #WeTheNipple campaign to highlight Facebook’s selective banning of photographers featuring the female nipple but images with the male equivalent go unchecked.
The official community standards policy from Facebook on this issue reads in part, “We restrict the display of nudity or sexual activity because some people in our community may be sensitive to this type of content…Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time. […] While we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breast-feeding, and photos of post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.”
The NCAC stated in response to this policy, “Images of the human body have been a central subject of art for centuries…Nevertheless, Instagram, the most popular platform for artists who share their work online, and Facebook both ban photographic representations of the body.”
What do you think about Facebook’s community standards? Too restrictive or the right formula for keeping the platform from going the way of Tumblr? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
1 Comment
The real question is why do people find the human body so disgusting they don’t want to look at it unclothed.
Spoiler alert: we all have one.