Meta is “freeing the nipple” on the recommendation of its oversight board that banning bare breasts violates the “human rights” of women, transgender and non-binary people.
The board’s recommendation focused on the Instagram ban of two posts by a couple, one transgender and the other non-binary, who posed topless but covered their nipples to raise awareness of top surgery.
The board said that “the [old] The policy is based on a “binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies”, making nipple baring rules “obscure” to those who do not identify as women.
But it’s also affecting women, who have long fought to desexualize images of bare breasts while arguing that men should be allowed to share their bare breasts.
Naked protesters – both men and women – marched to Facebook’s headquarters in New York in 2020 to demand a change in policy on bare breasts.
Meta will allow bare breasts on Facebook and Instagram after its oversight board said the ban “disables expression for women, transgender and non-binary people on its platforms.”
The board, which is funded by Meta but operates independently, said in a ruling that the company’s nudity policy is based on a binary view of gender, making it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people.
Facebook and Instagram were criticized in 2013 for removing images of breastfeeding women, but the platforms apologized for “the mistake” and said they would encourage such images on their platforms.
Of the two posts that sparked the case, one from 2021 and the other from 2022, it said: “The Oversight Panel finds that the removal of these posts is not consistent with Meta’s community standards, values or human rights responsibilities.
“These cases also highlight fundamental issues with Meta’s policies.
The board’s recommendation focused on the Instagram ban of two posts by a couple, one transgender and the other non-binary, who posed topless but covered their nipples to raise awareness of top surgery. Pictured is another person who had top surgery
“Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people and requires investigators to make quick and subjective gender and gender assessments,” the board said.
However, the new policy of allowing bare breasts has been a long time coming.
In 2000, women took to the streets in the Free the Nipple movement to desexualize images of bare breasts.
And it happened when images of breastfeeding women were censored or flagged as nudity.
The movement gained momentum in 2013 after Facebook removed clips from actress/director Lina Esco’s documentary Free the Nipple, sparking protests outside Facebook’s headquarters.
And many women argue that while hate speech remains uncensored, their nipples are labeled as “dangerous.”
CEO Mark Zuckerburg tried to justify this in 2018, saying, “It’s easier to build an AI system to detect a nipple than hate speech.”
Meta was recently criticized for banning professional nude photography by activists who said the images were art.
In 2020, protesters stormed Facebook’s headquarters in New York City – all naked and with pictures of enlarged nipples.
In 2020, protesters stormed Facebook’s headquarters in New York City – all naked and with pictures of enlarged nipples
The movement included the National Coalition Against Censorship for their #WeTheNipple campaign and women’s rights group Grab Them By The Ballot.
At the time, Facebook only allowed nudity in depictions of paintings and sculptures.
To circumvent such a barrier during the 2020 demonstration, Tunick, known for staging similar mass nude art installations in iconic locations around the world, had his nude female models cover their nipples with images of male nipples that were “donated.” for this specific purpose.
The same images of men’s nipples were also blown up and used to cover both male and female genitals during the demonstration in front of the Astor Place Cube, known as the Alamo.
Artists Andres Serrano and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Bravo’s Andy Cohen, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Tunick himself donated photos of their nipples for the signs.
However, Wednesday’s announcement could mean that artists can now freely share their pieces on Facebook.