Source: LIONEL BONAVENTURE / Getty
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will be lifting its “bare breast” ban for transgender and non-binary users. This means that users who identify as transgender or non-binary will be able to free the nipple whenever they want on both social media platforms. But sadly, the rule won’t apply to women who are born female.
According to the National Review, the decision was made by Meta’s Oversight Board, the “Supreme Court” of the company, that creates policies for content moderation and censorship.
“The same image of female-presenting nipples would be prohibited if posted by a cisgender woman, but permitted if posted by an individual self-identifying as non-binary,” the board said of its decision in a statement.
The company will rely on “human reviewers” to asses whether a user is allowed to display their bare breasts based on their gender identity.
The odd ruling came shortly after an American couple, one of whom is transgender and the other non-binary, posted topless pictures with their nipples covered. Instagram removed the images after they were flagged, but the couple fought back. They filed for an appeal and surprisingly won the case, which forced Instagram to restore the images.
This isn’t the first time that the issue has come to light.
The LGBTQI+ community has long complained about Meta’s existing content moderation policies. Some people from the community believe that the company’s current policies are discriminatory. During the ruling Jan. 17, Meta board members openly admitted that their prior approach to flagging images was outdated and not inclusive of different sexual identities and genders.
“This policy is based on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies. Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary 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,” the board said.
In the future, there may be “nipple-related exceptions based on contexts of protest, birth-giving, after birth, and breastfeeding,” the company added, but those changes weren’t assessed at Tuesday’s meeting.
Here’s the problem.
Meta has the right idea in mind when it comes to gender equality. I’m so happy that the company is actively listening to the concerns of our trans and gender-fluid brothers and sisters. Honestly, it’s long overdue. But something just doesn’t feel right about this policy. Biological women should also have the right to bare their tops on Instagram and Facebook, too. Especially, if freedom of expression and identity is the goal here.
The new rule can’t be equal if the company is allowing one group to show off their breasts on social media while excluding another. Hell, we’ve been screaming free the nipple for decades!
Now let me be clear, I won’t be baring my bosom for all to see on the gram. Plus, there’s nothing to see here anyway. But everyone should have the right to express themselves freely, no matter what gender.
On social media, some women echoed similar sentiments after the ruling made headlines.
“This is not the women’s, right I envisioned when I was a young and hopeful lass,” wrote one Twitter user, while another person on Instagram commented, “As a Cisgender woman I feel secluded. This is not ok. I’m going to cause an uproar now!”
A third social media goer chimed in:
“They’re going too far now. Real women are losing all of our rights. I’m reporting every single one of those pics.”
Platform accountability activist Phumzile Van Damme brought up a good point. In some cultures, standards for “acceptable nudity” differ. For some African tribes “bare breasts are traditional attire.” She challenged the company to have a broader conversation on content moderation.
Showing off a little boob on social media can be vital for educational purposes. Lactivists on Facebook and Insta often share crucial content for breastfeeding and expectant mothers. Over the years, community members have called out Meta for removing images of nipples, areolas and breastfeeding from profiles. In a report published by Palo Alto Online, some content creators said they felt Facebook was treating them “like pornographers” for sharing information about the healthy process. So, how will Meta’s human reviewers assess these types of issues? Only time will tell.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time that the company has been slammed for censoring female boobies.
In 2013, the company caught flack after they took down clips from the “Free The Nipple” documentary, a piece highlighting the longstanding feminist movement against censorship of the nipple, Cassius noted.
Michel R. Huff, Los Angeles-based attorney who is trans, isn’t feeling Meta’s new policy. They think the rule violates the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment, which bars the government from passing laws that may deny people equal protection under the constitution.
“Cis women’s breasts have been sexualized. However, breasts are not sex objects. They are to feed children, the original purpose for breasts,” Huff told the New York Post in a recent interview. “When balancing the interests of anyone’s equal rights against another’s potential lascivious outbursts, our individual rights and liberties must trump, or we face a slippery slope to diminishing other legal protections.”
There’s one more thing to consider. Meta has to be clear about its guidelines for nudity. I worry that this new rule will open up a floodgate for users to show a little bit more than just nipples online. I don’t want to be scrolling down my feed to see a bunch of people baring all. This isn’t OnlyFans, ok?!
We also need to think about the implication this will have on young children. Kids and young teens are using Facebook and Instagram right now as we speak. Clear guidelines need to be in place to ensure their safety and to censor some of the explicit content that may fall through the cracks as Meta continues to revamp their community guidelines.
We’re living in some crazy times. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, women have been scared to all hell about the future of reproductive rights in America. Now, we may have to worry about social media companies policing our bodies, too. I hope that is not the case, but let’s pray that this doesn’t turn into a complete crap show.
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