Being Feminist Warned by Facebook

Being Feminist received a warning yesterday for a post that was posted on their page.  The screenshot is below.

Interesting Response to last FB article

I beg to differ: "Written words, memes, and photos advocating violence against disabled people: Hate speech, harmful and will deleted."

WRONG. My daughter was tormented and abused terribly on facebook for having autism by her father's livein lover. Facebook's solution?

Leave the abuse up on facebook, ban my daughter's account and tell me not to let her use mine to view it. AFTER being told that the disgusting perpetrator is blocked by me so my daughter can't see the abuse even if she used my account - that it was her FATHER allowing her to view the abuse, as well as members of his family were not only showing my daughter the horrible things being said about her disability, but were joining in mocking my poor girl.

Facebook does not protect the disabled. They leave up terribly foul abusive and threatening things said to disabled people.

Facebook also encourages abuse of certain religious groups. The problem is facebook has a culture of attack the victim and defend the perpetrator on a LOT of issues. Not just rape.

I totally agree with you facebook has a disgusting view on rape, but they aren't any better with disability and religion.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/12/is-rape-essentially-legal-trigger-warning/

A Man Speaks up about Trolls!!

http://www.upworthy.com/nailed-it-if-youre-a-dude-on-the-internet-you-need-to-see-this-video?g=2&c=ufb1

Is Rape, Essentially, Legal? {Trigger Warning}

Something is intrinsically wrong with our world when the value of women is so low.

Not only do women have to worry about the never-ending potential for being raped. They also have to endure this potential threat as humorous.

Susie Orbach, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and writer, stated: “The threat of sexual violence is a violence itself, it’s a complete violation and it’s meant to shut the people up…Rape is different to the threat of rape but nevertheless it’s a very, very serious and threatening experience.”

The fact that these types of pages, pictures and comments are allowed to exist in large quantity on mainstream social media is telling. If we do not prosecute or penalize rape itself, how can we ever hope to remove social media that propagates rape?


http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/12/is-rape-essentially-legal-trigger-warning/

Sexist Humor No Laughing Matter, Psychologist Says

"The research indicates that people should be aware of the prevalence of disparaging humor in popular culture, and that the guise of benign amusement or “it’s just a joke” gives it the potential to be a powerful and widespread force that can legitimize prejudice in our society, he said."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106083038.htm

The actual study can be found here:

http://mensantiviolencecouncil.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/sexist-humor.pdf

"A thousand bawdy, or even blasphemous, jokes do not help towards a man’s damnation so much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only without disapproval but with the admiration of his fellows, if only it can get itself treated as a joke." —C. S. Lewis (1942)

"Sexist humor—the denigration of women through humor—for instance, trivializes sex discrimination under the veil of benign amusement, thus precluding challenges or opposition that nonhumorous sexist communication would likely incur."

"...sexist humor is not simply benign amusement, that it can affect men’s perception of the immediate social context and thus promote behavioral expressions of sexism without fears of disapproval of their “fellows.” Specifically, we propose that sexist humor acts as a “releaser” of prejudice, that is, for men who have antagonistic attitudes toward women, sexist humor allows them to express their sexism by replacing the usual nonsexist norms in a situation with a norm of tolerance of sex discrimination. Sexist humor essentially justifies a wider range of negative responses toward women. In this climate tolerant of derision, sexist behavior can be more easily justified as falling within the bounds of social acceptability."

SPECIAL REPORT: Evidence Against Facebook is Growing

"Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:

The time has come for you to take a stand and do the right thing.

We, the people of nations all over the world, demand the immediate end of all child pornography on Facebook. At this very moment there are thousands of profiles exhibiting and sharing explicit photographs and videos of children on the website you created. This must never be allowed to happen ever again.

We know you are aware of these crimes taking place on Facebook and that you do not want this to continue. We insist that you take whatever steps necessary to prevent these criminals from using your website as their dark playground.

Our resolve is growing. We will not cease in our efforts to rid your website of the kind of child abuse. Our singular goal is to see you personally oversee the effort to prevent this exploitation from appearing on Facebook. Be assured we are dedicated to this cause and will see it through until all children and families are safe.

Respectfully,
United Facebook Citizens of the World"

http://www.causes.com/causes/580526-force-facebook-to-block-all-child-pornography/actions/1711784

Facebook's Rape Pages

Dear Fred,

My honest reaction to your belief that a page like “It’s NOT rape, simply free sex” deserves freedom of speech is: horrified.

This is magnified by the fact that many feminist pages and breast feeding images are being censored, taken down and/or suspended while these pro-rape pages are allowed to stay up despite hundreds of reports. This is quite hypocritical and seems to be coming from a place of deep denial about what is actually going on here: Facebook’ penchant for favoring rape culture over women's empowerment.

Apparently, Facebook's policies can be summarized as the following:

Written words, memes and photos advocating violence against minorities:  Hate speech, harmful and will be deleted.

Written words, memes, and photos advocating violence against disabled people:  Hate speech, harmful and will deleted.

Written words, memes, and photos advocating violence against immigrants:  Hate speech, harmful and will be deleted. 

Written words, memes, and photos advocating violence against animals:  Hate speech, harmful and will be deleted.

Written words, memes and photos advocating violence against people of different religions:  Hate speech, harmful and will be deleted.

Written words, memes and photos advocating violence against people who are gay and transgender:  Hate speech, harmful and will be deleted.

Written words, memes and photos advocating violence against women:  Free speech, not harmful and will be enabled, supported and defended in every way possible while hiding behind the First Amendment. 

Facebook's "rape pages" violate their own terms of agreement because they organize or lead to real world violence by contributing to rape culture.  Facebook's rape pages are propaganda, which desensitize people to sexual violence and diminish its impact in the real world. 

Propaganda does have an impact on attitudes and behavior. 

It's hypocritical to delete pages that pertain to sexual violence towards children, but support and defend pages that pertain to sexual violence towards women. 

By your own admission, women are a protected category of people because of the inclusion of "gender" in the following statement:  "We interpret hateful content to mean direct attacks on any protected category of people (based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or disease)."  Facebook's rape pages attack a protected group—women.

It's true that rape can happen to both men and women. However, Facebook's rape pages aren't about the rape of men; they predominantly focus their attention on the rape of women.  Moreover, only 3% of rape victims are men, so rape disproportionately affects women.

Why are pages about sexual violence towards children deleted, but pages about sexual violence towards women supported and defended? Isn't sexual violence towards women just as wrong as sexual violence towards children? 

I assume that you are deleting pages that advocate sexual violence against children because they represent a direct threat of harm to children.  Why is sexual violence towards children not considered protected speech and considered to be a direct threat of harm, but sexual violence towards women is “humor “and protected speech and not a direct threat of harm?  Isn't sexual violence of any kind a crime,  no matter who the victim is? 

Why is one less of a "direct threat to harm" than the other?   Facebook is not applying its policies consistently. If you came across a Facebook page that advocated  slipping roofies into the drinks of toddlers to make it easier to rape them, and made a bunch of jokes about raping children, you would not ask them to insert a (Controversial Humor) disclaimer in their title.  You would delete the page.  But when you come across a page that advocates doing the same exact things to women, you will enable, support and defend that page while proudly proclaiming that everyone has the right to free speech, as long as they are advocating violence against women and not anyone else. 

You cited the fact that comedians have had rape jokes in the past, using that precedent as a justification for maintaining and enabling rape pages on Facebook.  However, there is also a precedent for rape jokes being removed from the internet, also.  Here's a good example of an online organization self-censoring "rape jokes" in response to public protest.  http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/44930/twitter-fury-over-surprise-rape-article-gets-unilad-suspended

You might check out RAINN-  the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.  None of the organizations you mentioned focus on helping rape victims.  RAINN is one of the largest organizations providing support to rape victims.   http://www.rainn.org

Marne Levine writes, "We strive to provide a platform where people can share, connect, and express themselves freely, while still respecting the rights of others."  Do you really believe that Facebook's rape pages are respecting the rights of others? 

If you do, then I strongly urge you take some time to reconsider and re-evaluate what it really means to respect the rights of others.  Take all the time you need, because women deserve better than this. We all deserve better than this.  

This response was written collaboratively by a group of women, representing hundreds and thousands of Facebook users from around the world who feel the same way about misogyny on Facebook.

Our Fight with Facebook is not New, It's Old, It just Has not CHANGED

This is an older piece but this issue with Facebook certainly is not new....

"Eve Ensler, over at the Huffington Post, includes the Facebook rape page campaign as part of a piece entitled ‘Over it’:

Eve Ensler, over at the Huffington Post, includes the Facebook rape page campaign as part of a piece entitled ‘Over it’:

I am over rape.

I am over rape culture, rape mentality, rape pages on Facebook.

I am over the thousands of people who signed those pages with their real names without shame.

I am over people demanding their right to rape pages, and calling it freedom of speech or justifying it as a joke.

I am over people not understanding that rape is not a joke and I am over being told I don’t have a sense of humor, and women don’t have a sense of humor, when most women I know (and I know a lot) are really fucking funny. We just don’t think that uninvited penises up our anus, or our vagina is a laugh riot.

I am over how long it seems to take anyone to ever respond to rape.

I am over Facebook taking weeks to take down rape pages.

Ensler goes on to cite the plight of thousands of women in Congo, Bosnia, Burma, Pakistan, South Africa, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Afghanistan, Libya, ‘still waiting for their rapists to be held accountable’; the torture of lesbians in Ecuador, the women in the US military getting raped by their colleagues and many other instances, and states:

We need to OCCUPYRAPE in every school, park, radio, TV station, household, office, factory, refugee camp, military base, back room, night club, alleyway, courtroom, UN office.

We need people to truly try and imagine — once and for all — what it feels like to have your body invaded, your mind splintered, your soul shattered. We need to let our rage and our compassion connect us so we can change the paradigm of global rape.”

  http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2011/11/facebook-rape-page-campaign-pages-can-stay-if-they-have-humorous’-tag/

Large Facebook Petition

Not sure how I missed this petition earlier, but it has more than 200,000 signatures.  Please sign and share!

http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-facebook-remove-pages-that-promote-sexual-violence?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=30310619

Judge Rejects Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ Lawsuit Settlement

"Sponsored stories basically turns the act of pressing the Facebook “Like” button into a potential commercial endorsement. If a Facebook user clicks the “Like’ button for a product or service with a Facebook page, that user’s profile picture and name may be automatically used in advertisements for that product or service that appear in the their friends’ Facebook pages. Facebook also reserves the right to show such ads on sites other than Facebook."

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/facebook-settlement-rejected/

Diaspora

Trying out other Social Networking sites today.  This one seems really cool.

https://www.joindiaspora.com

Response from Facebook this AM

Trista -- So sorry for the inconvenience, we have reactivated the Page, changed the title back to normal, and have also shielded the Page to prevent further mishaps.

The title of the Page caused a misunderstanding and we removed the Page as a precaution. Please accept our apologies and let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

Thanks

Fred

On 11/29/12 10:06 AM, "Trista Hendren"  wrote:

Dear Fred,

I am the woman who wrote the article about Facebook on Elephant Journal, which you kindly responded to.
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/11/does-facebook-hate-all-women-or-ju >st-feminists/

On Monday evening, I was logged out of Facebook with the following message from Facebook:

Your content has been temporarily suspended
Your content was removed from the site for violating Facebook's Statement
of Rights and Responsibilities section 3.7.
If you believe your content does not violate Facebook's policies because it is not intended literally but is instead meant only as humor, you can accept the name change below.
If you choose not to accept this name change, your content will not be restored.
Old title: Rapebook
New title: [Controversial Humor] Rapebook

If you are not familiar with the page many of us started collectively, it was intended as a counter-balance to the many sites on Facebook that PROMOTE RAPE AND ABUSE OF WOMEN. You can see the page at
http://www.facebook.com/stoprapebook.

If Facebook is not willing to make their site a safe place for women, you can at least give us the courtesy of allowing us a spot to convene and report pages and pictures that are highly offensive.

I DID NOT and DO NOT accept this "Controversial Humor " title. There is nothing funny about rape. There is nothing controversial about being >opposed to rape. If Facebook cannot understand that, then they do not
deserve the business of women anywhere.

Sincerely,
Trista Hendren

Why is Facebook Protecting Pro Rape Language and Abuse of Women?

Looks like this has been a widespread problem for at least a year....Here are some highlights, the entire article is great! (by Melissa Gira Grant)

"Despite a campaign that included 180,000 signatures, Facebook continues to post pro-rape pages, showing, yet again, that they care about users so long as they're profitable.

If it was not clear before, we must understand now that Facebook wasn't built for us — it was built for the profit of the very few. That Facebook is of value to the public as a communications platform is only important to Facebook insofar as it allows them to sell targeted advertising against our own speech. Its governing document, the Terms of Service , has been repeatedly applied unfairly and without accountability to its users, as its purpose is to legally protect Facebook from our conduct, not provide us with a free space, or even a safe space. Facebook needs to be only as minimally welcoming to us so as to ensure our return to use it again. And that we might use Facebook as a public square for activism? Not even in the business model.

It's not all doom and censorship on Facebook, of course. Digging into the profiles of users who had "liked" some of the rape-is-funny pages, feminist writer Amanda Marcotte created a little dossier on a few of them. As Facebook requires users to set up their profiles using a real name, you don't need a subpoena to click through and learn about these rape page fans' hometowns, employers, and even relationship statuses. Here, the terms of service on Facebook allow for quite a different experience of unmasking a sexist harasser than, say, tracking down the endless legion of anonymous troll commenters who leave little more than an IP address behind as a calling card. "

http://www.alternet.org/story/153406/why_is_facebook_protecting_pro_rape_language_and_abuse_of_women

Trista's Facebook Acct Has been Suspended

My Facebook account was just suspended because of the Rapebook page. I can not believe they penalized me but refuse to take pages down like "It's not Rape it's simply free sex."

If you are not familiar with the page many of us started, it was a counter to the many sites on Facebook that PROMOTE RAPE AND ABUSE OF WOMEN. You can see the page at www.facebook.com/stoprapebook

I have attached the picture and this is the message they sent me:

Your content has been temporarily suspended

Your content was removed from the site for violating Facebook's Statement
of Rights and Responsibilities section 3.7.


If you believe your content does not violate Facebook's policies because it is not intended literally but is instead meant only as humor, you can accept the name change below.


If you choose not to accept this name change, your content will not be restored.

Old title: Rapebook
New title: [Controversial Humor] Rapebook

My thinking at the moment is that I will not accept this "Controversial
Humor Title" even if it costs me my Facebook account.

Facebook Apologized to Women on Waves

http://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/1009/facebook-apologized-after-censoring-abortion-rights-information

Facebook Petition - Circulate!!

Please circulate this petition on your pages!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/656/955/382/#13535338363652&action=fb_connect&fb_id=1310543462

Why Is Facebook so Against Breastfeeding?

http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-11-21/the-soapbox-why-is-facebook-so-against-breastfeeding/

The Unbearable Misogyny of Facebook and Why I'm Quitting It

http://thefeministbreeder.com/the-unbearable-misogyny-of-facebook-why-im-quitting-it/

Italian Activist's Facebook Account Blocked

A message to Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, give back the account to Rosa Schiano Stay Human. She is a pacifist and is working in the Strip of Gaza as volunteer. She is a free voice. She can tell the truth. World needs to know what's really happening in Palestine Territory.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=463436317031384&set=a.197271860314499.42583.195473957160956&type=1&theater

Two women arrested for Facebook post / Mumbai

Mumbai: On Sunday, a 21-year-old Mumbai woman shared her views on the shutdown of the city as Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's funeral was being held. Her friend "liked" her post. At 10.30 am on Monday, they were arrested, were ordered by a court to serve 14 days in jail and, hours later, were allowed out on bail after paying two bonds of Rs. 15,000 each. (Your Say)

The woman had posted, "Respect is earned, not given and definitely not forced. Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear and not due to respect". A local Shiv Sena leader filed a police complaint and the woman and her friend who liked her post were booked under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for "deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs."

They were later also charged under Section 505 (2) of the IPC for making "statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes", and the police added Section 66 (A) of the Information Technology Act, which has been severely criticised for being authoritarian and stifling freedom of expression.

The maximum sentence under these sections is three years in jail. The defense counsel for the girls told NDTV, "Their posts don't incite violence. It can't be said they have made any derogatory remarks. They don't belong to any political ideology."

Soon after the Shiv Sena leader made his police complaint, party activists allegedly vandalised an orthopaedic clinic belonging to the uncle of one of the girls, breaking window panes and flowerpots. There were two patients in the clinic at the time alleged Sainiks ransacked it. None of those who ransacked the clinic has been arrested yet.

The women were arrested by the Palghar police; Palghar is about two and half hours of travel from Mumbai. After widespread criticism and uproar, the Maharashtra Police has ordered an inquiry to be led by Sukhwinder Singh, Special Inspector General of Konkan range, into whether there is any merit in the case against the women. Sources said top cops at the police headquarters in Mumbai were livid with the Palghar police. "We have ordered an inquiry...if any further action needs to be taken the probe team will decide and send a report. On this report we will act," Deven Bharti, IG (Law and Order), Maharashtra Police said.

The women have also found very vocal support from Press Council of India chief Markandey Katju, who has demanded "immediate" action against the police personnel who arrested them. In an e-mail to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan sent this afternoon, Mr Katju has warned of "legal consequences" if the Chief Minister fails to act. "I will deem it that you as CM are unable to run the state in a democratic manner as envisaged by the Constitution to which you have taken oath and then legal consequences will follow," Justice Katju said. (Read more)

About five hours later, having not got a response, he emailed Mr Chavan again, this time telling him the "nation wants to know what action you have taken... Please realise that silence is not an option for you." (Read Justice Katju's letters to Prithviraj Chavan)

Rahul Narvekar, the head of Shiv Sena's legal cell, said, "It is for the state administration and police department to investigate complaints that are lodged. I am not aware of any complaint filed by any shakha pramukh of Shiv Sena. We will have to look into it. Uddhav Thackeray has made an appeal to the cadre to maintain peace."

The Shiv Sena leader's death on Saturday afternoon had brought the city to a virtual standstill for the weekend, with shops and other establishments shutting and taxis going off the roads, amid fears of violence by Mr Thackeray's supporters. The fears appeared unfounded, since there was no incident in Mumbai.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/two-girls-arrested-for-facebook-post-on-mumbai-shutdown-granted-bail-294239

So Who is Currently Blocked From Facebook

Please comment below and share your story.

Does Facebook have a misogyny problem? | rabble.ca

Does Facebook have a misogyny problem? | rabble.ca

Facebook’s Message to Women: Our Lives Don’t Count. {Trigger Warning}

"Facebook, perhaps you should reconsider your policies. You “protect” our nipples but promote the mutilation of our vaginas. Are the lives of women worth so little to you?"

Facebook’s Message to Women: Our Lives Don’t Count. {Trigger Warning}

Dear Facebook, Your Response was Less than Inadequate.

Dear Facebook, Your Response was Less than Inadequate.

Please sign your name and any comments in the comments section. Also, if applicable, list how many fans follow your page.

Does Facebook Have a Misogynistic Agenda? The Policy Department Responds.

Does Facebook Have a Misogynistic Agenda? The Policy Department Responds.

How do we want to respond to this?  I feel for now, we should respond directly on the article - and also cut and past our responses here.  I will start to collect what I have seen thus far.....there are a LOT!  Thoughts?

Welcome to the Group!!!

There's been a lot of turmoil on fb lately regarding feminist page admins being suspended and perfectly reasonable content being removed for ridiculous reasons. My goal with this group is to create a safe space for all of us to band together and work together. If we're admining on a feminist page, then we're obviously intelligent, resourceful folks. Please feel free to use this group to start discussions, ask questions and lend advice. I know we can all be respectful and create a positive, safe place to use for help, insights and, if you need to, even a rant on something that's bugging you. The unique part about this is that we'll all be able to understand and give feedback due to our mutual undertaking of fb feminist activism.We CAN overcome this situation and turn what is a current problem into a past growing pain for fb. Let's DO this!!

After setting up our Facebook group for Admins of Feminist pages, our fearless leader Dawn has been blocked from the group twice. We need to better organize offline. This is a start!