'Origin of the World': Photographer Ana Alvarez-Errecalde has been Censored Again

"Last Wednesday Libe li shared one of my photographs of the project "Cesárea Beyond the Wound". It was the Photograph that made reference to the "Origin of the World" of Coubert. Several people shared their entry. Today is the photograph is no longer, and my writing has also a disappeared.
Whoever has my heart is so poor, to advocate the censorship that please me away from your friends list." - Ana Alvarez-Errecalde, translated from the original comment in Spanish

More details from Ana:

"Some people shared the photo and I even re-posted it with a statement along the following lines:

Coubert´s painting stated that the "Origin of the World" was desire and his painting was considered pornographic at the time. With my photo I like to bring attention that even if "the origin" could be understood as desire, nowadays it is not just a sexual desire but also a desire to control, a desire to have power over women and their vital cycles, an economic and biopolitical statement reflected in the always raising amounts of cesarean interventions performed daily and the common disrespectful experience that women encounter while giving birth.

 

My post disappeared without warning. All the shares of my friends' posts (with or without a new introductory text) were gone."

 

Gustave Couber, 1874-77
 

"I am fed up with the paternalistic restrictions imposed against women who do not accept to comply. I have seen a Facebook page called "putitas" (little whores) that was offering young girls for male viewer´s enjoyment. There are zillions of pages like these one (+175,900 likes and FB doesn´t care?)

 

https://www.facebook.com/somosadolescenteslol

https://www.facebook.com/PutasBuenotas

https://www.facebook.com/putitas.esmeraldenas?fref=ts
 

Any image of women exposing themselves to denounce violence (being obstetric violence, restrictions of freedom - like breastfeeding in public or making public a private moment) or for  the sake of their own enjoyment is punished. I know social media mirrors society but maybe if we bring upon positive changes in the virtual world we can enjoy a bit more freedom and respect in the real one." -Ana Alvarez-Errecalde

You can see Ana's groundbreaking work on her website. Facebook removed her photography page over a year ago and will not reinstate it.

Removed: Award-winning artist Aleah Chapin's Facebook Page

Aleah Chapin has a new exhibition at the Flowers Gallery in London Photo: Antonio Parente 2014

The Facebook fan page for artist Aleah Chapin was shut down several days ago for violating Facebook's community standards. The page had more than 8,000 'likes' and was growing in popularity with her recent London exhibit.

Facebook's community standards read:

Facebook has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and any explicitly sexual content where a minor is involved. We also impose limitations on the display of nudity. We aspire to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo's David or family photos of a child breastfeeding.

Chapin's work has been all over Facebook in recent weeks. A blurb from a recent Telegraph article explains her work, which is certainly comparable to The David in my mind.

"Chapin’s work has also shone a light on the subject of body image.

“Most women have issues and I’m not immune to that,” says Chapin. “We’re told that our bodies are supposed to be a ‘certain height, certain size, certain weight’. But the pictures we see are completely unrealistic; they’re very Photoshopped.

“We all know it when we look at them in magazines and yet, we still compare ourselves.

“That’s why we need images that show all sorts of bodies – so we can accept every size and shape.”

This attitude is why her work resonates. We may not recognise the individuals depicted in paint, but we recognise them as people"

You can read more about work in this Telegraph article: What Painting Portraits of Naked Women has Taught Me


Update: 2:25PM PST The page is back up.  It was reportedly taken down in "error". Please show the page your support!

By removing photos of childbirth, Facebook is censoring powerful female images

"Birth is a fundamental feminist issue right now - women’s bodies should not be sanitised. Facebook should let us see it as it is."

Great article in The Guardian today by Milli Hill of Positive Birth Movement.

Bare Reality Page Owner Targeted Again

"My personal account has been blocked again - for seven days. This time it's because I shared a photograph from 'Bare Reality' of a 101 year old woman who has had a mastectomy. Yet photographs of mastectomies are supposed to be permitted by ...Facebook. This is another instance of Facebook applying it's own rules inconsistently - it smacks of sexism and this time age discrimination as well. A photograph of a younger woman with a mastectomy is still up. Is an old woman's remaining breast unacceptable?

I'm not sure why anyone who finds photographs of breasts and mastectomies offensive is visiting this page. Secondly, why are they so offended by an image of that incredible woman's body?

I think the same person keeps reporting me because I detect the same officious tone in the 'different' anonymous accounts used on Facebook and Twitter. Interestingly, Facebook requires me to send them government-issued ID to prove my identity, while the people who report hide behind 'fake' identities. Officious reporter - get a life please?"

Please support the Bare Reality page.

Former Facebook Employee Launches Women.Com, The Internet’s First Women-Only Social Network by Carolyn Cox

Recent events have shown that the Internet is a safe and inclusive space for all women (JK, LOL, AHOO-HOO-HAH-HAH). Thankfully, former Facebook employee Susan Johnson has launched Women.com, a question-driven social media site that may make that dream as close to a reality as possible—and considering her aspirations for the platform, I couldn’t be more excited.

Women.com is still in an invite-only beta stage (you can request to join via Twitter. I’m hoping to check out the party soon), and, much like Yahoo Answers, is a forum where users can pose questions and then upvote results. However, unlike the anonymous respondents on Yahoo, a Women.Com account links back to the user’s Facebook. This way members have some accountability even when accessing a more private platform than Facebook to pose tricky questions. (Slate’s article on Women.com lists a sample question as “Friend’s husband is cheating. Do I say something?” Not necessarily a question you want on your wall, unless the answer is definitely “yes.”)

Read more here.

Article about Book Destigmatizing Breasts Filtered Out for Showing… Breasts By Soraya Chemaly

The piece below was published in The Guardian today by Ruth Lewy. Facebook is barring shares using the Guardian links. They are reviewing the problem, but until then I’m posting this here for Laura, the creator of the project, as an alternative link so that it can be shared.

These interviews are edited excerpts from Laura Dodsworth’s project Bare Reality. She is fundraising for a book of the project; visit kickstarter.com and search for Bare Reality.

Read more here.

My Personal Facebook page has been disabled by Facebook

This is all the information I have at the moment. I will appeal.

Update: I went through the "appeal" process, which required me to identify very random pictures of my friends on Facebook, some of which were completely identifiable. After "passing", I received another notice. Several other admins on The Girl God page received this notice as well.






This is referring to the Lucy Hilmer series of photographs posted to The Girl God page last week.


"For 40 years, I've photographed myself on my birthday wearing nothing but my white Lollipop underpants, shoes and socks. I made my first Birthday Suit self-portrait in Death Valley, CA in 1974.

Without fail, I’ve faced my camera every April 22nd since then to create a coded history of one woman’s journey through time.

As a girl-child of the 1950s, I came of age before women’s lib, and wanted to buck the stereotypes of a culture that branded me a pretty girl, thin enough to be a fashion model and not much more. Armed with my camera and tripod, I found a way to define myself on my own terms in the most open, vulnerable way I could.

My long-term project will continue for as long as I live. In 2015, I turn 70. I’m currently working on a book & film about my Birthday Suits."





You can see the photographs here.  Apparently, they are not suitable for Facebook.  God forbid they allow anything "beautiful and affirming".