Photo credit Leonard Nimoy
My first "controversial" post has been removed by Facebook. The Leonard Nimoy Project, where the intent of his photographs was to shed light on body image and that the nude, fat female form, whether White, Black, Latina, Asian, Am. Indian, Indian..etc, were beautiful, was removed citing "nudity is not allowed on Facebook."
My Facebook page is "The Freaking Feminist." Over the past couple of years I have posted many things about women in hopes of shedding light on horrific issues which happen to women everyday: rape, genital mutilation, child brides, kidnapping for sexual enslavement, murder, genocide. I have also posted other topics of controversy for different reasons, such as equal pay for equal work, LGBT rights, street harassment, the beauty myth...and the list goes on and on. But of all those subjects, the subject Facebook deemed inappropriate were the pictures of naked women, enjoying their bodies, without any sexual innuendo or acts involved.
I a talking about body image and The Leonard Nimoy Project (yes, Mr. Spock). It turns out, Mr. Spock was not only Leonard Nimoy, but Leonard Nimoy was a progressive, compassionate individual, artist and a feminist. I posted his project of nudes because it has everything to do with body image and is relevant in feminist studies. Someone complained and Facebook deleted it.
I was confused. How can one person stop a highly supported conversation from taking place?
The project's purpose was to bring awareness to body image and the beauty myth, whereby only young, skinny, White, Blonde and Blue-eyed women were considered the ideal and beautiful by our society. It was about destroying that concept as only beautiful, actually. It also was intended to show the world that you don't have to starve yourselves or binge and purge in order to achieve media-hyped, socially constructed images of only 1% of the population (in other words, you can be proud of your body at any size).
There are stigmas attached to women's bodies because many of us do not fit the photoshopped images we see on billboards. We are taught that if you are not "skinny", you must "cover up" because fat women do not belong in society, especially naked. "Taking up space is only for men, not women" (read Abra Fortune Chernik's, "The Body Politic"). Another myth is all fat people are unhealthy; they lack control. Anyone who has taken a body image class in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies knows that is not the case (read Susie Orbach's, "Fat is a Feminist Issue" or anything by Susan Bordo, where she brings the philosophers in her books, such as Rene Descartes, in "The Flight of Objectivity" to further our understanding of our "culturally influenced bodies.")
What is also not being understood is the "silencing" of women, where we are "quieted" by a male dominated society as to what is appropriate for women to talk about in OUR society. Before colonialism, Native Americans did not subscribe to European ideals until they were brutalized, raped and forced into slavery by European expansion into the Americas (read Andrea Smith's, "Conquest"). This is just one example, but there are thousands of examples around the world of cultures who do not subscribe to nudity as "offensive." And yet, there are others who want women covered up (some from head to toe). Where does it end? Just recently, a Montana lawmaker wanted to ban yoga pants in his state because he found just the outline of the female form offensive.
I say this all to you because I am pretty sure it was a woman (a young girl in high school) who reported the post, as she sent me a message asking me to take it down (although I cannot be sure, but it is my best guess). I understand this girl. I am not blaming this girl. I use to be her: always concerned about appearances, always judging things, wanting to be a people-pleaser (as is with most high school kids), until I grew up and realized all cultures, including the ones within our own borders, (this includes exposing the female form in all sizes as a learning tool) need a voice. This is why this page is for mature, intellectual audiences, with a clear understanding of the differences between what is offensive and what is not offensive. And whether you know it or not, this fight to achieve not only equality, but justice, for all women in all sects of society, isn't just about you or me, but about your children, my children, their children and so on.
Actually, in this case, I blame the extreme views some of western society has with its puritanically-based rules on propriety. NOT ALL NUDITY IS WRONG. We need it as learning tool. The art world has its fair share of nudity, both in the past and in the present. Greek statues alone are publicly displayed. It's as if you are saying these images are pornographic, when clearly there is a difference. And who gets to decide what is art and what is not? A child who hasn't had enough maturity to understand its concepts? By banning this, FB has limited the entire FB culture to only what current western societal extreme views (as they are the mentality who control the censorship on FB) on nudity are deemed as acceptable. What about the rest of the global landscape and their opinions? Removing The Leonard Nimoy Project is contributing to the silencing of what we want to discuss, and therefore continuing the stigma. Facebook isn't only a place for fools and the young.
Finally, I want my #sisterwarriors and #brotherwarriors to continue sharing the post. It was very popular and received a tremendous amount of attention. It is important women do not get "set back" a hundred years. I want to remove the shame associated with the female form, in particular, however it comes to me. Keep it going. And if FB removes it, disagree and write about it. And by the way, I will continue posting subjects related to feminism. Some will be eye-opening, but should not be earth-shatteringly surprising. Everything I do contributes to the "whole understanding" of ourselves as women.
To view The Leonard Nimoy Project, go here: http://wineandbowties.com/...