Red background, white text reads Stop Policing Bodies

Meta & Body Policing

Apr 29, 2023

While I dealt with an injured Rayden, the latest Covid variant, and the 14^th anniversary of my mom’s passing during April, my feud with Meta revived. For those of you who do not follow our social media channels: A couple months ago, I experienced maximum body policing when all of my intimate apparel reviews on Facebook and Instagram disappeared. If you have been following the ordeal, skip this blog and wait for the next one.

I first noticed the issue when I did not see the Shadowline nightgown on either platform. Did my memory lapse? Did I forget to post it? Those who met at the shop know I have excellent recall. If I thought I posted something, chances are I did. What happened then?

Another image of me in the nightgown used for body policing — Apparently this is too sexy for social media, y’all

As I began scrolling through both my Facebook and Instagram socials, I realized that it was far more serious than the removal of one full-coverage nightgown. Every intimate apparel item I ever reviewed on Facebook was completely removed, and Instagram removed all of them going back until July of last year. What the ever loving hell?! So I posted the following missive:

When I had the store and ran advertising promotions, it was a nightmare to attain approval for sponsored posts. “OMG! A WOMAN IN A BRA! THE MOTHERFLIPPING HORROR! HIDE THINE EYES FROM THE LEWDNESS!” But fine, we worked within the confines of Facebook’s rigid policies.

However, following the rules doesn’t mean they aren’t problematic. It’s largely women’s bodies which Facebook polices, especially if those bodies are curvier, plus-sized, or non-white. Images utilizing models with traditional “fashion” bodies, i.e., white, tall, and thin never incurred the wrath of the promotional wardens.

Paraody of FB's advertising policies related to the female form

As a curvier woman who was plus-size for about a third of my life, I am incensed by the decision to punish certain bodies. In fact, if no one has told you: There is nothing wrong with your body. For an arbitrary third party to exact punitive measures against some of us is peak gatekeeping.

When I revived the blog, I thought posting links to my reviews without targeted spending would alleviate the pressure to find the “right” body to ensure people saw the update. I was only interested in sharing the content with people who follow or interact with the page. Surely, that would be okay. Apparently not.

This blog is associated with my real name, not some alias. I’m not exactly about to post Onlyfans type material on Facebook. Every photo is tastefully taken to showcase the products in the best possible way. If I do review a sheer style, I always cover the nips, aka “Woman’s Northern Sexual Zone But Not Man’s.”

Were I a dude posting thirst traps of my erect nips and bulging . . . biceps, Facebook would high five me and hand me a beer. Get them likes, bro! But, as a female whose nips actually serve a real, non-sexual purpose, I’m not allowed bodily autonomy. I might offend someone with my fleshy baby feeders.

There is absolutely nothing about my photos which violates Facebook’s guidelines. I literally have lingerie advertisements in my personal feed right now which are a hell of a lot more risqué than what I post. For fork’s sake, I’ve had motherflipping athleisure brands pop up showing more skin than I do!

Partial side view of the Anita 5527 on the body — Also too much skin for Meta

But, it’s not solely Facebook’s fault, is it? After all, some anonymuncule reported the images and clearly continues to do so. Not only is Facebook actively policing women’s bodies, but they also enable invertebrate yellowbellies to do the same. Just. Stop.

To whoever takes such persistent, immeasurable umbrage with what I post on my own forking page, I thought long and hard about a solution, you human mayonnaise smear on the kitchen counter. Unfollow the page! Or better yet, have the ovaries or balls to message me your grievances directly. Then I can ban you from ever seeing any content I post on any platform. If you are too much of a coward to approach me, then sit down, shut the fuck up, and go back to your sad corner of the Internet.

I cannot stand bullies, be they multi-conglomerate corporations or basement dwelling hobgoblins. You will not intimidate me. I have survived too much in this life to back down from some anonymous piece of one-ply toilet paper.

And one last time for those in the back: If you don’t like the content posted by a page, remove them from your feed. It’s not complicated and doesn’t require you to be an unscooped litter box about it.

Imagine my temperament this week after finally recovering from my third bout of Covid when I noticed Meta shunted my posts into the trashcan of the Interwebs . . . again. However, as much as I long to rail against the inequality on the platform, now is the time for solutions.

Moving forward, I will experiment with alternative Facebook/Instagram specific shots ranging from the use of cropping to only allowing the bra to be partially visible through a shirt or jacket. I always include photos of the bras off the body, but they don’t present the same dynamic quality on social media. Either the rabid basement dweller continues to report me or Meta itself has beef with the page. I’ll evaluate the various successes/failures of these methodologies over the coming weeks.

To the brands I review, please feel free to request copies of photos from the review to link to on your social accounts. Given how many screenshots I received showing nipples, butt cheeks, and more from fans of the page, it’s clearly not a platform wide policy to prevent images like I post.

The entire situation irks me not only because of the removal itself but also because of all the interesting discussions now gone and unable to be duplicated. It’s frustrating and demoralizing to thoughtfully respond to everyone and provide additional information only for the post to be removed without explanation.

Finally, I encourage everyone to consider leaving comments or questions on the blog itself in case this problem persists, or at least until I find a consistent solution. Furthermore, on my About Page, you can subscribe to our newsletter which includes links to all recent blogs. I try to send it monthly, that is when I am not contending with an injured dog, a painful anniversary, and an infectious disease.

As always, thank you everyone for the show of the support during this soul-sucking process. New content coming soon!

Comments

4 responses to “Meta & Body Policing”

John D

April 29, 2023

Meta is dying a slow death. Look at the layoffs and shuttering of divisions. The day of Zuckerberg is over.

Reply
1. Erica
  
  April 30, 2023
  
  I have had the same thought. There seems to be a big shift away from it. I wouldn’t have any issues if the, let’s just call them “rules,” were fairly applied across pages. Okay, you don’t want to have women in a bra in someone’s feed even though that person *specifically* liked/interacted with the page because of it . . . fine. But don’t have one page be crippled while another can send out images of the same thing or even more daring. Of course, since I posted this, I’ve heard from several others that they too are having a lot of problems Meta taking down images, sending out threatening warnings, etc.
  
  Reply
David Ash

April 29, 2023

A lot of people seem to be having issues with Facebook/Meta these days–Meta (then known as Facebook) was a lot of fun in the early days, but concerns about privacy, censorship, etc seem to be dominating the discussion lately and really for the last few years. I’ve interviewed with them twice–by the second time I think they were on a hiring freeze so I wasn’t hired. Of the big tech FAANG companies, I think Meta is the one most likely to go out of business or at least fade from the public consciousness in the next 5-10 years. Unlike the other FAANG companies, which provide important services in the digital era, Meta seems to mostly just be about having fun with the service–except for the fact that no one seems to be having as much fun as they used to with Meta. Plus some have definitely moved to TikTok. So, yeah, I hear you: the honeymoon is definitely over between Meta and its users, and the arbitrary censorship you are experiencing is definitely a complaint I’ve heard from several others as well.

Reply
1. Erica
  
  April 30, 2023
  
  That’s interesting, David! I agree it does feel like the the next 5-10 years are going to dictate whether or not we see Facebook continue. Remember the old days of MySpace? It feels like so many of these companies reach a tipping point after which they screw something up and can’t recover. The users leave, and then there’s no amount of trying to make changes which draws them back into the fold. I use FB for two reasons: share the blogs and stay connected with friends/family. I’ve thought of moving over to Tik Tok, but there seems to be so much talk about legislative bans, I’m concerned that I’ll go through all the work to build an audience there only to have it banned. And Twitter? Ever since Musk bought it, I stopped using it. I still have the account for the blog, but I don’t post there anymore.
  
  Reply

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