After lots of research, Lethbridge College student takes the time to make a sign and prepares for a peaceful march for what they believe in.
Meta, after a long run of fighting the ‘free the nipple’ campaign with many artists and feminist accounts, this massive corporation might unban female nipples.
According to WionNews, in a report from January 2023, the Meta board said “the [old] policy is based on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies.” These rules on exposed nipples are “unclear” for those who don’t identify as women.
Some argued the old policy for banning female nipples hindered inclusivity on the platforms, especially for women, intersex, non-binary and transgender people.
Maddie Haney, a General Sciences student at the University of Lethbridge, says it’s a good idea that Meta is Freeing the Nipple especially if it means more non-binary and transgender stories can be told.
“Though I believe this is a good idea. I think the timing is a little bit suspicious and tells us [Meta knows] they’ve done something wrong. It could be a good or bad thing but also gives them free reign to come up with new excuses and ways to hide trans and non-binary stories and their experiences.”
In an interview in 2018, Facebook executive Monika Bickert said its policies around bare female chests on its platforms were generally about “safety.”
Now with transgender and non-binary stories coming more into the light every day, the definition of a “female’s” bare chest changes.
Shaylene Wall, a sexuality, business, science and art instructor at Lethbridge College, believes it’s important to express yourself in a safe manner.
“Pursuing one’s identity and sexuality is an important thing for people to question. Unfortunately, there is always a chance that people can be taken advantage of. There are certain perpetrators online that will always be there and we should try to monitor that and know where they are. There’s an element of honourability there that could be censored or may need to be censored to protect people.”
On reflection, users were confused as to why female nipples were blurred or banned whereas hate speech on Instagram and Facebook posts were not being taken down.
CEO Mark Zuckerburg tried to justify this in 2018 saying, “It’s easier to build an AI system to detect a nipple than hate speech.”
As of Feb 10th, Meta has 41 days to respond to the public about the board’s recommendations on unbanning female nipples.
