In early March, the Facebook page of the Jeu du Paume contemporary art museum in Paris was blocked. The reason: a breast was visible on a photo by Laure Albin Guillot uploaded to their page. The museum is a repeat offender, having already posted nudes by Willy Ronis and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. The Centre Pompidou’s page was also temporarily blocked by Facebook, after it posted Gerhard Richter’s “Ema (Nude on a staircase)”.
Facebook clearly states in its community standards that the site imposes, “limitations on the display of nudity.” Breasts of the “artistic” variety aren’t the only kind to run afoul of Facebook’s censors. The journalist Caroline Fourest had her personal account blocked after she uploaded photos of the topless activist group Femen. Indignant mothers have created the group Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene to encourage the site to let them post pictures of themselves nursing.
Since then, Facebook has updated its standards to say that it respects its users rights to share certain nudes pictures, from Michelangelo’s David to family photos of a child breastfeeding. Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt has addressed the subject, saying that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful. But photos showing an entire breast violate the site’s terms of use and therefore cannot appear online. The social network, apparently, has to remain a safe place. A photo is often taken down as the result of another user who has flagged the image as inappropriate.
In summary, on Facebook, breasts are alright, as long as we can’t see them.
Pauline Auzou
