May 17, 2013 - 8:10am
Blogette: Setting community standards
BY KATIE STEEN
- Screenshot of the page, “It’s Not Rape, simply free sex,” which has since been removed.
A few months ago, I reported my first Facebook page. It was called “It’s NOT Rape, simply free sex," and attempted to argue that rape was something to laugh about through viewing and making shitty memes for things like raping one’s sister and beating one’s wife. After reporting it, I received an automated e-mail from Facebook that claimed the page didn’t violate Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and advised me to review Facebook’s Community Standards.
So I did. According to the site’s community standards, nudity and hate speech is banned, which is defined as an attack based on, among other things, “sex, gender and sexual orientation.” And yet, the numerous websites on Facebook that make light of triggering topics like sexual assault — something approximately one in five women will experience at least once in their lifetime — are allowed to remain. Also allowed on the site: “Crushed heads, limbs, etc. … as long as no insides are showing.” Banned from the site: any images pertaining to sexual imagery. Your girlfriend’s crushed skull — fine. A drawing of Adam and Eve — better include some fig leaves.
Currently in the land of Facebook, sites encouraging or making fun of rape are A-OK according to its Community Standards. This begs the question: What kind of community is Facebook trying to create here? As a website that serves millions and millions of users, community guidelines are a powerful way to spread a message to a lot of people about what is an acceptable way to interact with fellow humans beings.
I found out I’m not alone in my grievances against Facebook’s lack of enforcement against misogynistic pages. Thousands of women currently follow the page “Wipeout Sexism on FB” — agroup dedicated to promoting feminism through social media by focusing on getting sexist pages removed from Facebook. I began following this group, and a few weeks later I received the notification that “It’s NOT Rape, simply free sex” had been taken off Facebook. Maybe a single report against a sexist Facebook page is ineffective, but Facebook seems more likely to listen when there are 5,799 (the number of people currently following “Wipeout Sexism on FB") reports against the page.
Sexual assault is something millions of Facebook users have experienced or will experience. If enough people express concern over Facebook’s backward community guidelines, Facebook might actually pay attention. More importantly, though, changing these standards would say something about what we consider appropriate ways to treat one another both on- and offline.
Correction appended: This blog was previously titled "The Feminist Critique". It will now be titled "Blogette".
