Facebook wants to dress the nudists

[NudieDaniel]

The advocates of nudity wage war on the censorship policy of social networks

The fight against Facebook's nudity censorship policy is spreading, with opponents receiving encouragement from an unexpected direction: The International Naturist Federation (INF) joined the struggle against social media's “ethnocentric censorship policies,” and urged the German government to enforce regulations to “secure free speech and prevent the suppression of ideas.”

“It is as if we've gone a hundred years backwards,” Stéphane Deschênes of the federation, tells i24news. “In 1927 we had to fight for the right to publish a book with nude pictures in America, and back then books were the main way people communicated and conveyed ideas. Now we have social media but we can't get our message across because even a photo of someone's rear end can cause the cancellation of an account.”

The INF, a worldwide organisation with federations and correspondents in over 30 countries, which organizes activities and lobbies for its members' interest, released last month an official joint statement, voicing protest against what the members view as an attempt to impose a baseless moral standard. Their hope is to use the united front to pressure governments to get involved. “Perhaps if they will start asking questions,” Deschênes speculates, “Facebook will realize it needs to change before the laws are passed.”



Facebook is not the only target, he emphasizes, but the aggressiveness of its censorship policy and the popularity of the site, makes it the main focus. “Same as in 1927, images are still key for conveying our message, which is that nudity itself isn't neither indecent or immoral, nor is it necessary sexual. We can write about it as much as we want but showing naked bodies is still the only way to get people used to the images. Putting black bars or blurring body parts one 'isn't supposed' to see does the exact opposite,” Deschênes notes.

Despite their attempts to play by Facebook's rules the leaders of the INF were surprised when their own account was shut down earlier this year over a mere picture of someone's behind. Deschênes, who owns a naturist resort near Toronto, had his own personal quarrel with the social media giant when he tried to place an ad showing men playing volleyball with only their naked upper body visible. “'This is suggested nudity,' they told me and rejected the ad,” Deschênes says.

Critics of the nudist protest claim that as a privet company Facebook is free to set its own rules but Deschênes disagrees. “When any corporation becomes so ingrained in society, the government usually steps in to control it and protect people's rights. However I don't think Facebook is a private company anymore,” he argues. “The telephone company can't limit what we say and the same goes for social media. There are ways to prevent people from posting unwanted messages but censoring them from the get-go in unnecessary.”



Furthermore, as Deschênes points out, this conservative policy does not reflect the cultural and even legal attitudes towards public nudity in many countries. “It's particularly confusing for Europeans – the Dutch, French and Germans, who are not encountered with similar limitations in their society. In those countries it's not unusual or upsetting to see on a newsstand a magazine cover featuring a bare breasted woman. Even in Canada it's legal for women to walk down the street without a top on but one can't post a photo of her on Facebook.”

The ideas the naturists wish to promote through their posts are more than the joys on being naked. The movement, which was always based on notions of health and equality, now wishes to return to its original path after seeing it split into many different directions in the sixties and seventies. “People today think that naturism just means not wearing a bathing suit but nudity is simply the most visible aspect,” Deschênes explains. “For us it's about being who you are, accepting your body and respecting others by presenting your true authentic self.”

Naturist writers from the 19th century even suggested that since these ideas are so powerful, in the future all politicians in parliaments everywhere will discuss matters of state while being naked considering it is the proper and polite way. “It seems crazy to us today," Deschênes says, "but most naturists would say that when discussing issues while being naked relaxes the atmosphere and makes it easier for people to open up and voice opinions.”



However nudity is just a means to an end, Deschênes stresses. “One can be a naturist also when he's dressed, for example, by objecting to commercials which objectify and disrespect women.” The use of one's birthday suit as a political tool may seem the favorite method of FEMEN, the radical feminist group which stages topless protests, but Deschênes finds the comparison problematic. “Although naturists were always politically active, we use our bodies in a different way. FEMEN knowingly utilizes the shock factor to get the message across. We would prefer to eliminate it altogether.”

In recent years naturist ideas have reached new places with new communities forming in South America – thanks to the dwindling influence of the church – and in South Africa, where only recently the first nudist beach was opened. Yet no one dares to describe the movement as growing: Even in Germany, which still views itself as the naturist pioneer, the number of practitioners has diminished in the last 20 years and swimsuits became a frequent sight even in East German beaches where once all laid bare.

“In the GDR to bath nude was the norm but it has changed since,” Michaela Toepper, vice-president of the German Association for Free Body Culture (DFK), says. “Now there are mainly sports-clubs that offer activities for the whole family.” But attracting the young generation is a real challenge, she admits. “They have many other interests and responsibilities and the fear of appearing naked on the internet is very big. Perhaps older people accept their body more?”

In an attempt to combat this DFK's members visit public fairs and distribute, for example, a free magazine. But Deschênes insists: The naturist message didn't become less attractive all of a sudden but the way it's being conveyed has changed. “Our society is over-sexualized and tells women their body exists for the visual pleasure of others, even though no one has a body 'good enough' to show. This makes our philosophy particularly relevant but we must market ourselves on social media to spread it and reach the younger generations."

He continues: “Young people are idealistic and they want to change the world so simply talking about not wearing a swimsuit on the beach isn't enough to excite them. In order to win them over the movement needs to put the emphasis on its beliefs, not its practices.”

Polina Garaev is i24news' German correspondent in Germany.

http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/81226-150807-facebook-wants-to-dress-the-nudists

[Dario Western]

It'd be pretty hard for humanity to go back to a pre-fallen time before sin entered the world, but kudos to them for trying.  Facebook is most likely worried that if it was to liberalize nudism, it'd cause the pornographers to try and muscle in on the site before too long.  It reminds me a bit of Aesop's fable of the woodcutter and the trees.  He told the trees that his axe was broken and he wanted to take a tree from the forest to make a handle for it.  But he did not tell them what he needed the axe for.  They said he could have only one tree and that was it.  So he went home and fashioned a handle for his axe.  Then he went back to the forest again and said that he needed to make a log cabin for himself and needed to cut all the trees down.  They protested "We shouldn't have let him have one tree, then this wouldn't have happened to us".  But it was too late.  The trees were all cut down.

The moral of the story is: be careful when giving way to small matters as you could very well be giving way to larger ones in the process.

As it is, nudist places have enough of a hard time weeding out perverts and other questionable characters who unfortunately infiltrate the movement and Facebook doesn't want the additional headache of having to deal with these people.

There are plenty of other social networks where people can share nudist imagery like Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter and to some degree Google Plus.