#Women censored by Change.org

[coochiequeens]

They all have he/him on their lanyards and it’s extremely clear they identify as men and are here to take opportunities away from the actual women and [non-binary] attendees.”

By Reduxx Team September 28, 2023

A major networking conference focused on centering women in computing is facing backlash from some participants after a flood of males were allowed to attend, reportedly due to the event’s inclusivity policies.

Created in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the AnitaB.org Grace Hopper Celebration purports to “bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront.” While the conference was historically focused on women, recent developments in its gender inclusivity policy saw its branding open up to “non-binary” participants as well.

In its most recent Press Release on the conference, AnitaB.org deemed it “the world’s largest gathering of women and non-binary technologists.”

But the week-long conference, which costs $650 to attend for students and academics but over $1,200 for the general public, is facing heat this year after some female attendees noticed a “significant number of men” attending the event.

In a now-scrubbed Change.org petition, one female attendee calls on the Grace Hopper Committee (GHC) to provide women who purchased the pricy tickets a full refund, and commit to banning men in the future.

“GHC (2023) is named after our pioneering female programmers, who have paved the way for gender equality within the tech industry. This event was established with the intention of empowering women by creating a safe space where they can connect, learn, and thrive. However, by allowing men to participate, GHC fails to uphold its own mission,” petitioner Agnes Lu wrote in the description.

The petition was uploaded on September 26, but deleted on September 27. A cached version of the page shows that it had collected over 2,700 signatures in the 24 hours it had been active. The reasons for removal are currently unknown.

Similar sentiment was shared on Reddit as a conference attendee posted “why are there so many men at Grace Hopper?”

Posted two days ago, the user wrote: “I’m seeing entire groups of just men, at a conference that’s sole purpose is to give opportunities to WOMEN and non-binary individuals in a male dominated field. I attended last year and did not [see] any male identifying student attendees. This is genuinely infuriating.”

The user goes on to articulate in the replies that there are a limited number of networking slots available and internships are fiercely competitive.

Like in the petition, the user claimed there was an obvious discernible difference between males and “non-binary” individuals, an issue that quickly became a point of contention in the comments.

“They could just be non-binary, gender queer, etc, or that could just be men trying to get a leg up. No way to know,” one user wrote in response, to which the original poster replied: “They all have he/him on their lanyards and it’s extremely clear they identify as men and are here to take opportunities away from the actual women and [non-binary] attendees.”

But the attempted defense was quickly undermined, with some users calling the original poster a “TERF” for failing to include gender-diverse non-binary people.

“Nonbinaries, including he/him nonbinaries, belong at grace hopper and are welcome there. TERFs like you are the ones who shouldn’t be there,” one comment reads.

“Lots of NB go as he/him. The only way you could possibly know is if you asked them,” another claimed.

On X (formerly Twitter), users debated how males could be “gate-kept” from the conference without being exclusionary, to which few solutions were provided.

The conference was held in Orlando this year, in tradition with previous years, but has announced it will relocate for the next iteration due to changes to recent state legislation regarding LGBT people.

In a statement on their site, AnitaB.org claims that Florida has introduced an “onslaught of legislation that not only devalues women and non-binary people and, at the intersections, those who live as members of the LGBTQIA+ community but is also aimed at erasing Black history.” It states that the 2024 conference is being arranged to be held in another location.

One of the featured speakers this year was trans-identified male Sasha Costanza-Chock, who describes himself as a “researcher and designer who works to support community-led processes that build shared power, dismantle the matrix of domination, and advance ecological survival.”

Costanza-Chock spoke on a panel with Alejandra Caraballo, a trans-identified male attorney, on the “Intersection of Tech and Social Justice.” The panel was described as “diving into the critical intersection of technology and social equity and explore how technology can inadvertently become a barrier for underserved groups.”

[scriptlgbt]

Do you have any good posts or articles about writing lgbt+ sex workers? I am a lesbian myself. I know people caution against writing any lgbt sex workers as just about everyone has a stereotype about them being sex workers, particularly full service sex workers. Do you think there is any whorephobia in there or no? People act like a sex worker is the worst thing you could be and would somehow ruin the lgbt+ community reputation

I'm going to try and find articles in a bit and add them when I can.

In the meantime, my general thoughts:

I think it's important to note that a lot of us experience lives which make sex work our only option for survival. People also fetishize us, so our experiences in sex work are not quite the same as people who aren't like us, at least for those who are openly who we are. It's harder to make money and a lot of folks feel pressured to refer to themselves with slurs or treat their body like a gimmick in order to make money. Which is not internalized oppression, IMO, I mean, it's a job.

Trans people are relegated to separate categories on sites like Chaturbate because there's the assumption that no one who is looking for women, or looking for men, would want to even accidentally come across trans people who fit those identities.

There's a pretty big historical precedent for trans people in a lot of different roles of entertainment for cis people who find our bodies to be anomalies and comical. Drag is a very important part of our culture, but there are many outsiders who go to see drag who don't understand why people do it outside of for their entertainment.

And with all of that said, there's ways that people take the existence of LGBT+ folks in sex work and distort those ideas in order to harm. There's a difference between someone choosing to market their content a certain way vs the social pressures that make it impossible for said person to make rent unless they market their content a certain way.

I know Chelsea Poe has written on this before, but I can't find the specific article. I'd recommend googling, "Chelsea Poe interview" and you'll get some good research on the topic regardless.

And though she initially rose to prominence as a performer with a dedicated fan base, she also garnered a fair amount of notoriety through her activism for trans performers — even though it initially got her blacklisted by a lot of companies. Her largest contribution? A Change.org petition asking the industry to get rid of the derogatory, transphobic slurs historically used to market performers.

"The use of transphobic language within pornography furthers the stigma that all trans people face in all walks of life," the petition's description stated. "Trans women have the right to identify as they want and market their porn how they want. Non trans people have no right to profit off of these slurs thus this petition is calling for removal of terms like 'Sh*m*le' and 'Tr*nny' from all non trans owned porn sites."

Source (note: slurs censored for this post, but not in source article)

My general opinion is that the issue with representing LGBTQ+ people as sex workers is not that there is anything wrong with being a sex worker. I genuinely love and appreciate representation of LGBTQ+ sex workers.

But people who write these characters have a duty to represent this correctly. It's not just disheartening when they don't - it leads to society wide misunderstandings of these experiences, it leads to genuine harm being done because people don't understand what whorephobia is, or that whorephobia is the source of oppression against sex workers. It's not brothels or pimps or backpage. (Even when those things contribute, it's not something criminalization solves.)

It's people who fool themselves into thinking sex workers need rescue or are some group that is voiceless that do the most direct and indirect harm to sex workers.

Not just anyone can write these stories, and not just anyone can write these stories in a way that does this experience justice.

- mod nat

[smokeybrand]

Insincere Sensibilities

I touched upon this a few days ago when i ranted about Outrage and Cancel Culture but, the current Sentai Filmworks purge over at Crunchyroll, i feel like i need to address this sh*t directly. I think that’s over licensing issues but it’s just a drop in the bucket with all of the other purges and alterations being made, all over the place. American censorship of international media is f*cking ridiculous. It is and i can’t stand it. I get that, for a lot of the youngsters out here, especially the ones that are of that Social Justice disposition, certain things, especially out of Japan, can be misconstrued, misunderstood, or even seen as offensive. The thing is, though, mind your f*cking business. Not everyone is outraged by the same sh*t you are. If it’s media to be consumed, just don’t consume it. Not everyone wants to fit in your very narrow worldview of assumed offense and righteous indignation. You look like a clown doing that sh*t. The motherf*cker who sh*ts in the pool, forcing everyone to leave. You’re the no-fun police. Chill the f*ck out, man, and keep your negativity to yourself. F*ck off with your soft ass sensibilities. Instead of harassing a Japanese artist, who lives in Japan, and is actually part of that culture, maybe get some f*cking context first? Maybe understand that, where that person is from, the sh*t they draw is fine and probably popular? Maybe don’t insist upon applying your narrow, prudish, American "values” to a country that, in so many ways, resembles nothing that you’d recognize as everyday life? Like, Amazon removed the Grimgar books. What the f*ck was wrong with Grimgar?? Interestingly enough, you can still watch the show on Prime. That hypocrisy is going to be a running theme, just letting you know ahead of time.

Not everyone who likes lolis wants to f*ck kids. Not everyone who likes guro wants to rape then eat corpses. Not everyone who likes isekai want’s a slave harem or is some weenie neckbeard that lacks all of the confidence. It’s nuts to me that this wave of pearl clutching is so selective. Like, Amazon removed all the No Game No Life novels, among others, because of “questionable content”. A cursory search reveals that you can still buy Catcher in the Rye on the site; A book about a teenage sociopath, who sells drugs and tries to f*cks prostitutes. Dude is sixteen. Shouldn’t this be removed, too? Isn’t this offensive material as well by these new rules? It’s required f*cking reading in high schools across the nation! F*cking A Clockwork Orange is still available, both the book and the film. Why? That sh*t is literally a murder-rape rampage. Dude rapes two ten-year-olds in that sh*t! It’s also another book i read in high school just to see if it was as bad as everyone says. The book is, yes. The film? Not so much. Also, and this is probably the most pertinent of my unabashed hypocrisy on display, f*cking Lolita is still available on Amazon! Both films, hardcover, soft cover, and even audio book if you’re too lazy to read for yourself. Lolita is quite literally, the inspiration for the loli genre that everyone seems to be completely out of their minds about now. Loli is short FOR Lolita. That’s a thing. You can imagine the content therein so why is THAT book okay but not No Game No Life? The Lolita audio book is f*cking free with an Audible trial! Free! But go off about Shiro, though.

This sh*t is frustrating to me because it feels like a targeted attack on Japanese media and ONLY Japanese media. I got Senators getting on TV, talking about how Dragon Ball Z is degenerate trash, even though it’s been on US television for almost three decades. Sony is prematurely censoring games like Sengan Kagura and Devil May Cry V, but Abby gets a whole ass, grunt filled, bro down, f*ckfest in The Last of Us II. That sh*t was so jarring and hilariously gross to see, it became a straight up meme. Her entire peck-a-titty was completely exposed, nips and all. Her animalistic barking and grimaced face, were so brazenly displayed. Graphically. Gratuitously. Uncomfortably. That sh*t look painful. That’s what sex is like in real life, right? That interpretation is grounded and not sexualized at all, right. Sex can’t be sexualized anymore. No joy or fun in the f*ck. It has to mechanical and the most unappealing sh*t, ever, or you’ll be objectifying women or some sh*t. Okay. Stunning and brave, I'm sure, but why? Why the f*ck was that necessary other than to wag a finger at your player base? Here’s some f*cking in your game, we know you like it, but don’t like that way. That way is wrong. Women are not cum-dumpsters. They are to be respected and never subject to your pitiable sense of passion or attractiveness. They can be inconvenienced by sex, too! That’s what i thought, at least, as i watched this aggressively icky display happen on my television for a miserable amount of timen. It’s this way or no way. I get a lens flare on the butt of a beauty like Lady from DMC, but I'm forced to see Abby’s whole body tense as whatshisname goes in raw with no lube? For real?

There’s just so much stupid surrounding the media i love lately, you know? Let’s go after Shield Hero because I'm offended that Raphtalia is a child slave. Because i only watched three episodes and completely ignored the heartwarming relationship that developed between Naofumi and the adult Raphtalia. Because Raphtalia grew the f*ck up. She only appeared that young, for that long, because Naofumi's trauma wouldn’t allow him to see her as an adult. I’m not saying don’t feel a certain way about whatever. Let’s get the pitchforks and torches because Scarlett Johansson is portraying a Japanese cyborg, even though the Japanese don’t care. They’re wrong for being indifferent to the racial injustice perpetrated by this Hollywood production! Even though the character of Batou IS canonically of Japanese descent, not a full cyborg so his body is organic with certain cybernetic enhancements, and still got portrayed by a white dude. Yeah, that’s fine. Ignore the whitewashing of literally every other Japanese or ethnic character in this movie, and focus on the one what is literally a brain in a mechanical shell. Outrage! Did I want to see a Japanese actor in that role? Sure. I think Rinko Kukichi was a perfect fit for Major Motoko Kusanagi. However, the Japanese people don't care so I had to let my bias go, too. If the director of the original anime film gives his blessing, who the f*ck are we to be so pissed off about it? Plus, the Major in this version of the picture is named Mira or some sh*t. She not even MY Major and I can separate the two. Apparently, I am in the minority on that one.

My favorite character in the Monogatari series is Shinobu. She’s a loli vampire that’s nearly six centuries old but looks to be about twelve in real time. Shinobu starts as a ravishing, adult beauty named Kissshot. Through a series of events, her power was sapped and, in order to save her life, she was left in her juvenile form. She later reclaims her voluptuous, mature, appearance and carries on for the rest of the series as such, but she was Shinobu, not Kissshot, when i fell in love with her. I do adore both versions of that character; Her haughty, too-old-for-her-looks, pre-teen self and the reserved, stoic, haunting beauty of her true form. That said, even as a loli vampire, Shinobu is still pretty tame. If Shinobu is worth a Change.org petition, what about Claudia from Interview with the Vampire? Claudia is FAR more problematic. She is Lolita on steroids. Claudia is nine when she was turned and was killed sixty-five years later. It is stated, in detail, she wanted to f*ck. Badly. But she couldn’t because, you know, the whole nine-year-old body and everything. That was actually a pretty big thing with Claudia’s character, that sexual frustration. Never mind the, you know, murderous rage and delight in cruelty, you know? Claudia is fine, with all of her bloody, murderous, psychopathy and manipulative, over sexual, personality proudly displayed, but Shinobu is an issue because... why again?

Cats are apologizing for violent abusers because they’re pretty women, and you HAVE to believe all women, regardless of the fact that they’re pathological sociopaths. Instead, let’s cancel a child for drawing She-Ra characters “wrong”, even though she drew the G1 versions of said characters F*ck her, right? Because she liked the designs of the old, problematic, version of that show? It’s on the “wrong side of social justice”. This is a child. One that can’t be more than a decade old but these motherf*ckers came for her, like her last name was Weinstein. It’s kind of hard to take your moral outcry seriously when you’ve directed your hateful intent on a goddamn grade schooler. Sh*t like that, the gross hypocrisy and targeted vitriol, is just f*cking exhausting. You’re entitled to your opinion. Hell, you’re entitled to even voice your opinion out in the wild. The internet is an awesome soapbox. I’m using it right now! As long as the discourse is civil, f*cking go for it. It’s rarely ever civil. Attacking someone because you made assumptions of their character over sh*t they follow on Twatter, is pure folly. Raising the alarm because you don’t like seeing “youthful characters” depicted in a certain fight, while ignoring other media that takes it even further but is more palatable or subtle with their transgressions, is hypocrisy. If you’re going to be outraged about something, if you’re going to call for censorship, make sure yo censor all of it. If you’re going to hide Japanese boob jiggle, make sure you fade to black with the hard sex in your domestic games, too. I’m as offended by Abby’s body in TLoUII, as you are of Ayane’s from Dead or Alive. Why should i be subjected to your bullsh*t while you curtail and demonize mine? Motherf*ckers want to be champions of tolerance and understanding but these same motherf*ckers sure refuse to understand any point of view obtuse to their own. You want that moral high grown so bad? Then stop picking and choosing what is or isn’t offensive. Either all of it is okay or none of it.

[rbbox]

From the trailer of the film with the tag line, “Thappad- Bas itni si baat?”, which created wide banter as well as tremors that indicate the serious impact to a slap to the multi-city ongoing screenings, Thappad is being hailed as the most important film of the year. The makers of the film have been dropping message-driven promo units to garner the right conversations.

Taapsee Pannu and the makers have now extended their support to a Change.org petition, asking for disclaimers to be added in films that showcase on-screen domestic violence scenes. To deliver this striking message, Taapsee is seen in a concept video questioning viewers - why don’t we have a disclaimer for ‘Thappad’ on-screen when we have one for alcohol consumption, smoking and animal cruelty? Change.org India and the makers of Thappad have come together to urge the censor board to make it mandatory for films that showcase any kind of domestic violence in their films to carry a disclaimer.

Taapsee Pannu took to her Twitter handle and shared the video.

Kya Thappad pe disclaimer aana bas itni si baat hai? Agar nahi toh petition sign kijiye #Thappad

I support the @ChangeOrg_India petition asking CBFC to make it mandatory for movies depicting violence against women to carry disclaimers https://t.co/Pp1vZ7go6d pic.twitter.com/RXaGLN6XJV

— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) February 21, 2020

Nida Hasan, Country Director, Change.org India, “When most of our films are filled with misogynistic portrayals of women, films like Thappad trigger our collective conscience. Taapsee’s support for Mahika’s petition is a powerful statement for the Indian film industry to take responsibility for the right messaging on domestic violence that affects millions of women in our country every day.”

The actress urges the viewers to sign a petition after the entire video takes stock of everything that is shown as a disclaimer for a film, much in a conversation between the two lead actors. Definitely, the makers are coming up with unique takes with each video. Not only the earlier asset got a strike for being the most reported, as was asked by Taapsee from the audience but even this video is set to become a movement with its impactful message.

The much-awaited film, Thappad is being produced by Anubhav Sushila Sinha and Bhushan Sudesh Kumar, and directed by Anubhav Sushila Sinha, starring Taapsee Pannu is set to release on 28th February.

ALSO READ: Taapsee Pannu on winning the Filmfare award for Best Actress says that she did not have a speech prepared

February 22, 2020 at 04:42PMThappad: Taapsee Pannu urges to add disclaimers to films showcasing domestic violence https://ift.tt/2SPNXYF

[morg3380]

On Sargon's Petition, OR Right Wing Populism and the Monolithic Left

If you haven't heard of him, Carl Benjamin (better known by his online alias Sargon of Akkad) is primarily a right-wing YouTube personality known for his 'criticism' of many left-wing ideas (see: racism, sexism, ect.). He first emerged into the public eye during the Gamergate controversy, in which women in both the games industry and games journalism were harassed by people claiming to be acting in the interest of ethics in games journalism, when he peddled the idea that the games industry was being invaded by feminists forcing their ideology. Since then he has remained mostly the same, spouting conspiracy theories, hosting bad-faith debates, or 'debates' with fellow right-wingers, and general bigotry. At one point, he even made an attempt at a political career, joining the far-right UK Independence Party, although that particular venture was a spectacular failure. Now that you know who Carl is (for which I apologize), we can discuss his petition. On April 20th, 2016, Carl started a petition on change.org, entitled "Suspend Social Justice Courses". If you think that title is particularly undescriptive, then you would be right. The body of the petition is not much better, saying  that "Social justice has become scientifically illiterate, logically unsound, deeply bigoted and openly supremacist. Social justice professors are indoctrinating young people into a pseudoscientific cult behind closed doors that is doing damage to their health, education and future." and "To clarify, we are calling for the teaching of social justice courses in universities to be temporarily suspended.  What follows is up for debate, but as it stands now, social justice is causing far more harm than good and it must be halted and reassessed.". It is remarkably unclear what Carl actually want's out of this petition, as he doesn't even cite what classes he want's 'universities' (to whom the petition is addressed) to stop teaching. This lack of proper information, the language used in the body of the petition, and the wonderfully telling recipient of this petition reveals a common theme among right wing populists (and among the right in general, but to the populist types it is especially relevant) of how they see 'the left'. To right wing populists, the left is a single entity. A massive, monolithic force. An elite group of schemers who have the government and businesses in their pockets. Regardless of the fact that many of those who claim to have their 'free speech taken away' by the left are still talking out of their asses (you don't have to look much farther than any Netflix comedy special that talks about how comedy is censored or even home in Toronto, where the TPL just doubled down on the decision to let notable transphobe Megan Murphy host a talk), right wing populists will claim that the left, or SJWs, or any other who criticize their works are working against them. Rather than make any actual ideological arguments against their perceived enemy, right wing populists will simply construct strawmen out of this idea they have of the monolithic left and refuse to think any harder about it. One could argue that this is essential to any populist viewpoint, but I would disagree on this matter. While it is not something that I would regularly describe myself as, I am a left wing populist. I could say that I approach populism through a Marxist perspective, seeing the elites as those who moneyed few who own the means of production, or I could say that my populism is a feminist one, with the elites being those who perpetuate hegemonic masculinity, or I could even say that my populism has a racial bend, or one of mental or physical illness. In truth, it is all of these and more. This, however, does not mean that I believe that there is some elite order that seeks to position only the white, straight, cisgender, abled, and rich at the top of society (although there certainly are those types of people). Instead, I recognise that society, and the forces that control it, are made up of an incredibly diverse set of interlocking ideologies. There is no one single elite that I am rebelling against. I do not see myself in opposition to a single, monolithic force of oppression, but instead a group of many linked oppressions. The right, however, rarely display anything other than an opposition to a monolithic left. Perhaps if they sat down and actually looked at what they so vehemently rally against, they would realise that they're wrong about a few more things than the unity of their enemy.

(”petition” referenced:https://www.change.org/p/universities-suspend-social-justice-in-universities)

[viparts]

Instagram Holds Closed-Door Roundtable with Artists on Art and Nudity – – ARTnews Monday, October 21, Instagram held a closed-door roundtable in New York about its community guidelines and content moderation policies as they relate to nudity in art, ARTnews has learned. The private discussion, which included both prominent and emerging artists and museum leaders, took place in the wake of protests and petitions from artists who have alleged that their work has been censored by the image-sharing platform, which is owned by Facebook. The roundtable, held at Instagram’s headquarters near Astor Place in Manhattan convened about 20 people, many of whom had previously had posts removed from Instagram because of their content. Representatives from the National Coalition Against Censorship were also invited to participate. Possible outcomes from the meetings are not yet clear, but the hope of many artists is that the talks lead to policy changes. In an interview, Stephanie Otway, a Facebook spokesperson, said that the company regularly meets with users to receive feedback about its products and to think about how it can be incorporated into its policies and products. “Today was about meeting with the community in the art world to understand their feedback,” Otway said. “A lot of their feedback is based around our nudity policies, so we definitely felt it was a constructive day for us to think about how these policies evolve and develop in the future. I think it’s the start of a conversation between us and the art community.” Among those attending Monday’s meeting were artists Micol Hebron, Marilyn Minter, Joanne Leah, and Siddhant Talwar. Painter Betty Tompkins had also been invited but did not attend, and instead sent a statement that she asked to be read on the record. While participants were allowed to share news of the talks, according to Hebron and Minter, those involved were asked by Instagram to sign non-disclosure agreements meant to keep the day’s proceedings private. Members of the press were not invited. The company said that signing NDAs is standard procedure for anyone visiting any Facebook/Instagram building and was not put in effect specifically for this meeting. Tompkins told ARTnews that she had been contacted by Facebook about the roundtable around three weeks ago and didn’t immediately know how to respond. Because she wouldn’t be able to attend in person, Tompkins asked if she could send a statement that would be read aloud, and the company agreed. Tompkins said in that statement that, because of Instagram’s major role in the art world, its current guidelines are prohibitive to artists “whose work is challenging or thought-provoking.” (She said she plans to post her full statement to Instagram later in the week.) Earlier this year, Tompkins had her Instagram account deleted after she posted a layout from an exhibition catalogue that included a black-and-white reproduction of one of her “Fuck Paintings” that is based on pornography and in the collection of Paris’s Centre Pompidou. (Her account was later restored.) “Instagram has nominated themselves to be the online voice for the art world,” Tompkins continued. “And they’ve succeeded. You can’t be active in the art world without a voice on Instagram.” Nora Pelizzari, the NCAC’s director of communications, echoed Tompkins, saying that she was pleased that emerging artists had been invited to participate. “When we’re talking about art on a platform like Instagram, established museums and artists use Instagram for disseminating their work, for gaining great exposure, etc.,” she told ARTnews, “but they also have other platforms on which do that, whereas early career artists depend on Instagram in a very particular way. They don’t necessarily have access to galleries, museums, and the ‘art world’ as it exists. Ideally what Instagram does is remove the hierarchy of who gets to be an artist.” “Instagram and Facebook had no trouble admitting their mistakes,” Minter said in an email to ARTnews after the meeting. “They have made progress. I felt like this was an exchange of ideas from forward-leaning people trying to do the right thing. These were difficult conversations from well-meaning people trying to find solutions. Some of the artists had grievances but there was no hostility. If we are going to grow and change we need these conversations. I left feeling that this topic is a work in progress.” In an interview prior to the meeting, Hebron said that Instagram had been vague—perhaps intentionally so—prior to the meeting, and had not sent participants an agenda of the day’s events beyond saying that there would be a keynote presentation and time for each artist to discuss their experiences with Instagram. While a list of participants was circulated to invitees, Hebron said, they were told not to make that information public out of respect for their colleagues’ privacy. Hebron added that she thought that Instagram’s insistence on having participants sign NDAs and have the discussion happen in private represented a missed opportunity. “That they’ve already has us sign an NDA is crazy,” Hebron said. “If they were smart, it would be live-cast and streamed. It should really be a community conversation.” Tompkins, who was not asked to sign an NDA, said she found it absurd that Instagram expected the participating artists to stay silent. “If you’re bringing artists into a room and telling them they can’t talk about a couple of hours they’ve lived through, you’re dreaming,” she said. “This is our job as artists: to break the rules. That’s what makes it art—it doesn’t conform.” Pelizzari said that the day began with representatives from Facebook and Instagram explaining their policies and their reasoning behind them. “Facebook was trying to make it clear that they respect and privilege voice on their platforms, above all else,” Pelizzari continued, “What the artists were pushing back on was by saying, ‘Your policies, and how they’re implemented, don’t necessarily reflect that.’ It seemed that Facebook was very interested in engaging that conversation, but I will say that willingness to make hard commitments was lacking.” Otway, the Facebook spokesperson, said, “For us it’s a case of taking away the feedback that we heard, and bringing it to the broader teams to understand what we can and can’t implement. So nothing specific at the moment. The main thing is collating what we heard, any commonalities that we heard that we think would be particularly useful in our policy development process.” Though the group of participants was diverse in terms of age and race and ethnicity, Hebron said, she felt that not enough men were part of the discussions. Three men and one trans person were among the group of 20 invitees who participated in Monday’s discussion. Facebook said that it did make efforts to have a diverse group of people as it relates to gender, but would not comment on specifics, saying it wanted to maintain the privacy of participants. “I think this issue should concern men—it’s a community concern,” Hebron said. “The idea that only women should be concerned with these problems is pretty sophomoric and myopic. It also affects non-binary, queer, and trans folks. This should concern everyone, not just the bodies that are being oppressed and censored.” The largest point of contention between Instagram and artists has been nudity, specifically the female nipple, as it appears in artworks. Artists and other arts advocates have also called for more transparency about when posts or accounts are removed and why some accounts are given less visibility in the app’s explore and hashtag functions. Currently, Instagram’s community guidelines regarding nudity read, “We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.” Tompkins read these guidelines prior to writing her statement. “At first I laughed, and then I got very angry,” she said. “I was furious. After putting us through all of this, it’s horseshit, when it’s clear that they haven’t read their own guidelines.” Leah, a photographer who circulated a Change.org petition calling for changes to how Instagram handles nudity that garnered some 1,000 signatures, said that it was important that the guidelines be updated to allow for nudity in photography and documentation of performance art. “They have concerns about photography being pornographic,” Leah said. “But, I think they are completely eliminating photography as an art form. That they allow it in painting and sculpture is invalidating artists’ work and art history. It’s important to come up with a distinction between pornography and fine art photography that includes nudity.” Another topic discussed at length in the roundtable, several sources said, was Instagram’s ability to determine someone’s gender based on photographs of their nipples, which may not match up with that person’s own gender identification. “Facebook needs to reckon with the disproportionate negative effect that is felt by trans, gender non-confirming, and queer folks by these very binary and gendered nudity policies,” Pelizzari, of the NCAC, said. “When you limit the ability of anyone who comes from an already marginalized community to talk about their own story and to share their own body you are sending a value judgment as to the value of that person, not just the value of a post on Instagram. What that does is reinforce global norms around marginalization.” Prior to the roundtable at Instagram, Hebron spoke to the larger issues at stake within these conversations, “Not only do we have Facebook and Instagram assuming our gender based on images of our bodies, which is really troubling, but they’re also making statements about what is and isn’t art and what is and isn’t acceptable art. That has echoes from the Culture Wars of the ’80s and ’90s.” Powered by WPeMatico

[theultimatefan]

International Pole Dance Organizations, Pole Athletes and Pole Artists Launch Change.Org Petition Challenging Instagram's Discriminatory Practices

United Pole Artists, Pole Dance Nation and thousands of professional and amateur pole dance athletes, dancers and fitness enthusiasts have united in an effort to bring Instagram to task with claims of sexism and discrimination attributed to the social media platform.  A Change.org petition has already compiled over 12,000 signatures in less than a week, asserting that Instagram is unfairly hiding and burying pole related hashtags and content with their algorithm system. Hashtag usage on Instagram is instrumental for accruing exposure for postings and followers within the platform's system.

Pole fitness as an international competitive sport and dance art has exploded in popularity in the last decade. The Global Association of International Sports Federations granted Observer Status to the International Pole Sports Federation in 2017, the first step in a journey to Olympic recognition. Hundreds of thousands of amateur and professional polers from around the world have used Instagram for years to network, share inspiration and knowledge. For competitive athletes, instructors, performance artists and small business owners, social media is crucial to professional survival. Interest in the pole industry has been fueled by the growth in social media usage, with postings offering education and insight into an often-misunderstood art form.

In July 2019, almost all popular hashtags like #poledancing and #polefitness, and technical tags like #pddeadlift and #pdayesha, used by the online pole community to train and connect were hidden - tagged with a message from Instagram saying "...content may not meet Instagram's community guidelines."

Internationally famous pole dancer, instructor and business woman Michelle Shimmy, at Pole Dance Academy, in Australia, has over 175,000 Instagram followers. She cries foul, pointing out, "There is nothing profane or pornographic about what we do. Pole dance is skillful, artistic and entertaining. It can be fitness-based, it can be performance-based and yes it can be sexy, but it does not violate Instagram's terms of use or community standards. We see an alarming trend of policing female bodies on Instagram, a trend that doesn't seem to affect male bodies in the same way. This policing of women's bodies is not okay."

United Pole Artists (UPA) has been active in the pole community since 2009 and boasts close to 200,000 followers on Instagram.  The organization recently published an in-depth feature about the community's concerns per Instagram at https://www.unitedpoleartists.com/learn-about-and-take-action-on-the-pole-dance-shadowban/ .  UPA founder and CEO, Annemarie Davies states, "Our community is under attack, yes, but there is an even bigger issue here in terms of how this scenario plays out for not only pole practitioners, but for all social media users. Who gets to define us and how? Instagram needs to update their algorithms - stop hiding pole hashtags and also to stop policing body positivity hashtags, and sex worker hashtags as well. The global hashtags lockdown seems to a be a trickle-down effect per the U.S FOSTA-SESTA bill - but banning our hashtags because they conflict with a nonsensical, vaguely defined, puritanical view of 'community standards' is just plain discriminatory!"

Nikki St John, author of "Pole Dancer" and founder of @PoleDanceNation, with over 238,000 followers on Instagram, points out, "Instagram has no problem running paid advertising for the latest J-Lo movie 'Hustlers' featuring top Hollywood actresses and recording artists like Cardi B, and demonstrating their pole dance skills, but actual real life dancers and athletes are deemed 'inappropriate.' It's an unfair double standard."

Offers Laura Arbios, owner of Sadie's Pole Dance in Redondo Beach, CA and founder of Pole Dancers Vote, "We're of course very frustrated with Instagram's willingness to comply with the sweeping, ill-conceived legislation that is FOSTA/SESTA. It seems counterintuitive to censor our communities this way, and not even try to appeal or find a better solution. With women being responsible for more than half of the content on their platform, you'd think it would be in their best interest to defend and support their most active users and content creators. Our next collective goal should be to activate disengaged voters around the country to elect new leadership in 2020 and find ways to fight sex trafficking that won't harm sex workers or endanger the pole community's ability to share and connect."

The organized front of pole enthusiasts is hoping that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, take note and address the concerns of this community. As Dan Rosen, the UK Male Pole Champion and an instructor with over 56,000 followers on Instagram asserts, "We want Instagram to respect everyone on Instagram - as they advise us to do. Stop discriminating against us, unblock all pole dance related hashtags, and review their practices. We want Instagram to be a safe place to share inspiration and expression for all people - as is their stated mission.''

For more details about and to support the "Instagram, please stop censoring pole dance,"campaign and petition, please sign on at https://www.change.org/p/instagram-com-instagram-stop-censoring-pole-dance-fitness.

Cover Image: Wikimedia Commons/Usien

Photo credit: John Higgins / @xanadu4

[sustainhealthmagazine]

International Pole Dance Organizations, Pole Athletes and Pole Artists Challenging Instagram's Discriminatory Practices

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United Pole Artists, Pole Dance Nation and thousands of professional and amateur pole dance athletes, dancers and fitness enthusiasts have united in an effort to bring Instagram to task with claims of sexism and discrimination attributed to the social media platform. A Change.org petition has already compiled over 12,000 signatures in less than a week, asserting that Instagram is unfairly hiding and burying pole related hashtags and content with their algorithm system. Hashtag usage on Instagram is instrumental for accruing exposure for postings and followers within the platform's system.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Pole fitness as an international competitive sport and dance art has exploded in popularity in the last decade. The Global Association of International Sports Federations granted Observer Status to the International Pole Sports Federation in 2017, the first step in a journey to Olympic recognition. Hundreds of thousands of amateur and professional polers from around the world have used Instagram for years to network, share inspiration and knowledge. For competitive athletes, instructors, performance artists and small business owners, social media is crucial to professional survival. Interest in the pole industry has been fueled by the growth in social media usage, with postings offering education and insight into an often-misunderstood art form.

In July 2019, almost all popular hashtags like #poledancing and #polefitness, and technical tags like #pddeadlift and #pdayesha, used by the online pole community to train and connect were hidden - tagged with a message from Instagram saying "...content may not meet Instagram's community guidelines."

Internationally famous pole dancer, instructor and business woman Michelle Shimmy, at Pole Dance Academy, in Australia, has over 175,000 Instagram followers. She cries foul, pointing out, "There is nothing profane or pornographic about what we do. Pole dance is skillful, artistic and entertaining. It can be fitness-based, it can be performance-based and yes it can be sexy, but it does not violate Instagram's terms of use or community standards. We see an alarming trend of policing female bodies on Instagram, a trend that doesn't seem to affect male bodies in the same way. This policing of women's bodies is not okay."

United Pole Artists (UPA) has been active in the pole community since 2009 and boasts close to 200,000 followers on Instagram.  The organization recently published an in-depth feature about the community's concerns per Instagram at https://www.unitedpoleartists.com/learn-about-and-take-action-on-the-pole-dance-shadowban/ .  UPA founder and CEO, Annemarie Davies states, "Our community is under attack, yes, but there is an even bigger issue here in terms of how this scenario plays out for not only pole practitioners, but for all social media users. Who gets to define us and how? Instagram needs to update their algorithms - stop hiding pole hashtags and also to stop policing body positivity hashtags, and sex worker hashtags as well. The global hashtags lockdown seems to a be a trickle-down effect per the U.S FOSTA-SESTA bill - but banning our hashtags because they conflict with a nonsensical, vaguely defined, puritanical view of 'community standards' is just plain discriminatory!"

Nikki St John, author of "Pole Dancer" and founder of @PoleDanceNation, with over 238,000 followers on Instagram, points out, "Instagram has no problem running paid advertising for the latest J-Lo movie 'Hustlers' featuring top Hollywood actresses and recording artists like Cardi B, and demonstrating their pole dance skills, but actual real life dancers and athletes are deemed 'inappropriate.' It's an unfair double standard."

Offers Laura Arbios, owner of Sadie's Pole Dance in Redondo Beach, CA and founder of Pole Dancers Vote, "We're of course very frustrated with Instagram's willingness to comply with the sweeping, ill-conceived legislation that is FOSTA/SESTA. It seems counterintuitive to censor our communities this way, and not even try to appeal or find a better solution. With women being responsible for more than half of the content on their platform, you'd think it would be in their best interest to defend and support their most active users and content creators. Our next collective goal should be to activate disengaged voters around the country to elect new leadership in 2020 and find ways to fight sex trafficking that won't harm sex workers or endanger the pole community's ability to share and connect."

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The organized front of pole enthusiasts is hoping that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, take note and address the concerns of this community. As Dan Rosen, the UK Male Pole Champion and an instructor with over 56,000 followers on Instagram asserts, "We want Instagram to respect everyone on Instagram - as they advise us to do. Stop discriminating against us, unblock all pole dance related hashtags, and review their practices. We want Instagram to be a safe place to share inspiration and expression for all people - as is their stated mission.''

For more details about and to support the "Instagram, please stop censoring pole dance," campaign and petition, please sign on at https://www.change.org/p/instagram-com-instagram-stop-censoring-pole-dance-fitness.

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[coochiequeens]

She may be 12 but she did have her mother's permission to post a petition

ByNatasha Biase July 1, 2023

Change.org, a popular petition hosting site, has reportedly taken down a 12-year-old British girl’s petition to have her school install sex-segregated bathrooms. The move comes amid a wave of sex-based violence erupting in gender neutral restrooms across the UK.

The petition, which garnered over 13,000 signatures prior to its deletion, was established in May by the daughter of a woman who runs a pro-woman Twitter account under the handle @mjeslfc.

Change.org, which claims that “anyone can start a petition,” told the girl’s mother in an email that the petition was taken down because it was notified that the campaign was “started by a user under 13 years old.”

@mjeslfc responded on Twitter by informing her followers that, despite her daughter launching the intention of the petition, all elements of it were managed by her and that she had explicitly informed Change.org of that fact. “I had written to them [at] the start of the petition to explain that I was managing the account but clearly it’s been reported,” she said on Twitter yesterday.

An archived version of the petition includes a plea from the 12-year-old girl, describing the uncomfortable bathroom situation at her school, explaining that because they are ‘mixed-sexed,’ many boys and girls refuse to use them:

“I am a 12yr old girl and my school, like many, has open plan mixed sexed toilets with only sinks to act as a divide. This makes many boys and girls uncomfortable, with many refusing to use them.” She continues by proposing that her school should install single-sex toilets for the comfort of all students:

“I would like single-sex toilets to be available so I, and many other children, can feel comfortable and safe when using more private spaces. I propose we have male only, female-only and a mixed spaces to give people choice.” Gender-neutral bathrooms have been a topic of contention in recent years due to the encroachment of trans-identified males in female-only spaces.

The UK in particular has been grappling with a wave of attacks on female students in gender-neutral washrooms at schools across the country. On February 28, Reduxx published a report about a 13-year-old girl from Coventry, England, who was admitted to the hospital after a trans-identified male physically assaulted her in a unisex washroom. According to Gemma Brennan, the mother of this girl, a teenage boy kicked a toilet cubicle door open to take photographs of her daughter while she was using the facilities with so much force that the door hit the girl in the face, leaving marks on her arm and a huge cut on her forehead. Although the incident happened after parents expressed their disapproval regarding the unisex toilets, Brennan explained that their “concerns had ‘fallen on deaf ears’ and not been taken into consideration by the administration.”

That same day, protests broke out at schools across the UK in which female pupils expressed their desire for single-sex facilities for their privacy and safety. Local media outlets reported that students in Southampton, Essex, Blackpool, Yorkshire and other cities throughout England all participated in the demonstrations over gender-neutral restrooms. Most recently, a teenage boy was arrested over four allegations of “serious sexual assault” at a school in Essex. The horrific attacks took place in a gender neutral lavatory.