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Why we’ve launched a petition highlighting the stigmatization of female/LGBTQ+ sexualities on social media
The Co-Founders of Biird highlight the blatant double-standards in the execution of adult content policies across social media platforms to galvanize support to change policy.
Andrea & Evi
Co-Founders BiirdIn 2020, subjects like self-pleasure and sexual education should no longer be considered taboo. But existing corporate policies on social media platforms continue stigmatising sexuality, especially female/LGBTQ+ sexualities.
When it comes to advertising, it’s commonly understood that “sex sells.” The advertisement industry is known for its exploitation of female sexuality to sell everything from burgers to deodorants. Playboy has 8.7 million followers on Instagram, and Facebook is full of pages instructing men on how to make women submit to sex. Yet, these platforms never experience censorship.
However, a line is crossed when female-identifying and LGBTQ+ individuals try to sell or talk about sexual wellness, education, or pleasure. In doing so, social media platforms send the message that female sexuality is only acceptable when catering to a cis-hetero-male gaze. Consequently, marginalised communities are prevented from acquiring accurate information about their sexual health and wellness.
The solution isn’t to cancel any individual but rather help social policy enforcers confront or understand their inherent biases.
Andrea & Evi
The petition
We launched a petition to galvanise support towards ending sexual wellness censorship on social media platforms. The petition calls for Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms to update their policies to be more inclusive towards female/LGBTQ+ sexual wellness.
Our goal isn’t to lambast, ‘cancel’ or cast blame on any individual, but rather to educate policymakers to foster a fair social media landscape where female/LGBTQ+ sexualities are supported rather than suppressed.
The campaign
Our change.org petition is supported by a ‘Silent Censorship’ campaign that throws further light on the existing double standards in implementing advertising policies. The campaign includes the petition, a side-by-side comparison of approved/disapproved posts highlighting gender biases, information on existing social media policies, our proposed solutions, and opinions from experts.
The campaign page is essentially an education hub where you can learn how social media advertising censorship affects everyone. According to Dr Logan Levkoff, AASECT Certified Sex Educator and Sex Educator Supervisor, “Sexual pleasure is vital to both our sexual and our overall health. Lack of advertising in the sexual health and wellness space prevents people, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, or relationship status, from getting the information and services they need, as well as creating a culture of shame around sex.”
The rationale
At Biird, we believe that all sexualities are equally valuable. Female/LGBTQ+ sexualities shouldn’t be censored, female/LGBTQ+ sexual wellness isn’t synonymous with pornography, and everyone must have access to reliable sexual wellness information and products. Our petition campaign aims to promote an equitable social media landscape based on those core values.
We don’t place the blame solely on any individual or platform. We live in a male-driven society in which biases against female/LGBTQ+ individuals are so deeply rooted that most people aren’t aware of those biases. The solution isn’t to cancel any individual but rather help social policy enforcers confront or understand their inherent biases.
Our goals include:
● Start a conversation about how biases in advertising policies harm marginalised communities.
● Highlight the double-standards in the implementation of social media policies for adult content.
● Engage social media enforcers to update their policies to reflect a nuanced understanding of adult content.
● Educate social media enforcers and policymakers to help them confront/identify their inherent biases.
● Galvanise popular support for changing the existing social media ecosystem.
● Foster an equitable social media landscape wherein all sexualities are equally valid and valued.
The messaging of social media policies may sometimes seem sensible, but they’re implemented and interpreted in a biased and inconsistent manner.
Andrea & Evi
The demands
Our petition highlights how social media policies need to be updated. It’s worth noting that the messaging of social media policies may sometimes seem sensible, but they’re implemented and interpreted in a biased and inconsistent manner.
For example, Facebook permits advertising adult content for “family planning and contraception” purposes, which is why erectile dysfunction medications are never censored. However, we want Facebook to include female sexual wellness products within that definition. There’s no logical reason to place greater value on male orgasms than their counterparts.
We’re asking social media platforms to:
● Update social media content policies to reflect a nuanced understanding of nudity or adult content.
● Educate social media policy enforcers to help them identify their inherent biases, freeing policy implementations from the cis-hetero-male gaze.
● Diversify the pool of social media enforcers.
● Include female/LGBTQ+ sexual wellness products within the definition of “family planning and contraception,” allowing targeted advertising to the appropriate adults.
● Ensure female/LGBTQ+ sexual education content is not penalized.
We’re encouraging everyone to do their part as well. Sign our petition and share our education hub on your social network.
About
Andrea and business partner Evi have worked together in the sexual wellness industry for many years but primarily are friends who are massive advocates for female sexual health and freedom. Andrea comes originally from Spain and has spent the last decade working in ecommerce and marketing, the majority of which has been in the sexual health field. She has helped convert many women to using menstrual cups, helping them learn about their anatomy. She believes that it’s about time that we can open conversations about sexual pleasure which is her driving force really with Obii and Biird. Evi’s background is a little different from Andrea’s. She comes from Indonesia which might come as a surprise when you take into consideration Indonesia’s unpopular opinion towards sex toys. At the age of 20, she moved away and has been living abroad ever since. Her background is in design and visual communication. She is the brains behind the ‘look and feel’ of Biird and Obii. She loves trying to understand what makes a consumer ‘tick’ and has been doing so for many sex toy brands over the years now, including five years as Art Director at a leading luxury pleasure brand. Her unique combination of being Indonesian and her love for the industry is a perfect storm for trying to create a toy to shake things up!
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