From Nuts to Nips, How Facebook is Demonstrably Sexist

Content Warning: The video and photos embedded below show male nudity.

Super up close and personal male nudity.

Bluntly, you’re about to have a nutsack in your face.

Not safe at all for work.

You’ve been warned.

***

It was just another day in Facebook land. I was scrolling through a feed of funny animal videos, heated political discourse, and photos of other people’s food, when I saw that a friend had shared a video with an interesting caption.

I laughed and clicked on the video, expecting… Well, to be honest, I’m not sure WHAT I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

A video from a British morning talk show of a kindly older doctor discussing and live demonstrating a testicular cancer self-exam on a very patient (how is he so patient?) dude.

The video has been viewed almost 7 million times.

In case it gets popped and removed later, or in case you’re afraid to click on it, I saved some screenshots.

Not racy enough for you? Wait. There’s more.

An up close and personal view of the subject at hand. Ahem.

Now, listen. I am not hating on this completely wholesome content, which I’m SURE has been viewed enough times to have made an impactful difference on men’s health. (Not counting all the people who shared it for fun just to screw with their prudish Aunt Elma who I guarantee was unprepared for balls in her face while scrolling Facebook that morning.)

And I’m not sharing it with you now just for fun, either. I’ve got a bone to pick. No pun intended.

I defer to my good friend Morgan for the first volley here:

Facebook routinely shuts people down — sometimes even suspending people’s accounts as a warning — for sharing breast photos that may or may not include a nipple. From boudoir photos to breastfeeding photos to breast reconstruction photos. I got put in FB jail once for sharing a photo of a woman’s tattooed breastplate after she’d had a complete double mastectomy. My friend Tina is a photographer and said they’ve been “getting targeted and shut down left and right for the most ridiculous shit… but these balls are okay because it’s medical.”

And lest you think I’m one of those #FreeTheNipple weirdos (which I am), this isn’t just about that. Facebook has a serious administrative problem when it comes to sexism and how complaints and reported content is handled.

Consider this: How many times have you reported a nasty comment, only to be told

It’s not just you. It’s prolific.

Do you see a pattern here? I do.

And it’s disturbing on many levels. It’s not even a new problem, or anything that hasn’t been brought to Facebook’s attention before. But it is one they don’t seem to be inclined to address, and in the meantime, the disservice to women users only continues to grow. Being accosted by testicles was only the latest incident to catch fire. The sexism seems to be embedded into the very code that allows Facebook to operate.

I wish I could end this on a hopeful note, with information on how to effectively complain, or campaign, directly to the Facebook powers that be, but unfortunately at this time, there seems to be little recourse that I can find.

Definitely keep reporting problematic content/commentary. Enlist your friends if you can. More people reporting the same comment will hopefully kick it up the chain from automation to actual human eyes.

If you get zucked for nonsense, appeal the shit out of it if you’re given the option to do so.

And keep using your outside voice every chance you get to bring attention to this prevalent problem. The women of Facebook deserve the same safe — and ostensibly equal — playing field as the poor maligned menfolk. If you can threaten to rape and murder me — which you should not be able to do, but I digress — I should be able to tell you exactly how small of a pile of trash you are without getting banned. If it’s okay for me to see just how closely you shave your ballsack, I also want to be able to see a breast exam.

Fair is fair, Facebook. Cease with your fuckery already.