My message to facebook regarding sexist videos

So. I reported to facebook the three videos I talked about this morning.

None of them has been removed. Apparently they don't breach community standards.

I was quite frankly very upset at this. So I have written a message to facebook, asking to review this decision... and some more as well. Please see below (first in italian, then in english).

"Buongiorno,

Premetto che il mio reclamo non ha esattamente a che vedere con i video, nel senso che non riguarda problemi nell'upload né nella riproduzione di video.

Non ho trovato però un "prodotto" che si adattasse a ciò che volevo dire e perció ho scelto questa categoria.

Oggi infatti ho segnalato 3 video perché estremamente offensivi, segnalazioni che sono state sistematicamente respinte.

Ovviamente capisco che non tutte le segnalazioni possano essere accettate, ma ritengo che i video da me segnalati non siano stati esaminati con la dovuta attenzione.

Infatti, tanto per incominciare, quando si segnala un contenuto inadeguato o offensivo, non esiste una categoria che si adegui al contenuto di quei video: ciò però non significa che tali video non siano offensivi e inadeguati. Non vi è infatti una categoria che faccia riferimento al sessismo e/o alla denigrazione delle donne. Ma non è forse questa una problematica tanto importante quanto il razzismo e l'omofobia? Non è forse possibile essere offensivi e discriminanti senza ricorrere alla violenza e/o al nudo integrale?

Sono certa che abbiate un modo per vedere i video da me segnalati, ma in ogni caso vi riporto qui i link agli stessi video pubblicati su youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDuxFSpwj0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5mMRiiCwak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa4QsdbuFSI

Vi chiederei gentilmente di guardare e esaminare con attenzione questi video e non di considerarli semplici scherzi, battute... perché non lo sono: sono dei veri e propri insulti alla femminilità.

Il primo video usa delle donne come ignari oggetti sessuali. È, in un certo senso, una forma di stupro.

ll secondo usa violenza sulle donne, le rende oggetti e le utilizza a scopo di intrattenimento.

Il terzo spinge sugli stereotipi e crea un'immagine femminile denigrante.

Mi spiace, ma non ho intenzione di sorvolare sulla questione, poiché a me pare molto grave.

Richiedo che vengano prese delle misure serie riguardo non solo questi 3 video da me riportati, ma riguardo ogni manifestazione simile.

Chiedo che venga aggiunta una sezione adeguata per riportare questo genere di insulto e di offesa.

Esigo che i problemi legati alla discriminazione femminile e alla trasformazione delle donne in oggetti (sessuali e non) vengano presi seriamente.

Cordiali saluti"

"Good morning,

As a premise, please note that my complaint is not strictly related to videos, as it has nothing to do with upload or streaming problems.

However I couldn't find the adequate "product" for what I had to say, so I chose this category.

As a matter of fact, today I reported 3 extremely offensive videos, but my reports have been systematically rejected.

Of course I understand that not all reports can be accepted, but I believe that the videos I reported have not been examined with enough attention.

As a matter of fact, to begin with when reporting inadequate and/or offensive content, there is no section which matches the content of those videos: however that doesn't mean that those videos aren't inadequate and offensive. For instance, there is no section which refers to sexism and/or denigration of women. Isn't that a problem as important as racism and homophobia? Isn't it possible to be offended and discriminated without use of violence or nude?

I am sure you have a way to see the videos I reported, but let me link here the same videos found on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDuxFSpwj0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5mMRiiCwak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa4QsdbuFSI

I kindly ask you to watch and examine these videosattentively  and not to consider them mere jokes/pranks... because they are not: they are truly insults to femininity.

The first video uses women as unwilling sexual objects. It is, somehow, a form of rape.

The second video uses violence on women, it transforms them in objects and uses them for entertainment.

The third vido pushes on stereotypes and creates a denigrating image of women.

Sorry, I have no intention of letting go because I believe this situation to be very serious.

I request serious measures to be taken not only regarding these 3 videos, but regarding all contents of this sort.

I ask that an appropriate section may be added in order to report thhis kind of offense and insult.

I demand that problems related to female discrimination and objectification of women (whether it's sexual or not) may be taken seriously.

Kind regards"

Why I need feminism #4

...and anything which disriminates and/or degrades anyone and/or any group of people, should not be considered FUNNY! It's insulting, disrespectful and painful.

Sexist videos... and why they ARE NOT funny

Today, as I do most mornings, I woke up and went through my facebook home page.

While doing so, I found that one of my contacts had shared the following three videos:

Free sex prank

Bottom percussion

Shii, the Wii for women

... what a great way to start my day! Now I feel extremely irritated and offended.

What all three videos have in common is sexism.

The first one, Free sex prank, is actually borderline rape. Women become unaware participants in some sort of porn video. To call that a prank trivializes the serious disregard it shows towards women, their wishes, their integrity and their sexuality.

The second one, Bottom percussion, objectifies women to the extreme and makes violence on them seem right - it's ok to smack women's butts since they sound like music! So basically women aren't seen as whole human beings, but rather as just as an assembly of parts that you can use for your own pleasure and entertainment.

As for the third, Shii the Wii for women, though one might see it as a simple joke, it quite honestly isn't. And if it is, then it's at any rate a sexist, irrespectful joke that should not be allowed and which should most definitely not provoke laughter. It makes stereotypes look like something trivial, it makes women's issues look like jokes and it perpetrueates an extremely discriminating image of women. And in the last part of the video, women are sexualised one again: basically it makes it quite clear that doing sexual services to men is a "woman's task", just like ironing and cooking OF COURSE.

Imagine these same videos featuring people of colour. They would be seen as racist, as insults, as socially unacceptable.

So why are these videos treated as mere funny jokes?

I'm appalled.

Gender Equality Pills is now on Twitter!

You can follow day by day my 365 reasons for needing feminism on Twitter!
https://twitter.com/G_EqualityPills

Why I need feminism #3

Shouldn't we all be free to wear whatever we want without worrying about "provoking" somebody and fear for our own safety?

This way of thinking transfers part of the responsibility from the rapist to the victim ("she was wearing a mini skirt at night in the street... she was looking for it"). How unfair is that?!

Why I need feminism #2

Apparently arguing back when you disagree with somebody isn't feminine and it would also seem that no man would want a girlfriend who doesn't always agree with him... at least according to this guy.

Why I NEED feminism - Why THE WORLD does

Have you heard of the "I don't need feminism" movement?

If you don't know about it, have a look:

http://why-we-dont-need-feminism.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/idontneedfeminismbecause

There are quite a few people out there who disagree with feminsm (that's no news, really), and many people who not only disagree but are actually completely against it. Fair enough, we are all entitled to have our own opinions. But whether these opinions will be respected and pondered upon or simply cast aside as b*****it, well, that depends on the arguments that are behind them.

So I decided to have a look at this movement in order to be able to express a matured and reasoned opinion.

And guess what? It's just as I expected.

Most of the reasons given for not needing feminism are the following:

-I don't hate men, so I don't need feminism

-I like being sexy, so I don't need feminism

-I feel like I'm being treated equally, so I don't need feminism

-I'm a man, so I don't need feminism

-I'm a man and I don't hate women, so men don't hate women, so we don't need feminism

-Women harrass men too, so I don't need feminism

-I don't believe that women are better than men, so I don't need feminism

-I like doing housechores, so I don't need feminism

-I like to be treated like a princess, so I don't need feminism

-I know how to take a compliment, so I don't need feminism

..There are several others, but just to give you an idea, that's more or less what most entries say.

Well.

Fisrt of all, this shows how most people don't really know what feminism is about.

Feminism isn't about placing women before men or believing that only women have issues.

Feminism is about believing that there should be no differences in the way women and men are treated: ALL SHOULD BE RESPECTED AND TREATED FAIRLY. Which quite frankly doesn't happen.

If you have never felt this inequality on your own skin, look around you and see how many do. Because you are fine (and lucky), it doesn't mean that everybody else is, so saying that you don't need feminism because you are being treated fairly is pretty much an egoistic point of view.

Besides, pardon me, but I don't believe that there is any woman out there who has never been treated differently just because she is female - maybe there are just many women who don't pay attention to certain details, like difference in wages or jokes made.

If you like being sexy and being told so, that's perfectly fine. But are you happy with people thinking that that's either your only value or your most important characteristic? You are? Well, fine. But are you happy when you have a hard time finding somebody who doesn't just want to have sex with you? Are you satisfied when you're being "used" once and then cast aside? Are you ok with not being asked what you would like, with giving pleasure to your partner but not feeling that he does the same for you? Hum.

Of course this doesn't always happen, it's not always the case, there are many many men who don't see women that way. But if you look at the amount of female nudes and porn aimed at men that you can find out there, the amount of images and entertainment material which treats women as mere sexual objects, you'll realise that there are many people out there who do see women as just that: sexual objects.

If you are fine with that, well, what can I say? Congrats.

However the point is, women who wish to be seen as more than just that should have the right to be seen as such.

And we all know perfectly well that not all men are sexist, that not all men despise women, that not all men treat them as objects and not all men hurt them. Thank God there are many men out there who treat women well! But there are still quite a few men who hit and rape women. And the real point is, those aren't the only unfair things a man can do to a woman. It can be requests, expectations, words, even looks.

Often it's not even men who are sexist towards women, but women towards other women. And I suppose that that's caused by many women thinking of certain attitudes as normal, and they reproduce those behaviours because they just don't stop and think about the real reasons and meanings behind them. Where does your hatred for different body tipes come from? Why do you expect all women to shave? ...

Another important point is, being a feminist doesn't mean that you are against make-up, against fashion, agaisnt house-chores, against marriage, or against motherhood. It simply means that you believe that any woman should have a right to choose for herself about these things. A woman shouldn't feel uncomfortable going shopping without any make-up on, she shouldn´t feel ashamed of going to the beach unshaved, she shouldn't feel that if she remains unmarried she will always be on the edge of society and she certainly shouldn't feel that she needs to be a mother in order to have society percieve her as a fulfilled human being.

It's hard to get past these expectations that are so much embedded in our societies and ways of thinking. It's hard to free yourself from them and actually make your own choices, decide whether to wear make-up because you feel like and not because you should or whether you'd rather just not wear any. Of course this sounds trivial, but it's just the bottom line example of a ladder of compelled choices we make.

It's not like by being a feminist you are automatically free from these choices, by the way. I myself am a feminist but can't bring myself not to care about what people will think if I wear shorts without shaving. Being able to make certain choices (from the most trivial up to the most vital) is not just a matter of what you believe in, but also a matter of what the society you live in is like.

Based on all these considerations, I have come to the conclusion that I need to do something against a movement which basically is against choice and respect.

So what I've decided to do (and I hope I will keep it up), is to post a selfie every day with one reason that I have for being a feminist. Starting today.