I am protesting

This is from a social media post that I shared in May 2019. The post went viral and then was taken down:

Hey Facebook/IG. I noticed your community guidelines are awfully specific about when my naked body is appropriate and when it is not. ⁣

I noticed that my nipples are appropriate when they are an act of protest, specifically.⁣

I also noticed you deem them appropriate if they are being used to feed a baby, or if I have breast cancer. But not any other time?⁣

Well, I am protesting. ⁣

I am protesting that society deems my body to be sexual when I am not doing anything sexual with it. ⁣

I am protesting that my boyfriend can lie outside in the park with his shirt off and I cannot. ⁣

I am protesting that lawmakers continue to take ownership of my body. In a country where we are supposed to be “free.”⁣

I am protesting that we have a president who would assault me if he could. ⁣

I am protesting that your guidelines don’t make any sense. ⁣

I am protesting that you think my nipples are inherently sexual. ⁣

I am protesting that everybody seems to think they get a say about what I can and cannot do with my own body. ⁣

I hope you leave this photo up. Your guidelines are very specific, as I mentioned:⁣

“Where such intent is clear… we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest.” ⁣

“We understand that nudity can be shared for a variety of reasons, including as a form of protest, to raise awareness about a cause…”⁣

I think that abortion bans are toward the top of a pyramid whose base is made up with cat-calling and my nipples being deemed too sexual to show in public. ⁣

I am protesting. I demand the same rights as men.

 

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Sometimes I think about how women were considered property not even 200 years ago

They have told you to hide it

They will tell you you are unclean

The way you have been taught to feel is wrong

I’m fucking tired of the world telling me I can’t have pleasure