Censorship of the arts: facebook and Instagram

It is no secret that facebook and Instagram have taken measures to censor male nudity, and has specific guidelines on what is considered permissible within their community standards. I might think it was fine if it wasn’t for seeing many images of women, entirely nude showing their genitals and having their nipples ‘covered’ with 2 Xes or stars. Yes, these are beautiful images of women, yet very much nude. Meanwhile, on my @theasianmale IG, I have my images pulled down within seconds of posting a grid of my nude photography. Yes, there is a double standard.

On facebook, I was banned for 7 days for posting a similar image of 2 guys embracing one another on a LGBT Artist group. Not only could I not post, comment or like on my personal profile, I also could not do anything on my Pages. I was frozen not able to do anything. This has been for many years, and I try to tread carefully by not showing any genitals. Now, I cannot advertise on facebook or Instagram. I have another photographer who has faced the same issues and was blocked for 30 days from posting.

Facebook for me offers the best place for interaction with my friends and fans, who are in my database of collectors. We interact and discuss on Messenger. It has affected my business and my belief that artists such as myself have limited channels to disseminate my work.

I know Linkedin is a place where people are in business, and maybe posting this rant might not be a place for this, but for me, art is my business and social media is vital, but this censorship is slowly suffocating me and others that have no ill intention but to showcase the beauty of the human male body, which is a part of our very nature and being.