Not really sex because sexual abuse is about power, not sex. Facebook has been skittish about such matters as breast-feeding and mastectomies, not allowing pictures about them. On the other hand, posts, pictures, and jokes about sexual abuse and rape have been just fine. That has changed—not due to a newly grown corporate conscience but to women’s groups who knew how to fight this use of violence against women as entertainment. They went to Facebook‘s advertisers and complained. Advertisers put on the pressure, and now Facebook has enacted a new policy. That is, if you choose to post something that is cruel or insensitive, you must honestly identify who you are. This ensures your free speech while filtering out such “witticisms” as the picture (I won’t describe it) with the caption “This is why Indian girls get raped.”
Putting on my cynic’s hat, though, I can see a bunch of ways around this. For example, most of us know someone who signed up under a false name, and Facebook isn’t wise to it. Friends know who those people are—the friends that he plays to in his posts. No problem, then, giving his “true” identity and posting all the garbage he wants.
But this IS a step in the right direction. I’ll go online, find the Facebook posting about this, and punch “Like,” just to let the corporation know we’re out here watching them.
