Facebook and Nudity

I posted a video on Facebook about the ethnic group Jarawa. This is a small (2-300 persons) indigenous people that live on Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Burma (Jarawas (Andaman Islands) n.d). This people are of interest to me, partly because of my profession as an anthropologist with specific interest in indigenous peoples, and partly because I have worked on Andaman Islands.

And what happens? Facebook determines, in all its wisdom, that the video is in violation of their "Community Standards on nudity or sexual activity". Sure, the video shows lots of nakedness, even stark-naked people, because this is the way that the Jarawa "dressed" at the time. But there is a huge difference between this and pornography! And Facebook's definition of "sexual activity" is simply hilarious.

Nifty title, this "Community Standard". It implies that we – the members of the global Facebook community – have made it, when in fact it is Facebook's standard only, reflecting the unique American double-standard view on sex and nudity. That this American view is made to apply to the whole world is not acceptable.

Lars T Soeftestad

Notes
(1) Adapted from a Facebook post on 25 June 2018.
(2) Information about when the video was shot and by whom is not available. It is certainly several years old. While the footage may be ok, the cutting is very bad.
(3) The Jarawa today wear mostly Western cloths, and are largely – learned by experience – more or less hostile towards outsiders. Further information about the Jarawa is available.
(4) Image credit: From the first expedition to the Andaman Nicobar Islands Jarawa (see Sources).
(5) Permalink. URL: https://devblog.no/en/article/facebook-and-nudity
(6) This article was published 25 June 2018.

Sources
Jarawas (Andaman islands). n.d. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarawas_(Andaman_Islands)
The first expedition to Andaman Nicobar Islands Jarawa." n.d. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6t0ulGsFQc&feature=youtu.be&a