#notfunnyfacebook

By Hannah Gordon
6

How would you react if a man approached you at a party and asked, “What’s 10 inches and gets girls to have sex with me… My knife!”? Most would be horrified by this “joke” and I would personally regard the comment as hateful and threatening. Facebook apparently does not agree though. That comment is the title of a real page on Facebook. It seemingly violates the Facebook Terms of Service which bars any content that is hateful or threatening. So why won’t Facebook take this and similar pages down?

Under Section 3 of Facebook’s Terms of Service, the section titled “Safety”, the seventh item lists, “You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.” Pages with titles such as “I know a silly little bitch that needs a good slap” and “’We’re gonna have sex tonight’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because im stronger than you are’” are clearly threatening and allude to inciting violence. Still, Facebook refuses to take these pages down.

Today is a Day of Action against Facebook’s Rape Pages. A petition started by a member of change.org urges Facebook to take action and has over 180,000 signatures. Help us tell Facebook that these pages are unacceptable by signing the petition, blogging, and tweeting the names of these offensive pages at Facebook with the hashtag #notfunnyfacebook. The names and content found on these pages is a threat to women everywhere and Facebook needs to recognize this. The petition encourages Facebook to not only take these pages down, but also to include in their Terms of Service language that prohibits the creation of future pages that encourage violence against women. Facebook must take action to stop these hateful pages and prevent these pages from reappearing.

At this point, Facebook remains committed to keeping up these offensive and hateful pages. The company has even said “It is very important to point out that what one person finds offensive another can find entertaining – just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook.” I would hope that if I was in my local pub and a man went around telling these “jokes” to girls, he would in fact get kicked out. I signed the petition to let Facebook know about this. Now it’s your turn.

6 comments

  1. I think it is deplorable of facebook to allow groups and pages like this to continue! Thanks for starting this petition, they may be able to silence one voice but not thousands!

  2. I want that crap off facebook. My vagina is not a joke, my strength is not a joke, my life is not a joke. Fuck anyone who thinks the rape of my body is funny.

  3. I was molested as a child and the things I struggle with still on a daily basis because of something that was done to me against my will are NOT something that can be excused as a joke in poor taste. If these people are naming their facebook pages with these titles, I can guarantee they have either comitted the acts associated with the title of their pages or know people who have and are just as guilty as if they have done it themselves! You should be a shamed facebook for allowing such trash pages to still remain up on FB!!

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