facebook bans breast cancer awareness body painting projectOne of the most beautiful things I've seen all day are the photos (like the one pictured here) from the Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project. In each portrait, a breast cancer survivor poses with a brightly painted chest. The women in the pictures say that the experience has been enlightening and therapeutic, and has reignited their spirits. But unlike me and probably you, Facebook isn't a fan.

Not long after the pics were posted on the social network, they were taken down by the site. Facebook blasted the photos as pornography, citing inappropriate nudity, which is a violation of the terms of use. Gone also were the many supportive, uplifting comments that had been left under the photographs. Wow. Facebook really knows how to be a total buzzkill, huh?

Making the situation even more dismaying is the fact that the artist, Michael Colanero, who is the creator of the project, said he took care in making the images "child-safe." He elaborated:

I want them to be in oncology clinics and children's hospitals. I've gone out of my way to make them nonsexual. People come into the gallery and put their hands on the pictures, crying. They can empathize and just learn and be more aware.

Wow, that doesn't make Facebook look totally inhumane AT ALL, huh? Heh! Really, what's going on here is simply more of the same. Every so often, the site automatically takes down a photo that is completely harmless, because on the surface, it's breasts, nudity, whatever. It's almost like they've got some kind of code that is programmed to detect breasts on the site and then immediately remove the photo. Like it's not actually humans monitoring the site. Eerie!!

I don't think that's necessarily the case, but Zuck & Co. need to start showing us there really are humans behind the social network. As in, real people who can tell the difference between porn/unnecessary nudity and art. It wouldn't be that difficult. All they'd have to do is carefully consider photos like these on a case-by-case basis instead of defaulting to knee-jerk electronic censorship. Facebook is about real people connecting with one another after all, right? So why aren't the people running it showing their humanity?

Here's a video of more of the body painting if you'd like to check it out ... uncensored!

What do you think about the censorship of these photos?

 

Image via Uncommon Gallery/Splash News