Facebook has banned awareness posts that include the words ‘period,’ ‘vulva’ and ‘clitoris’ for being too sexual

Remind me again of the year. It’s 2023, right? Yet here we are talking about women’s health information being shadow-banned and the reported censorship of words such as “period” and “vulva.” I can’t be the only one who’s disappointed. Bodyform has made headlines on account of their recent social media posts being taken down. The women’s hygiene company is currently promoting its “40 Words You Can’t Say” campaign, which aims to “un-censor the language around women+’s bodies.” By way of doing this, they filmed a video where they asked members of the public to give a definition of the words that are often censored by social media platforms. But, as irony would have it, the video was reportedly removed from Facebook and Twitter within 30 minutes of it being uploaded.

On Facebook, the company says they received an automated message, notifying them of the video being taken down. They were advised that ads “must not promote sexual and reproductive health products or services” and that ads promoting such things must be “targeted to people aged 18 and over.” In response, Bodyform uploaded the video to YouTube, and simply linked to the clip in a new Facebook post. Calling out the censorship, the company wrote: “V@g!na. Vul/a. Cl!t0r!s. We didn’t want to censor these words. We wanted to post them in all their glory. But Facebook had other ideas, which proves our point entirely.”

While Bodyform was directly notified of the censorship on this occasion, albeit through an automated message, social media users are often not made aware when their content has been restricted. Shadow-banning is the term used to describe the act of hiding or limiting a user’s content, without telling them it has been done. The Atlantic refers to it as “the ‘unknown unknown’ of content moderation.”

There have long been claims that the use of certain words connected to the female body and women’s hygiene have been shadow-banned on social media. The problem has also arisen with pictures, with Facebook and Instagram, both belonging to the Meta family, coming under fire for its censorship of the female body. For years, there were mass cries to “free the nipple” after the social media platforms removed pictures showing the bare torsos of women, yet allowed shirtless pictures of men to remain on the site. In January, Meta’s advisory board advised an overhaul of the long-time controversial policy. They found that the rules were “unclear” as the existing policy was based “on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies.”

While this was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, recent occurrences of censorship and shadow-banning have shown that we’ve still got an awfully long way to go. It’s draconian to think that people shouldn’t use words such as “vulva.” Even medical conditions such as “endometriosis” are reportedly being censored. The very act of limiting our speech on these topics promotes shame and embarrassment. In reality, there’s nothing to feel shameful about when it comes to discussing the bodies and hygiene of women+ persons. As Bodyform rightly points out, “menstrual health shouldn’t be censored. It makes important subjects, that are already taboo, almost impossible to talk about.” And if we can’t talk about important medical conditions or share our experiences, then that could well lead to mass misinformation, people not seeking help when they need it, and conditions going undiagnosed.

We should be encouraged to talk about these things in an open and honest fashion. Surely it’s time for social media platforms to recognise that people need a safe space for such conversations? In the meantime, it’s up to us to ensure we keep talking about the important topics surrounding women’s health, bodies, and wellbeing. If our words are shadow-banned, then we’ll just have to repeat ourselves. And by repeat, I mean repost. Let’s shout about it from the virtual rooftops if we have to.

GLAMOUR has reached out to Bodyform and Meta for comment.