Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Facebook censors breast cancer Survivors

There is a terrible injustice that is happening to a group of courageous breast cancer Survivors... Myself included. 

We are a group of courageous women... We are breast cancer Survivors. We have all joyfully participated in an amazing project... The Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project (BCABPP), spearheaded by Michael Colanero. Each of our images tell our unique stories. The artwork beautifies our battle scars. We embody hope, and we strive to inspire hope to all people who have been impacted by is horrible disease. If you were to ask any of us, we would all say that this project and Michael have been instrumental in our healing process. Sadly, Facebook is censoring us. They are systematically deleting our beautiful images from the BCABPP page. They call it porn. We have all fought difficult battles, and for many of us the battles may never end. I am personally hurt and offended to be judged as pornographic. Our images are meant to spread awareness and hope... We hope that our images will let others suffering from this horrible disease know that they are not alone. Worse, the images that have been deleted had comments attached to them. Those comments were wonderful. Many were from other women suffering with breast cancer expressing how the images gave them hope and courage. The models/Survivors had responded to these comments, and a dialogue had begun. Now all the comments are gone too. This project is continuously evolving... We are becoming a network; a worldwide sisterhood of Survivors. 

My image is called Stardust. I wanted my image to center around the Cosmos.  I believe that the Universe is elegantly simple, and I believe that every one of us has a place here... A job to do... A reason for existing. I find the Cosmos infinitely beautiful, and this image is a constant reminder that cancer could not steal my beauty nor tarnish my soul. I decided to participate in this project because I wanted to share this message of hope. What I didn't realize when I made that decision was that this project would heal some of my own wounds. 

I can't tell you how it felt to be a part of this project. It truly helped me heal. After mastectomy, I felt ugly and un-feminine. As I watched my battle worn and scarred transform into a work of art, I reclaimed my strength and beauty. I watched myself transform from a breast cancer patient to a Survivor.

Now we have a second cause. We have an online petition to stop Facebook from it's unjust censoring of our images (link:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bcabpp---breast-cancer-awareness-body-painting-project/).  We find it ironic (and sickening) that offensive images and pages are all over Facebook, yet Facebook censors our beautiful Survivor art. Case in point: check out the Facebook page for "Girls Gone Wild" (http://www.facebook.com/GirlsGoneWild?ref=ts). This page, and everything it embodies violates Facebook's terms of use and is chock full of explicit and offensive images as well as words.

Today there is a new wrinkle to this story. Here is where my simmering anger begins to boil over. It took two months and 186,000 signatures on a petition delivered to Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook to remove a pro-rape page! Facebook defended a PRO RAPE page and yet they censored our beautiful Survivor art?! Why is Facebook defending RAPISTS and silencing Survivors?! Is Facebook waging a war on women? It certainly appears so. This is outrageous!!

This isn't the first time Facebook has censored unjustly. It has happened in the past to other groups. In those cases, Facebook restored images and comments, and they issued an apology. We expect no less. Our project Founder, Michael Colanero has done everything he can to contact Facebook to no avail. He gets only silence in return. His messages and requests for help go into a black hole.

What Facebook is doing to the BCABPP is insulting... They've taken something wonderful and beautiful, and they've called it porn. And yet... Real porn pages run rampant on Facebook. We are not porn. We are Survivors, and we have a voice! The Survivors who modeled for this project feel angry, insulted, offended and hurt. 

The media has already begun to pick up this story. It has been on the online newspaper sites in Orlando, Palm Beach, Kansas, Fargo, Southern Illinois, and St. Louis. That's just within the USA. It has also been picked up in India, The U.K., Denmark, Australia and Norway. So far, one television station has run a story - I was interviewed by WKMG TV Orlando (CBS local affiliate) on November 1st, and the story with my interview ran that night on the 11:00 news. Yesterday, the esteemed Huffington Post covered our story as well (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/breast-cancer-body-painti_n_1074725.html?show_comment_id=0#comment_0).

I am asking you, On behalf of the BCABPP, please support our cause.

Breasts are not offensive. Breast cancer IS.

Sincerely,
Melanie (a.k.a. Stardust)

http://community.omtimes.com/profiles/blogs/om-times-streetteam-nov-2011-a-story-of-censored-hope

Petition Site
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bcabpp---breast-cancer-awareness-body-painting-project/

Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project (BCABPP)
A Fine Art & Photography Essay of Survivors 

Please visit and shop for fundraising merchandise at the link below: 
(100% of profits from these products are donated).
http://www.cafepress.com/BCABPP

Please come "Like" and "SHARE" our group page on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/BCABPP 

Follow the project on:
http://www.youtube.com/BCABPP and http://www.twitter.com/BCABPP

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