The Sunday News
FACEBOOK has removed pictures of young South African women in traditional regalia showing breasts, labelling it nudity.
After the Indoni cultural festival posted pictures of some of their participants on Facebook, all their posts that had women without bras were unpublished.
“Facebook said the pictures were not in line with their publishing rights, (and that) our pictures depicted nudity,” said project manager Lungile Manyathi.
The finalists were posted in their different traditional attire, some with their breasts uncovered.
Facebook removed the pictures, saying the publishing of the pictures did not meet the standards of their platform.
Cultural expert and seasoned sculptor Professor Pitika Ntuli has since slammed Facebook, saying it should respect their users’ cultures. “Facebook creators should take into consideration that users are from different walks of life.
“In Western culture, showing breasts means pornography while in African cultures that is a sign of honouring tradition,” said Ntuli.
He said there should be a discussion on how we treat one another’s cultures in the world. “Since we are so different, the Facebook regulations should not apply to Westerns only. They should respect our cultures. If the creators look at how Western women hardly wear anything, they would not insult our cultures like this.”
Facebook also suspended the profile of Venda finalist Tendamudzimu Munyai.
Speaking to Sunday World, Munyai said she was disappointed that “showing my identity and the pride of my heritage is seen as violation (of Facebook standards)”.
“I was not doing anything bad. Out of excitement, I was just showing people how proud I’m of my culture.”
Munyai said she currently cannot access her Facebook profile because it has been taken down.
“I was told that my pictures were deleted and that I can only access my account after 30 days. I’m really disappointed because I won’t be able to share my pictures from the festival.”
SOME FACTS
The festival was established in 2011 by Dr Nomcebo Mthembu.
It is aimed at promoting African heritage.
In 2014, TV personality Minnie Dlamini’s picture wearing Zulu traditional attire went viral on social media. — Sundayworld.
