Facebook censored this woman for writing about periods

Feminist blogger Alaura Weaver, a.k.a. “Bad-Ass Motherblogger,” recently finished hours of research and writing about the history of menstrual hygiene. She shared on her blog that her studies had resulted in so much material that it couldn’t be detailed in just one post – it would require a series. Sounds awesome, right?

Apparently Facebook didn’t think so. When Alaura tried boosting her link on her blog’s Facebook page – which essentially means paying money to reach a wider audience – her request was denied on grounds that the site does not allow ads for adult products. When she appealed, arguing that her post about the origins of pads and tampons is in no way sexual, Facebook claimed that the thumbnail photo of an 18th century painting of women bathing in her ad showed “excessive nudity.”

Eager to get her research on the history of menstrual hygiene out into the world, Alaura simply changed the image to a print of a female Greek scholar and philosopher being dragged through Alexandria, “cuz violence to women is so much less offensive than women bathing,” she said on Reddit. Facebook again rejected her post.