SOLVED! Why has Facebook banned MyVagina.com, but not MyPenis.com?

Two websites walk into a bar. MyPenis.com is selling porn advertising, while MyVagina.com is helping everyone understand vaginas better. Guess which one Facebook bans?You got it.

UPDATE: Facebook has unblocked My Vagina! Thank you for all your support! 

GLOBAL, 23 April 2018 – MyVagina.com, the world’s greatest vaginal resource, is inexplicably banned by Facebook, the world’s biggest online publisher, from using the platform and users sharing information with MyVagina.com in the URL. Meanwhile, MyPenis.com has no such restrictions. My Vagina is dedicated to revolutionising the way vaginas are treated, but how can we do this when we are being blocked? No other site has blocked My Vagina. Just Facebook. 

Blatant sexism or something else?

Facebook is, through their actions, reiterating to women and young girls the false belief that vaginas are something to be embarrassed about by banning many URLs that contain the word ‘vagina’, while not banning those that contain the word ‘penis’, including MyPenis.com (not a reputable site nor even a real website by many standards) or pornhub.com. Try it. See just how far Facebook has gone to block My Vagina. 

Loose ‘Community Standards’

Facebook says, “We’ve removed this post because it looks like spam and doesn’t follow our Community Standards.” What standards are those, exactly, Facebook?Dan Bilzerian has 12 million likes, and he only posts about guns and naked women, and links to the the popular porn site, pornhub.com, are A-OK – is this how low the bar is for Community Standards, Facebook?Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a speech that Facebook “stands for bringing us closer together and building a global community”, and the company said it wants to achieve this by “fostering an environment where everyone can openly discuss issues and express their views, while respecting the rights of others.” Facebook acknowledge that sometimes this will involve the posting of controversial topics and content, however a ban on My Vagina seems not only controversial and disrespectful, but plain old sexist.

_____

Facebook said: “The content you’re trying to share includes a link that our security systems detected to be unsafe: myvagina.com” 

_____

Unsafe for whom, exactly?

What is MyVagina.com?

MyVagina.com is a site dedicated to educating everyone about vaginas, whether that be offering tips on how to fumble your way through a first time without damage, how to clean up the mess left by bacterial vaginosis, or how to care for your child’s body.

The qualified, experienced vulvovaginal specialist naturopaths at My Vagina offer both traditional western medical and naturopathic perspectives on vulvovaginal health and disease in easy-reading explanations, how-to guides, and treatment programs.

Over 8,000 people a day visit My Vagina for advice they are too embarrassed to ask for elsewhere, in part due to entrenched prejudice against women. The name MyVagina.com looks to remove the stigma that Facebook and other misogynistic corners of society perpetuate. 

The ways My Vagina has been banned

• Our URL MyVagina.com is completely banned on the entire platform
• Posts made in the past are hidden and blocked, confusing and alarming people who share our site links
• Our Facebook page URL can’t include the word ‘vagina’
• Facebook messages are blocked if they contain any URL from MyVagina.com
• People cannot share our information with friends and family on Facebook
• We cannot add the convenient Facebook social login to our free support sections for bacterial vaginosis (BV) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Don’t let Facebook block My Vagina!

While obviously you can’t share this on Facebook (yet), you can support MyVagina.com by sharing a link on other, friendlier platforms, and writing to Facebook to protest their blatant sexism.