Facebook had suspended and disabled my account for posting The Culture of Real Indonesian Women as they deemed as “nudity” and “sexually explicit”. Since I posted the album it had gone viral in the last 24 hours with almost 3000 shares. But then Facebook have decided to shut down my account and offered me to write an appeal if I want to get my account back. They shut my account down around 7 p.m. (Indonesian time). I finally wrote back the appeal and submitted at 12 a.m. Here is the appeal:

In the midst of the over censorship done by the Indonesian Broadcasting Committee towards Indonesian Beauty Pageant contestants regarding the appearance of cleavage and legs on national TV, I have decided to make a critic towards the statement of certain elite that states: “it is to protect traditional Indonesian culture”, but whose culture our we protecting?

As a fully Javanese bred of Indonesian culture, I have decided to search for my roots in order to seek whether this statement is right. So I Googled to see how women in the past used to dress in the culture using the keyword: Indonesian Women Old Photos. And that is when I found the pictures of The Culture of Real Indonesian Women.

I saw the historical photos that I have collected this far as a valuable aspect of Indonesian history. And it does not contrived as pornographic, obscene, or scandalous photography rather than as an aspect of history that could help the society to contemplate more on the over sexualization of women’s bodies. That is when I realized that this is important for me to share and to educate the public towards this issue.

I understand that Facebook has the right to enforce its policy to keep Facebook a safe place to socialize. But I also understand that Facebook is also a tool to educate people and be a safe space for discussion towards better understanding of the society in order to create a massive impact.

If Facebook can be a supporter towards the rights of LGBTQ individuals, then I believe it can be a supporter of women’s rights as it is also well known for its equality policy in the working environment. If “man breasts” are considered to be normal, and other male users can post selfies after their work out session exposing their bare chested nipples, how is it considered sexually explicit to upload pictures of Indonesian women in the past society where the picture was taken within their normal daily life? There shouldn’t be an intimidation towards individuals who is genuinely eager to educate the public with Indonesian history. Some of these pictures are also found in Facebook groups that focuses on the photographs of Indonesian History, but why aren’t they shut down too?

By any circumstances, I have decided to agree that Facebook might not be the safest place to those who are interested in sharing and educating the public of the Culture of Real Indonesian Women.

So, I, hereby ask Facebook to reactivate my account, and in return I will also take down the album and make it invisible in the public eye.

Facebook have yet to review my appeal. In the meantime, Asian Correspondent had made it into the headlines in their website. Click here to view full article.