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Facebook Censors 30,000 year-old Venus of Willendorf as 'Pornographic'
The Art Newspaper ^ | 27th February 2018 | Aimee Dawson

Posted on 02/27/2018 10:06:05 PM PST by nickcarraway

Nude statue is latest artwork to be deemed inappropriate by social media giant

Cases of art censorship on Facebook continue to surface. The latest work deemed “pornographic” is the 30,000 year-old nude statue famously known as the Venus of Willendorf, part of the Naturhistorisches Museum (NHM) collection in Vienna. An image of the work posted on Facebook by Laura Ghianda, a self-described “artivist”, was removed as inappropriate content despite four attempts to appeal the decision.

The early Stone Age statue, which depicts a voluptuous woman with prominent labia, was discovered in Austria in 1908 and is famed for its detailed carving and realism. Ghianda’s post denouncing Facebook’s censorship in December last year was shared over 7,000 times.

A case on Facebook’s censorship of art was heard in a Paris court earlier this month. Frédéric Durand-Baïssas, a French teacher, has been trying to sue the social media giant since 2011 for closing his account after he posted a photograph of Gustave Courbet’s 1866 painting L’Origine du monde (Origin of the World), a realistic depiction of a woman’s genitals. Despite Facebook changing its policy on nudity to allow “photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures”, instances of art censorship persist.

The NHM reacted to Ghianda’s Facebook post in January, requesting that Facebook allow the Venus to remain naked. “There has never been a complaint by visitors concerning the nakedness of the figurine,” says Christian Koeberl, the director general of NHM. “There is no reason […] to cover the Venus of Willendorf and hide her nudity, neither in the museum nor on social media.”


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Computers/Internet; Education
KEYWORDS: facebook; godsgravesglyphs; lauraghianda; venusofwillendorf
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To: nickcarraway

Fat shaming. Seriously, I’ve seen lots of stuff on FB that would be called pornographic in many circles. Usually hot women, though.


21 posted on 02/28/2018 1:45:21 AM PST by gundog (Hail to the Chief, bitches.)
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To: Darksheare

Don’t miss PewDiePie’s latest where he just completely EXCORIATES her in his tongue-in-cheek, completely nice manner.

https://youtu.be/9AemOdm8LrU

And if you don’t know who PewDiePie is, you should. This guy has 60million+ followers on YouTube, that vid has already been watched 3 million plus times. Huge following of millennials and post-millennials. And he says enough politically incorrect stuff many expect YouTube to ban or demonetize him any minute now. He could literally be part of the core around which a true YouTube alternative could be built.

He’s quite an interesting cultural phenomenon. Got his following as a video game commentator/reviewer/player, but he goes well beyond that now.


22 posted on 02/28/2018 3:58:38 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: nickcarraway

I’m honestly a little surprised a 30,000 old hunter/gatherer could be so successful as to be obese.

Whodathunk?


23 posted on 02/28/2018 4:26:07 AM PST by BBQToadRibs
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To: nickcarraway

I know it when I see it and that ain’t it. Facebook has become one of those places that nobody goes to anymore because it’s too crowded.


24 posted on 02/28/2018 4:45:30 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: FreedomPoster

He’s still completely unwatchable.

The editing was done by a murderer who just got done murdering is coming down off the high / up from the low or whatever. But I used to describe this as “What it’s like to be a high-functioning Aspy” but now I think it’s worse than that.

Even if he has something good to say, the way he says it is just intolerable.


25 posted on 02/28/2018 5:54:30 AM PST by Celerity
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To: BBQToadRibs

I’m honestly a little surprised a 30,000 old hunter/gatherer could be so successful as to be obese.

Whodathunk?
___________________________________

This was a “goddess” as in what they worshiped and HOPED for... You know to carry on the species.

No different than having our recent gods walking on water or creating wine from water... Crazy, huh??


26 posted on 02/28/2018 6:06:26 AM PST by HypatiaTaught (Whatever's good for your soul, do it.)
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To: sparklite2

Reality TV Family Circus?


27 posted on 02/28/2018 6:09:21 AM PST by dangus (.)
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To: nickcarraway

I’d hate to see Uranis of Willendorf!


28 posted on 02/28/2018 6:10:10 AM PST by dangus (.)
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To: nickcarraway

Hmmm... I think I saw her at Walmart.


29 posted on 02/28/2018 6:33:21 AM PST by super7man (Madam Defarge, knitting, knitting, always knitting)
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To: HypatiaTaught

I don’t think that she’s obese, I think that she’s pregnant.


30 posted on 02/28/2018 7:06:02 AM PST by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: ZULU
Possibly, because the guy who carved it looked like this.

31 posted on 02/28/2018 7:27:27 AM PST by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: Jemian
"Why do people Facebook?"

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin once said something along the lines of, I imagined we would have colonies on Mars by now but we have facebook instead.

32 posted on 02/28/2018 7:30:18 AM PST by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: jmcenanly

Wait wait wait: Where is the “prominent labia” is was promised?

Asking for a friend.


33 posted on 02/28/2018 7:57:49 AM PST by T-Bone Texan
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To: jmcenanly

I don’t think that she’s obese, I think that she’s pregnant.
_______________________________________

I never said this, the person I replied to said this.

But being pregnant and “well fed” is something our ancient ancestors WORSHIPED.

After all, the leading cause of death then was not enough food and not enough offspring... MAKE SENSE no?


34 posted on 02/28/2018 8:39:08 AM PST by HypatiaTaught (Whatever's good for your soul, do it.)
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To: MilesVeritatis
“Chaucer, Rabelais, Balzac!”

"Watch your phraseology, young lady!"

35 posted on 02/28/2018 10:39:25 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Perhaps we should care less about who we may offend and care more about who we may inspire.)
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To: nickcarraway

Facebook is the digital Taliban.


36 posted on 02/28/2018 11:05:03 AM PST by Rebelbase ( Hillary, DNC, DOJ and FBI colluded with a British National to influence the 2016 Pres. election)
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To: a fool in paradise

Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix. I have a VHS of it somewhere. Don’t remember the sculpture.


37 posted on 02/28/2018 11:08:09 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: a fool in paradise

Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix. I have a VHS of it somewhere. Don’t remember the sculpture.


38 posted on 02/28/2018 11:08:45 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: a fool in paradise

39 posted on 02/28/2018 11:09:02 AM PST by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkeys)
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To: FreedomPoster

I thought PewDiePie lost all his sponsorships because of anti-semitism?


40 posted on 02/28/2018 11:12:05 AM PST by nickcarraway
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