Opinion 51

Censorship and algorithms

There are many injustices that as a girl and as a woman I had to go through in the 80's and 90's that no longer exist or that have improved over time thanks to the feminist struggle.

By Diana J. Torres

Censorship has haunted me all my life because I have never been apt for restraint and discretion, and we know that this repressive society does not like it when we leave the fold.

I remember the first time I was censored (and discriminated against) as if it were yesterday. Schoolyard, June, Madrid, 35 soporific degrees. All the boys play soccer in the sun, carefree, while the girls, in the shade, gossip and play with their dolls. Needless to say which side I was on. In a moment we were all shirtless, running back and forth behind the ball. We were still too small for anyone to care that I was bare-chested. Well, the P.E. teacher did mind when he came over to tell me I had to put my shirt on. I didn't really understand why, it was too incoherent, like any idea of censorship. "It's just that girls can't walk around like that without anything on top". I replied that I didn't care, that it was too hot and that if I wore it, the other children would have to wear it too. Cut A: Diana sitting once again in the principal's office. And so the years went by, censorship after censorship and I got angrier and angrier about it.

There are many injustices that as a girl and as a woman I had to go through in the 80's and 90's that no longer exist or that have improved with time thanks to the feminist struggle: I can now have an abortion in my country, I can get divorced, I can access better paid jobs or jobs considered men's professions, I can get a tattoo without being discriminated against, etc. But I can't show my tits!

A few days ago I was censored from the social network Instagram because one of my stories showed a glancing nipple for less than a second. Fucking psycho algorithm, update!

How ridiculous and absurd that in 2022, almost 23, we are still at this point. Because of my artistic productions (and in life in general) I have lost Vimeo channels, Youtube channels, about four Facebook profiles, I am banned for life from Tinder and Bumble, and now on Instagram, threatened by an artificial "intelligence" with the mentality of any dictator of the last century.

Are our tits still subversive enough to overthrow Catholic morality? Are they so afraid of us free, empowered women who own our bodies? It seems that the answer is yes, and I really believe that each censorship is like a medal, a decoration that serves to remind us of the fragility of a system of oppression that is cracking and wobbling a little more every day, and also that there is still a long way to go before we can do the same things as men.

Our tits are like hand grenades, crashing against that wall that someday, not too far away, will fall down.