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A petition looking initially to change the Community Guidelines on Facebook to explicitly prohibit the unrequested sending of dick pics has already gathered nearly 18,000 signatures.
It’s a problem that all too many women will know well, particularly if they’re single and actively dating, but it’s one that Alexandra Tweten is sick of, so she’s trying to put a stop to it via at least one means: Facebook.
While Facebook has Community Guidelines in place for conduct, men apparently need to be told in plain words that, ‘No, sending that picture of your penis isn’t OK unless that person requested it.’ Really, it shouldn’t need saying.
The Change.org campaign page states that:
[clickToTweet tweet=”There’s no rule against Facebook users sending pictures of their penis to people who didn’t ask to see it.” quote=”Under Facebook’s current Community Guidelines, there’s no rule against Facebook users sending pictures of their penis to people who didn’t ask to see it.”]
Nonetheless, according to Tweten, if Facebook put it in writing, its 1.6 billion users would have to take notice. She ultimately hopes to expand the pressure to other popular online platforms if successful, so watch out Twitter.
Tweten also operates the ‘Bye, Felipe‘ Instagram account to “[Call] out dudes who turn hostile when rejected or ignored.”
Exposing yourself in public is illegal in many places, but it seems the frequency that men and women receive unsolicited dick pics suggest that men think it’s acceptable behavior online.
As a man who has never sent one, I’d like to state for the record that not all think it’s acceptable.
We’ve contacted Facebook for comment and will update if we hear back.
