On 30th March Twitter banned British charity, Binti International’s account based on a post of an image of a uterus. The ban by twitter continues their censorship of period, anatomical, female health and education posts which has caused outrage amongst women and pro women followers of the platform previously.
Binti had posted an image of a uterus with the text accompanying the image reading “#PostMenopausal #Uterus The strength of a woman. Every girl deserves dignity. Period. #PeriodDignity #SmashShame #PeriodMologues #ILovePeriods”.
The account was blocked and a ban placed on future posts. Binti received an email from Twitter stating that the image of a uterus was blocked in violation of their rules, specifically for, “Violating their rules against posting media depicting gratuitous gore”.
After an appeal to state that the post and image were educational and allowed under Twitter guidelines, Twitter have written back stating, “Our support team has determined that a violation did take place, and therefore we will not overturn our decision” leaving Binti without a platform for which to talk about, connect people globally and share their voice as a charitable organization.
Last year, founder Manjit K Gill MBE, was honoured by the Queen for services to the provision of menstrual products to women. Her charity is being censored and their voice banned. In July 2019, the government set up a ‘Period Poverty Taskforce’ to tackle the issue of period poverty and wider stigma around menstruation in the UK. Binti International – was asked to convene and lead the effort to eradicate the stigma, shame and taboo of menstruation.
Founder of the award-winning charity Binti International, Manjit K Gill MBE says, “This is the 21st Century, it’s 2021! We are still fighting the same war and it’s unjust! Our vision is to ensure that all girls and women have menstrual dignity across all walks of life and we do this via education. We pride ourselves on ensuring our posts remain educational, factual, and create awareness for people to understand menstruation – a normal part of every woman’s life. Most of the PMS humour and lack of knowledge comes from never talking about menstruation or the impact it has on our lives. Seeing an actual Uterus allows us to understand what this glorious organ goes through month after month and how it affects us. Most of us can draw a penis but how many of us knows what a uterus looks like let alone name the parts of it? Why is it ok to show breasts and sexualize women but not to show a uterus?”.
Binti is celebrating 7 years of its international work with a vision to create a world where all women have menstrual dignity. From the outset it has tackled period shame, with clear and concise positive language to ensure it remains an organisation that doesn’t shy away from creating the change that are needed to eradicate stigma and taboo.
