Cover image via Facebook / CLF
On 19 May, Cherchez la Femme ([CLF] (http://www.cherchezlafemme.com.au)), Melbourne's monthly feminist talk show (on current affairs and popular culture from a feminist perspective), posted this [event] (https://www.facebook.com/events/1772552296293762/) on their page:
"Cherchez La Femme: Feminism and Fat" was rejected by Facebook for its cover photo of plus-size model [Tess Holliday] (http://www.tessholliday.com) which apparently depicted "a body or body part in an undesirable manner" that violated their health and fitness [policy] (https://www.facebook.com/business/help/224866337548977)
**Facebook's policy states:**
Ads may not contain "before and after" images or images of unexpected or unlikely results. Ads may not depict a state of health or body weight as being perfect or extremely undesirable (ex: you cannot use an image showing a person measuring his/her waist or an image focused solely on a person's abs).
Image via Facebook
One of the CLF's event organizers, Jess, was about to boost the event on Facebook when, suddenly, it didn't get approve
"To my surprise, Facebook rejected my boosted ad request because it promoted an 'idealised physical image'. I appealed this decision through Facebook, thinking that someone must have gotten a little confused about what we were doing by using an image of the divine Tess Holliday for the event banner," said Jess, admin of CLF's [page] (https://www.facebook.com/cherchezlafemmo/posts/1091521380889905).
Image via Cherchez la Femme
"Facebook responded by telling me that the ad wasn't approved because the image contravened their 'health and fitness policy', and that I should instead consider replacing this image with one of a "relevant activity, such as running or riding a bike," added Jess.
**Here's the entire message of Facebook to the CLF admin team:**
Image via Cherchez la Femme
Heeding Facebook's advice to change the photo to someone who's running or riding a bike, CLF posted this instead:
…while others thought that CLF compromised:
…in which, CLF answered:
On the back of Facebook's recent "advice" to us about replacing the image we chose to use of Tess with one of someone running or riding a bike, we present you with…someone riding a bike!
This image was sourced from the Stocky Bodies library… All participants in the Stocky Bodies project are " involved in fat-acceptance communities and keen to see change in the representation of fat bodies." To find out more about them, check out their fantastic website [here] (http://www.stockybodies.com/). – [Cherchez la Femme] (https://www.facebook.com/cherchezlafemmo/photos/a.460811097294273.97204.326840844024633/1093436410698402/?type=3&theater)
**Some followers were ecstatic about CLF's "comeback post":**
Image via CLF
