Woman’s “Fat Pants” Photo Banned on Facebook

facebook-general-2It’s a common enough image: someone who has gone through a dramatic weight loss takes a picture of themselves next to their old pants, illustrating the pounds they’ve shed. Though we’ve all seen pictures like this one, the wife of former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna found out the hard way that Facebook won’t tolerate these images.

Marilyn McKenna lost about 120 pounds six years ago, and now makes a living writing and speaking about weight loss and health. She thought it would be funny to take a picture of herself with her former clothing and then post it to Facebook. Facebook had other ideas.

“They sent me an email back when I inquired, saying ‘This kind of image isn’t allowed,’ “she said. “I think they said it promotes an idealized body image, and they’re trying to discourage that type of thing.”

“It is also worth noting that things like before and after photos, images with scales, tape measures, zoomed in body parts are also considered to be promoting idealized physical images and are not allowed,” a Facebook spokesperson said regarding the case.

Facebook usually backs down after being called for incidents like this that could be construed as censorship, but it appears they’ve drawn a (highly unlikely) line in the sand over this issue.