MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA MORE INCLUSIVE
Happy Holidays beauties! As you know, at Slick Chicks are all about people who are defying the odds, pushing boundaries, and embracing their uniqueness. It is also our belief that being different means you have something unique to offer the world. How boring would it be if we were all the same?
We all know the emergence of social media brought with it a change in our world forever. Its presence has impacted our businesses, the entertainment industry, politics, social movements, relationships, and overall views of the world. Social media has eliminated communication barriers and has paved the way for people to connect, collaborate, and share their opinions and creations with anyone who is willing to listen. It is true that social media is breaking down hierarchical, regional, age and cultural boundaries by providing a communication platform that spans across the globe and reaches us all. We can now find out what we want from whomever we want, no matter where they are located on this planet. Social media enables people to effectively mobilize, rise up, and speak out on issues that they consider important. Everyone now has a voice that can be heard, no matter your race, religion, color, creed, or sexual orientation. But while we mostly hear about the enrichment that social media is to our lives, today we at Slick Chicks we argue that there is a significant flip side to the phenomenon as well.
In this post, we bring to you, our readers, the issue that our forward thinking company has been dealing with for the past few weeks on social media via Facebook and Instagram, forcing us to speak out about making social media more inclusive
Several weeks ago Facebook and Instagram flagged our website url stating that our content goes against their community standards and includes inappropriate content (women embracing their bodies in wheelchairs). Our supporters know that this is obviously a mistake and our mission at Slick Chicks is to empower our customers and give them a little more independence in something we take for granted every day, the simple act of dressing independently.
It truly saddens us to say that we feel this is a complete form of able-ism, discrimination, and censoring us is a massive injustice. We never thought we would be faced with such an issue as this. We have always been so proud to empower and support intelligent, talented, beautiful women who just happen to use wheelchairs for mobility, and who fully embrace and love the body they were given.
We are so confused, shocked, and disappointed with these companies. In addition to this issue, we must admit to you that as a small business, we survive and thrive off of our community connection and reaching people who need this product via social media.
Our reason for writing this blog today is frankly to bring this issue to the forefront and inform our readers, customers, and supporters. We also ask your help in resolving this issue. We know that a group of many can do more than just a single soul. We must unite and let these companies know that what they are doing is wrong and must stop NOW!
We want nothing more than to continue driving our mission of empowerment forward and seeing peopl gain confidence through the use of our garments; but we are fully aware that at this point we can do nothing without a louder voice behind us; that louder voice is you, our supporters. So we need you now more than ever to let these platforms know how you feel about this injustice.
Slick Chicks would like to keep using these social media platforms, as they do help us as a small business to spread our worldwide message of empowerment. We must now take our own advice and speak out for what we believe in and that is what we intend to do!
The Slick Chicks team would like to thank you for all your support and love as we deal with this matter. We know that you all have a voice and we ask for you to use it to help us resolve this issue in both a positive and respectful manner; so that we may keep our mission alive and showing that ALL BODY TYPES ARE BEAUTIFUL!
Please sign our petition on change.org to make social media more inclusive. Click the link below and feel free to share as much as you want!
“Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.”
Sonia Gandhi
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See ya in your skivvies!
Shannon and the Slick Chicks Team
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