What is #WEWILLNOTBESILENCED?

Why We are Fighting

Our goal is not to cause problems, but to denounce this censorship through peaceful protest.

Rating a story as "Mature" puts restrictions on the book such as who discovers it and who sees it. This means, that people who need these books have lost the ability to stumble on it by mistake/randomly-a situation that has inadvertently changed mindsets for the better. According to Wattpad, a story must be rated "mature" if it includes "self-harm themes or scenes (including suicide and eating disorders"). However, they go on to say: "Stories rated Everyone are intended for an audience that is 13 and up. These stories contain no mature content, but may contain: references to self-harm." Also, they write in their Self-harm section "stories which aim to place a negative light on the consequences of self-harm... are not a violation." If it's not a violation, WHY are these types of stories being censored?

First, let's break it down for a moment. (You can find Wattpad's official Content Guidelines in the external link)

1. "Stories rated Everyone are for an audience that is 13 and up. These stories contain no mature content, but may contain: references to self-harm." In other words, even though your story is appropriate for ages 13 and up, you are only allowed to REFERENCE mental illnesses or EDs, but not allowed to write in depth ABOUT them without being forcibly rated as "Mature."

2. By creating this policy, Wattpad is unwittingly admitting that they don't think 13-16 year olds should be reading about these things. Why, Wattpad? You don't think 13-16 year olds are capable of having a mental illness or eating disorder?

3. The age requirement for joining Wattpad is 13 years old. Wattpad is NOT responsible for younger ages who lie about their age to create an account because it violates their terms and conditions. Why then, do they feel the need to censor? We are TEENAGERS not CHILDREN. We are capable of making decisions for ourselves! If we want to read a book on here, you can bet your life we'll click on it. If we don't feel comfortable reading it, we won't click on it! It's that simple!

We are fighting because it is wrong to censor books that are doing the world a favor. Fight censorship.

#WEWILLNOTBESILENCED