From mastectomy photos to breastfeeding shots, women are constantly having to fight for their right to show parts of their everyday lives — and bodies — on social media. The latest brouhaha revolves not around breasts but, erm, bush. Yep, turns out, Instagram isn't so much a fan of women flaunting pubic hair.
The controversy began when Australian online magazine and styling agency Sticks and Stones posted the below photo of two models wearing bikini briefs, in which their pubic hair was obviously in plain sight.
Not only was the apparently controversial image soon deleted by Instagram, but Sticks and Stones' account — which had more than 100,000 followers — was deleted, as well.
Ainsley Hutchence, the agency's director, believes that if it had been men's pubic hair on display, Instagram wouldn't have balked, explaining to Mic.com:
Unfortunately Instagram has ruled out natural hair that appears on all bodies of women that don't trim their bikini lines. This hair occasionally does spill out of the sides of swimwear as it does on men in their underwear. But Instagram seem to be ok with man pubes. Clearly this is absolutely sexist. Instagram believes that women should wax or get off their platform.
Say what you will about pubic hair. It makes lots o' people uncomfortable. See a woman who looks like one of these models at the beach, and you might cringe and wonder WHAT in the world she's thinking? How is it she's never seen the memorable Sex & the City movie scene in which Miranda has to defend her not-neat-and-tidy bikini area to Samantha, who accuses of her "growing a national forest"?!
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm8lWi5X73U
But our personal comfort levels with pubic hair shouldn't change the fact that if a man's nether mane is a-okay on social media, a woman's has to be, too! Sexist double standards in 2015? Not cool, Instagram.
Unfortunately, the way we view men's "private" areas vs. women's is very different. And the issues we take with women's bodies seem to stem from the fact that as many times as Meghan Trainor points out that we can see right through all that Photoshop, female nudity and sexuality that isn't airbrushed can't seem to pass muster.
As Hutchence told c-heads.com:
If a girl is pushing her enormous fake boobs up toward the camera with a bikini top on that’s okay by Instagram censorship standards, but if she is sitting on a field of grass looking into a sunset with no top on, completely unaltered, than she is reported as inappropriate.
True … and sad.
At the very least, it looks like Sticks and Stones has the last laugh, as they're back up and running with a new Instagram account. Here's hoping they — and anyone else who wants to post what women's bodies actually look like — will continue to stand up to blatant censorship.
What do you think about this "controversial" image — and Instagram's reaction to it?
Image via Grand Bizaare/Sticks and Stones
