Why is women’s body hair still deemed obscene? The latest Instagram controversy shows the double sta
Why is women’s body hair still deemed obscene? The latest Instagram controversy shows the double standard won’t go away“Instagram – like Facebook and other social media sites – has long awkwardly grappled with how to define what’s appropriate material for its community. Along the way, it’s attracted some very high profile criticism from the likes of Miley Cyrus, who has spent the past year on a campaign of nipple emancipation, as well as Chelsea Handler and Rihanna. Two years ago, artist Petra Collins had her Instagram account briefly deletedwhen she posted an image of herself from the waist down – and featuring a thin line of hair peeking out from the top. As she rightly questioned at the time, why was hers, out of nearly six million bikini photos on Instagram at the time, deemed unacceptable? Could it have been… THE HAIR? Last June, Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom told BBC Newsbeat that “Our goal is to really make sure that Instagram, whether you’re a celebrity or not, is a safe place and that the content that gets posted is something that’s appropriate for teens and also adults” – though “appropriate” seems very much in the eye of the beholder.The photo-sharing platform found itself again the subject of debate earlier this week, after the online Australian magazine Sticks and Stones had a picture of two women in swimsuits removed – and its account temporarily revoked. The agency’s director, Ainsley Hutchence, speculated to Mic Tuesday that that the problem seemed to be the ladies’ unshaved bathing suit area. “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,” Hutchence said. “Clearly this is absolutely sexist. Instagram believes that women should wax or get off their platform.” And indeed, while there is no shortage of obvious manscaping on Instagram as well, Justin Bieber’s low-slung new Calvin Klein ad survived with no controversy – along with plenty of other easily obtained images of men who clearly keep it hirsute down in the groin department." Read the full piece here | Photo of eartheld -- source link
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