Instagram banned #Curvy in an alleged attempt to reduce nudity and sexual content on its platform, but it has started an online war of epic proportions along with it.
All of this started when Instagram removed #Curvy from its searchable content, which means that people are free to use it in their posts, but not to search for this particular hashtag, as it will relay no results whatsoever.
According to BuzzFeed, the popular social media platform removed the hashtag as a means of keeping its content free of nude pics and sexual connotations, as it seems that the word curvy was associated with a lot of this kind of content.
The body positive campaign that has been roaming all across the internet lately has been empowering women to show off their bodies, despite the fact that they might not be in line with classic fashion guidelines.
And while it is true that this has led to quite a few pics including partial nudity, that usually feature women in their underwear, the only fact that differentiates them from all the beach photos that are filling up Instagram’s pages is the size of the women posting them.
Instagram’s measure was quite dubious, as there are other hash tags that are still available, that are bound to lead to much more offensive content, such as #vibrator or even #noclothes on.
However, Instagram still includes plus size related hashtags, such as #curvybabe, which actually sounds more nudity prone and #curvygirl. But since these are far less used in Instagram posts, it becomes apparent why the social media platform would remove the extremely popular #Curvy from its searchable words but keep on #fat and #fatpig, which depict the same kind of women, but from an offensive standpoint.
“Phew, since Instagram banned the hashtag #curvy, there are no more fat people in the world. Congrats, Instagram” says a clearly disappointed Instagram user.
Unfortunately, there is precedent for Instagram taking questionable decisions in regards to its content. Previous incidents included banning women’s nipples, which was obviously deemed sexist, as men’s nipples were regarded as acceptable or removing various pictures that included plus sized women, women breastfeeding and pubic hair.
An online campaign that will demand Instagram to reinstate #Curvy is inevitable, because serious protest to Instagram’s harsh measures is announced this time. It remains to be seen how this delicate matter will be resolved, as the social media platform stands to lose quite a sizable amount of users unless it figures out a way to make things right.
The body positive campaign has been a long time coming and social media is actually the perfect platform to enforce it, since the majority of unattainable fashion rules regarding body image have been generated by media as well. Fashion magazines have started this a while back, but when social media started to reach significant proportions, fat shaming began more and more frequent and powerful.
Therefore, the body positive movement is meant to counter precisely these ideas and to provide women from all around the world with more and more reasons to love their bodies just as they are, because beauty should not be based on Barbie standards only. This is why it is deeply disappointing that such a large social media platform like Instagram is still attempting to censor certain types of body shapes and sizes.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
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