Update: Instagram has apologized for the removal of the photo and added it back to the service, Vice reports. A rep for the company told Vice that the image did not violate the community standards and apologized for the mistake. “In this case, we wrongly removed content and worked to rectify the error as soon as we were notified. We apologize for any inconvenience," a spokesperson for Instagram told Vice.
This story was originally published on March 27, 2015 and updated on March 28, 2015.
Instagram hasn't exactly developed a stellar track record when it comes to handling photos of women's bodies — at least when those photos are of women breastfeeding, having nipples, or being fat. Thin, nearly naked models? Bring 'em on. Natural female physical functions? Ew. Another discouraging example joined the list after college senior and poet Rupi Kaur posted the above photo of herself menstruating earlier this week. Within 24 hours, Instagram had removed the photo. "We removed your post because it doesn't follow our Community Guidelines," its message to Kaur read. "Please read our Community Guidelines to learn what kinds of posts are allowed and how you can help keep Instagram safe."
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Kaur's photo is one of a series she shot with her sister for a visual rhetoric class. The series is accompanied by a poem, which reads, in part: "communities shun this natural process. some are more comfortable with the pornification of women. the sexualization of women. the violence and degradation of women than this. they cannot be bothered to express their disgust about all that. but will be angered and bothered by this. we menstruate and they see it as dirty."
In the case of Instagram, Kaur's poem proved prescient. She reposted her photo after Instagram removed it; Instagram removed it again. And so, two days ago, Kaur took to Facebook to call out the platform and rally support around her right to share her photo — which is, in line with Instagram's "Community Guidelines" mandate, not "violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive."
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"Thank you Instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique," Kaur wrote. Her post went viral, and the photo was suddenly restored to her Instagram.
Usually, Instagram removes photos on the basis of reports from users flagging "inappropriate content," and it's not hard to imagine that a team inundated with such reports might act on the wrong ones. But, the fact remains that the photos of women the app removes are systematically those that fail to meet cultural norms of attractiveness. Instagram is just one microcosm of a cultural environment in which sexualized women are seen, while women who share other physical realities are erased. As Kaur put it to Motherboard, "I never thought it was such a big deal. It’s just a red spot."
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