Protest takes many forms, and for some 54,000 followers on Instagram, that form is the nipple. Only female nipples are banned on Instagram, and critics who see that as a double-standard have launched the Genderless Nipples account to encourage people to post close-ups of their own. "You can’t even tell the difference between male and female nipples," the founders write. "So why even bother banning female nipples if they can be so similar?" The Guardian reports the campaign is the brainchild of three advertising students in New York inspired to action by what they saw as the "horrible" tenor of discussions involving women during the presidential election.
"What better way to start spreading a message of gender equality than pointing out the rules of social networks?" the trio tell the Huffington Post. In six weeks, the account has racked up 70 posts showing nipples in various forms: red, brown, pierced, tattooed, even with a beetle perched on top. To make the cut, nipples should be hairless, with the photo taken from "Coke can" distance. The Verge notes that Instagram and Facebook have faced a wave of criticism for censoring female nudity, including historical images. Instagram, owned by Facebook, even once removed a shot of a cake because it thought its decorations resembled nipples, per the Daily Dot. In a previous protest, women posted selfies with male nipples Photoshopped over their own, notes Mashable.
"What better way to start spreading a message of gender equality than pointing out the rules of social networks?" the trio tell the Huffington Post. In six weeks, the account has racked up 70 posts showing nipples in various forms: red, brown, pierced, tattooed, even with a beetle perched on top. To make the cut, nipples should be hairless, with the photo taken from "Coke can" distance. The Verge notes that Instagram and Facebook have faced a wave of criticism for censoring female nudity, including historical images. Instagram, owned by Facebook, even once removed a shot of a cake because it thought its decorations resembled nipples, per the Daily Dot. In a previous protest, women posted selfies with male nipples Photoshopped over their own, notes Mashable.
