The Discriminatory Censorship of Plus Sized Women on Instagram

Censorship is defined as ‘the suppression of words, images or ideas that are offensive or harmful to others within a space’ (What Is Censorship?, 2022).  Evidently in the media is the confusion between the promotion of sex online and individuals celebrating their bodies and unique likeness. Thus, this often makes way for improper and discriminatory censorship on major platforms. Survey results by the Cato Institute state that, “75% of people don’t trust social media companies to make fair content moderation decisions” (Poll: 75% Don’t Trust social media to Make Fair Content Moderation Decisions, 60% Want More Control over Posts They See, 2022). Instagram is the second largest growing social media body in the world, (2022 Instagram Statistics // Everything You Need to Know from SMPerth, 2022); yet, they are also the biggest contributor to arbitrary censorship against users. Several plus size women on the platform have spoken out about their images being removed despite complying with Instagram’s uploading policies. Consequently, begging the question, why are these images being ostracised, yet similar images of thin women are promoted? This censorship is not only unjustifiable but emphasises the lack of body positivity in the media and as such, highlights it’s consecutive emanations as a major social justice issue.

 

Model and activist Nyome Nicholas-Williams had one of her images removed in August of 2020. In the image, she was sitting on a stool and cupping her breasts in a photoshoot. Instagram’s nudity policy states “…nudity is not allowed. This includes photos, videos and some digitally created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully nude buttocks…” (Community Guidelines | Instagram Help Centre, 2022). Within Nyome’s image, her nipples were covered by her arms and any of her genitals were also not visible as covered by her legs and the angle of the camera. Thus, her post successfully complied with Instagram’s policies and yet was still removed. Instagram has stated that, “The current policy is designed to stop people posting pornographic images of people "squeezing" breasts” (Hitch, 2020) Nyome’s image was incorrectly flagged by Instagram nudity algorithm and suggests she was targeted due to the nature of her larger breasts.  This was extremely controversial as similar images of socialites and models are permitted to remain on the site. Two images of Kim Kardashians are directly similar to Nyome’s’ and were undisturbed by Instagram’s policies. In both images, Kim is completely nude and covering her breasts with her arms and genitals with the position of her legs. These three images almost identical in their execution were each affected differently by Instagram’s guidelines; the only notable difference being the figure size of both Nyome and Kim. Nyome teamed up with photographer Alexandra Cameron and activist Gina Martin and created the #IWantToSeeNyome campaign and wrote an open letter to Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri demanding an apology and change from platform (Instagram Is Changing Its Nudity Policies to Be More Inclusive of Plus-Size Bodies, 2022). As a result, Instagram has amended their nudity policy due to the newfound awareness of unfair plus size image discrimination (Instagram Is Changing Its Nudity Policies to Be More Inclusive of Plus-Size Bodies, 2022). Therefore, it can be concluded that Instagram was in fact discriminating against plus sized women in the censorship of their images.

 

Similarly, Noelle Downing also had her image removed while she was in compliance with Instagram’s guidelines. The plus sized blogger posted a photo of herself with only the top half of her body nude and covering her breasts with her arms. Instagram removed her image not long after, stating she was in violation of the Community Nudity guidelines (Oehler, 2020). However, still evident on Instagram’s platform are images of Kendall Jenner with one of her breasts entirely exposed with the nipple apparent. In addition, both Emily Ratajkowski and Nicki Minaj have images in their accounts which show their “close up fully nude buttocks” that are yet to be removed by Instagram. These three celebrity images are specific examples of what is clearly stated in Instagram’s nudity policies as prohibited, and yet all three images still remain visible in their accounts. Again, emphasising that Instagram is discriminating against plus sized women in the constant censorship of their images. After her image was removed, Noelle Downing reposted it and it went undetected by Instagram’s nudity algorithm and remained on the site. This again, stresses the ‘algorithm glitch’ being not a good enough excuse for the marginalisation of plus size users on the app, requiring further action to take place to correct these inconsistencies and make Instagram an unbiased platform. 

 

The ideal structure of the beauty of a woman has been argued for decades but in our current society has been shaped by the idea that slender is better. Such narrow judgement held by many and to the disgust of more is significantly promoted by the content of our prevailing media. This erroneous image of the ‘ideal woman’ is severely harmful to all females who have the ‘flaws’ of their bodies constantly emphasised by the media; for simply looking different to the norm of our skinny society. This attention to our inconsistencies as women damages our understanding of our worthiness and self-pertaining respect. Studies by the World Health Organisation show that appearance-based bullying is the highest common form of bullying within children and teens; who are consequently the biggest consumer demographic of modern social media depictions (Ramos Salas, 2017). The same study states that young people higher in weight are 63% more likely to be bullied than those who are of a slimmer figure (Ramos Salas, 2017). Due to the media largely shaping our understanding of what is considered beautiful for a woman it can be said that bulling is a direct consequence of the bias representation of women on social platforms. Furthermore, failing to represent all body types in the media can lead to severe body dissatisfaction which has been linked to a poorer quality of life and an unhealthy relationship with food resulting in potential eating disorders (Body image report - Executive Summary, 2022). To add, the dangerous and inextricable link between body image and self-esteem often means that a lower sense of how you view yourself negatively impacts your overall mental health. Research shows that 40% of young adults stated that images on social media caused them to worry about their body image (Body image report - Executive Summary, 2022). As such, low self-esteem is directly linked to poor relationships, social exclusion, and mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.

 

Being limited to complete 50% of this assessment in an entirely visual format has taught me many things about the power of language and its varying structures. The struggle came from using very limited words within my presentation to convey my ideas and establish a strong and clear position of my argument. However, as I continued I remembered that a picture is worth a thousand words and therefore began the hunt for impactful and relevant images. I struggled with finding visual representations that were strong enough to carry my argument and also bring out emotion in the viewer to sympathise with my topic. In the end I had too many images and therefore, had to discern between the necessary and unnecessary in crafting my presentation. It was difficult to create a strong understanding of my topic and its link to a larger social justice issue strictly through imagery; as I was concerned that the message was being received purely on a surface level. However, I was careful to create cohesiveness with my broad array of pictures in order to create a well organised story line and inform the viewer of the issue at large. It taught me that the careful and scarce use of few worded phrases can have significant impact on telling the overall story as it adds a layer of powerfulness in what you are using words to express. Overall, the experience was challenging but provided important insights to my learning, regarding the significance of other mediums to convey an idea/argument; and will be extremely valuable for my extensive learning journey.

 

In conclusion, there is no question that in order to repress this social justice issue from developing further and causing additional damage to the women of society, various actions need to take place. The Mental Health Foundation has made several recommendations to rectify the damage that has already occurred and to prevent further harm. This includes that there is effective regulation of how body image is portrayed in the media, by statutory bodies including The Advertising Standards Authority and governing social media sites. This would mean platforms like Instagram would be required to stop the unfair censorship of images of plus sized women in curbing the “promotion of unhelpful or idealised body image online” (Body image report - Executive Summary, 2022). Furthermore, Social media organisations should be obligated to sign the “Be Real Campaign’s Body Image Pledge” and determine improved means to promote body positivity on their platforms, through a diversified representation of all body types positively promoted to users (Body image report - Executive Summary, 2022). This is imperative to ensure that the representation of women on social media is kept true to society, to foster the understanding that all bodies, shapes, and sizes are beautiful, in order to protect ourselves from the consequences associated with negative body image perception and sense of self-worth.

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Reference List

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