American model and gender advocate Rain Dove started an online revolution against Instagram’s strict nudity policies yesterday. The activist posted a photo on her Instagram feed that looks like a clear violation of the nudity clause of the photo-sharing platform. While Instagram’s policies currently state that nudity of any form is forbidden, the activist questions the unfair treatment on male and females. She stirs up the discussion on how it’s possible that men around the world are still allowed to post shirtless images while women who pose shirtless are asked “violators” of the notorious policy.
In the image which was reposted after being taken down after 10 days, she says, “I am NOT “Female. ”Therefore this nipple DOESNT violate IG guidelines and should not be removed. BUT it was after 10 days up, 51k likes and 2k comments. Oddly enough in that time period no one turned into a puddle of goo or had their eyes burned out by viewing this nipple.”
The photo Rain Dove posted had some people baffled, especially if you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know what all this hullabaloo is all about. As an androgynous model, Rain Dove poses both as a man and woman which has given her a heads up in her career as this aids in her versatility. She recently posted on her IG Story about Instagram deleting what their nudity guidelines deem as “sensitive material” but why must they be deemed sensitive? In the caption of the post, she points out that both can be fetishized and depending on the culture, what is deemed as inappropriate differs in range.
We stand with Rain Dove and her post as this poses awareness on gender identity, and the unjustified norms that surround it. Instagram should see Pride Month as an opportunity to open the conversation about their nudity clause. But damn does Rain Dove slay or what? You keep doin’ you, boo. We’re here to fight to glorious battle for equality.
Check out her full post below.