Instagram Tries To Ban Female Pubic Hair

Instagram has come under fire for banning female pubic hair from its platform.

Fashion website Sticks and Stones (NSFW) had its Instagram account suspended when it shared a photo on January 1 showing two models wearing high-cut swimwear, revealing glimpses of their untrimmed pubic hair.

The image was deleted and the account terminated on the grounds that it violated Instagram’s terms and conditions, which state that users may not post “nude, partially nude, (…) pornographic or sexually suggestive photos.”

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Three weeks later the Sticks and Stones account was reactivated, thanks to major media outlets including the Huffington Post picking up the story. Instagram issued an apology, acknowledging that it had "made a mistake".

“We try hard to find a good balance between allowing people to express themselves creatively and having policies in place to maintain a comfortable experience for our global and culturally diverse community," read the statement.

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Sticks and Stones director Ainsley Hutchence accused the social media network of double standards, telling media that the image would never have been deleted if it showed male pubic hair.

"Unfortunately Instagram has ruled out natural hair that appears on all bodies of women that don't trim their bikini lines. This hair occasionally does spill out of the sides of swimwear as it does on men in their underwear. But Instagram seem to be ok with man pubes," Hutchence told the website Mic. "Clearly this is absolutely sexist. Instagram believes that women should wax or get off their platform."

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This is not the first time Instagram has been accused of heavy-handedness in its policing of the 70 million photos shared each day on the platform. Nipples are notoriously not permitted on the network, leading a number of high-profile users including Cara Delevingne and Scout Willis to agitate for a relaxing of the rules around nudity under the hashtag #FreeTheNipple.

In June 2014, a London mother was shocked to discover her Instagram account had been shutdown after she posted a photo of her toddler lifting her dress to show her tummy, while in July an overweight teenager in the US had her account deleted after she shared a selfie showing her in her underwear.