There is an article in the
Huffington Post written by a woman, Petra Collins (writer and photographer), who
had her Instagram account deleted, although her picture did not violate the
terms of use. It was a picture of her from the waist down wearing a bikini. What
people were so upset about was that the picture showed her unshaven bikini
line, something that is not usually portrayed as feminine in our society.
Collins talks about how she, and
probably most of us, have become used to the ways in which women are portrayed
and talked about in the media: women’s bodies being edited to look thinner or
lighter, songs that talk about taking advantage of women, women being
slut-shamed and being called fat. As she goes on to say, none of us should be
used to this. No one should be shamed into looking or acting a certain way in
order to prevent the media from judging us.
The act of taking her picture down
made Collins feel as though the public was physically forcing her to “succumb
to society’s image of beauty.” It is not okay that we are made to feel as
though our bodies are not good enough for society. It may sound cliché, but we
are all different and we should be accepting of each other’s differences. Instead
of putting each other down, we should be building each other up. This not only
applies to women, but to everybody. If we allow society to tell us how to
think, what to say, how to look, etc., we will lose ourselves in the process.
Observation:
We were asked to wear a pin to represent our support of the LGBTQ community in
my foundations of social justice class.
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ReplyDeleteI love how unapologetic she is about her perfectly natural body hair. Why should she feel pressure and shame to conform to the socially acceptable feminine ideal? It's a sad day when self-expression is censored because it doesn't adhere to the photo-shopped, airbrushed images we see everywhere. Thank goodness someone is calling bullshit on this. Society needs to be held responsible and readjust it's stereotypical measures.
ReplyDeleteI also read (and loved) this article. It is such a shame that the expectations for women's bodies are so internalized that other women commented on and flagged her picture until her profile was deleted. I also think it's a testament on how "progressive" instagram is. The fact that they would delete someones account for taking a picture of their body with body hair is outrageous. I love your comment "If we allow society to tell us how to think, what to say, how to look, etc., we will lose ourselves in the process."
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