Amélie Testenoire Lafayette

What reason was given for your ban?

It was censored for nudity (when I posted my photos I didn’t realize that the nipples were problematic in my pictures, I was so innocent!) and Instagram kept removing my pictures even though I blurred any nipples from them.

Why do you think your post(s) was censored?

First because of the nipples showing, and then I think an algorithm remembers if you’ve had pictures removed and even though it is now censored, Instagram just keeps removing anything that looks like the deleted ones.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

Yes, and Instagram just told me that my pictures were not appropriate to their guidelines and if I kept posting problematic content they will just delete my account. That’s ridiculous, I am just sharing my art here.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

I think it has changed my way of making images. I love to work with human bodies of any gender but it has made me ashamed of doing so and now when I make pictures where we can see feminine nipples I always have to think a way to censor it in a « nice way » for Instagram and it just takes so much space in my head instead of just pure creativity.

What’s one thing you want people to know about this topic?

I am really sad that the feminine body is just being erased from more and more platforms. My work has nothing sexual, I’d like to desexualize the way we are looking at our own bodies and to stop that shame we are trying to force you to feel for your own shell and shapes.