Johanna Berghorn

NAME: Johanna Berghorn
PLATFORM & USERNAME: Insta – @johannaberghorn
CENSORSHIP: Content Ban

What reason was given for your ban?

Violation of nudity guidelines

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

Showing the female body in any size or shape, female nipples, female body parts, because of patriarchal oppression of the female body.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

Yes but I have never got any answer at all, never.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

I’ve felt re-traumatized and frustrated. I have anger towards this system of oppression, this is a violation of the freedom of art and my visual language.

Since the last censorship, they threatened to delete my account it was over posting something against their nudity guidelines.

They also delete photos that don’t even show nipples, photos by female artists that specialise in encouraging the female body as a subject of its own, they are stopped from showing their ART!

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

As a woman, it feels radical to recognize that our bodies belong to no one other than ourselves: not men, not fashion, not advertising; not families, not partners, not friends.

External influences endeavour to force us into specific shapes and sizes; adhering to unhealthy standards that render us unhappy, and ultimately, the same. By censoring the natural female body in all its shapes and sizes, social media – one of the most powerful tools in representation and setting beauty standards – recreates patriarchal narratives instead of deconstructing them. The journey of empowerment is often challenging and ongoing. Continuing over every phase of living, ageing and loving.

We, as artists, humans that claim an intersectional female gaze by encouraging everyone to just BE instead of showing how to be better, will not stop fighting that censorship.