postTEENIDOL

NAME: postTEENIDOL (he/she/they)
PLATFORM & USERNAME: Instagram – @postTEENIDOL
CENSORSHIP: Content ban

Photographer: @scallywagfox

What reason was given for your ban?

The image is clearly surrealist, however it was constantly removed by Instagram for going against community guidelines, citing ‘nudity’.

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

This gender-fuck fantasy is the collaborative effort of Scallwag Fox, Luke Slyka, Alan Eiji Goodman and myself. We made a decision to take the quadruple breast plate created by MaximalFX and apply it to Alan’s chest to give the illusion they had 4 breasts.

For Instagram to approve this photo I would probably need to put black square censors over the nipples… but I refuse to do that because it takes you out of the surreality.

No matter how many times we posted on Instagram, the photo would just get removed from all of our accounts without fail. It really sucked. Even though the nipples are fake, it’s still too realistic for Instagram. It just goes to show how overly sexualised breasts are!

#FreeTheNipple

I’m so proud of this image and no one will ever get to see it on my page, it’s quite sad really.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

I tried to appeal every time the image was removed but it just resulted in the same response, no.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

It limits my creativity, artistic expression and the themes I want to explore. Since this photo was removed I have never experimented with body as a theme, which is a shame as I wonder how different my work would look.

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

Fuck censorship, art should be everywhere and accessible.