Instagram Restores Image with Menstrual Blood

After the case went gone viral, moderators of the Instagram restored the post, which was removed twice, and apologized.

Last week a Canadian poet and artists Rupi Kaur posted an Instagram photo, depicting menstrual blood stains. The image is part of the Kaur’s photo project about women’s bodies. Her goal is to express that there is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to natural processes.

According to Kaur, her post did not violate any of the Instagram’s community guidelines: there were no violence, nudity or violation of author’s rights. She posted the image a second time, and Instagram removed it again. Then the artist addressed the moderators through Facebook, “Thank you @instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique. You deleted a photo of a woman who is fully covered and menstruating, stating that it goes against community guidelines when your guidelines outline that it is nothing but acceptable. … I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be okay with a small leak.”

thank you @instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique. you deleted a photo of a woman who is fully covered and menstruating stating that it goes against community guidelines when your guidelines outline that it is nothing but acceptable. the girl is fully clothed. the photo is mine. it is not attacking a certain group. nor is it spam. and because it does not break those guidelines i will repost it again. i will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be okay with a small leak. when your pages are filled with countless photos/accounts where women (so many who are underage) are objectified. pornified. and treated less than human. thank you. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ this image is a part of my photoseries project for my visual rhetoric course. you can view the full series at rupikaur.com the photos were shot by myself and @prabhkaur1 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ i bleed each month to help make humankind a possibility. my womb is home to the divine. a source of life for our species. whether i choose to create or not. but very few times it is seen that way. in older civilizations this blood was considered holy. in some it still is. but a majority of people. societies. and communities shun this natural process. some are more comfortable with the pornification of women. the sexualization of women. the violence and degradation of women than this. they cannot be bothered to express their disgust about all that. but will be angered and bothered by this. we menstruate and they see it as dirty. attention seeking. sick. a burden. as if this process is less natural than breathing. as if it is not a bridge between this universe and the last. as if this process is not love. labour. life. selfless and strikingly beautiful.

Фото опубликовано Rupi Kaur (@rupikaur_) Мар 24 2015 в 9:02 PDT

After the case went viral, the moderators restored Kaur’s post and apologized. “A member of our team accidentally removed something you posted on Instagram. This was a mistake and we sincerely apologize for this error. We’ve since restored the content, and you should now be able to see it,” wrote a representative of the company.