#Freethenipple

On Instagram, we recently posted an amazing tattoo of an ultra realistic nipple, which covered a mastectomy scar. It’s by tattoo artist Kerry Irvine.  After posting this image I suddenly thought, “is this breaching Instagrams rules on no visible female nipples?”

How ridiculous is that! Being worried that your page may get shut down due to a tattoo of what 50% of the human population own! Luckily our page is still alive and kicking, but in some small way I wanted Instagram to react to this and give us a warning but luckily they didn’t stoop quite that low.

Instagram have recently updated their community guidelines stating: “We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.”
So we are allowed to keep the Kerry Irvine nipple tattoo… whoop!  But what does “some photos of female nipples” actually mean? Are some nipples more visually acceptable than others? Maybe nipples of the small, pert, “normal” variety? Cara Delevingne has responded to the #freethenipple campaign by posting the below photo on her Instagram with other celebrities jumping on the feminist bandwagon.

But when searching #freethenipple on Instagram the main bulk of images using this hashtag were pages with names like ‘tits and ass’ ‘hotties land’ and ‘bikini shoutouts’ so maybe the feminist message has got slightly lost amongst the smut and “male admin” pages? (One page I found actually states it has a male admin just in case anyone mistook it for anything to do with feminism.) Can anyone tell me why the female nipple is not allowed but crotch shots with a pink thong covering a vagina are ?  Yeah… I’m not sure either!

The latest Instagram backlash came when they removed an image of a woman asleep but showing where her period had leaked through her trousers onto the mattress.  The photo was part of a project by the Canadian artist, Rupi Kaur and actually since then, Instagram have allowed her to re-post this image.

She responded by saying: “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 re-post it again. I will not apologise 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.”  Well said!

The battlle over tattoos in the U.S Army hits a new phase

A new policy has been introduced within the U.S Army that will no longer limit the size or amount of tattoos a soldier can have in a bid to encourage more recruitment and retain those already listed.  In a press conference last week, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno stated: “as part of the regular process that we go through in reviewing regulations, covering the wear and appearance of the Army uniform, and the appearance of our Soldiers, we will be releasing in the coming weeks, an update to that policy, and the most notable change is going to be the change in the tattoo policy in the Army.”

Tattoos on the face, neck and hands are still forbidden, along with any tattoos referencing racism or hate, but the amount on a person’s torso, arms or legs are no longer restricted.  “We have listened to the Soldiers,” Gen. Odierno said. “I’ve talked to our sergeants major and our non-commissioned officers and some of our officers and frankly, society is changing its view of tattoos, and I think we need to change along with it.”

War Ink also coincides with this new law and is a series of short films showcasing veteran servicemen and servicewomen talking about the relationship they have with their tattoos in correlation to the duty they undertake for their country.  War Ink is a partnership between the Contra Costa County Library, a collective of California’s libraries, and Jason Deitch, a former Army medic and military sociologist.

#Droptheplus

Australian model, Stefania Ferrario has called on the fashion industry to stop using the phrase ‘plus size model.’ She believes that a model of whatever size or shape should not be differentiated depending on their body shape hence coining #droptheplus“I am a model FULL STOP. Unfortunately in the modelling industry if you’re above a US size 4 you are considered plus size, and so I’m often labelled a ‘plus size’ model. I do NOT find this empowering.” Ferrario is a UK size 12 and the face of Dita Von Teese’s lingerie line. 

 

 Ferrario believes that the “misleading label” is “damaging for the minds of young girls” and judging by the thousands who have tweeted and Instagrammed under the hashtag, it seems like she’s not the only one. 

 

 

Last year there was a social media uproar when 27 year old model, Myla Dalbasio got labelled ‘plus size’ after appearing in an ad campaign for Calvin Klein.  Dalbasio is 5ft11 and a US size 10 which is approximately a UK size 14 and even her modelling agency, Jag have said that they do not have a ‘plus size’ board and a model is a model regardless of her size. 

 

Join in the debate on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages using the hashtag #droptheplus. 

Wedding cake with a slice of tattoo

A couple from Brisbane, Australia decided to commemorate their big day by having a mobile tattoo van at the wedding, tattooing themselves alongside their friends and family. Many couples get tattooed before their wedding to symbolise their love for one another but this is the first time we have seen friends and family joining in. They enlisted the tattooed wedding celebrant, Paul Voge to help organise the event who obviously seemed like a good match due to his obvious love for tattoos!

Marlee and Jordan Follman both had tattoos already and decided to commission a set of designs for people to choose from on the day, with even the bride’s mother getting tattooed! They decided to enlist one of their good friends, Luke Bishop who owns Bishop’s Mobile Tattoo Parlour with 15 of the wedding party getting a tattoo.

        

All photos by Jess Jackson