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Photographer claims Instagram suspended account over pictures showing pubic hair
'It's appalling that a woman cannot show even a little bit of body hair'
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A photographer claims that her Instagram account has been suspended after sharing images of women’s pubic hair from a magazine shoot.
New York-based photographer Samantha Casolari, 41, was hired by American beauty magazine Allure last year to shoot a photo series exploring women’s diverse relationships with their pubic hair.
The images, which were published by Allure in May 2017, were “extremely respectful” and shot in a discreet way showing only the women’s torso, legs and pubic hair.
“It was a story on women’s bodies shot with women by women in a extremely respectful and discreet way,” Casolari wrote on Facebook alongside the images in question.
“We were all really happy about it and it got amazing responses. No one complained of it being vulgar not pornographic in nature and everyone who knows me knows I would never shoot anything of that sort.”
Shortly after the publish date, Casolari shared a number of the images from the shoot on her Instagram page, and a few weeks ago, she shared some more.
However, this time round the photos were removed by Instagram, despite the same images remaining available on Allure’s account.
Perplexed, Casolari shared another two images only for her account to be disabled hours later.
She then received a notice informing her she had violated Instagram’s terms.
“I understand their need to censor and monitor content but I find this both bigot and hypocritical considering that Instagram is full of real pornographic images, violence inciting images, fake bodies and vulgar depiction of bodies, yet something as natural as body hair gets banned like an incriminating act,” she explained.
“It seems appalling and denigrating that a woman cannot show even a little bit of body hair.
“It is objectifying and belittling because it strengthens bigot's ideas of how our bodies should look like - which was the point of our story.”
Casolari claims that she has tried to contact Instagram for clarification on the matter but has received no response. She is also unable to create a new account.
The photographer is now appealing for help online so that the matter can be resolved.
The Independent has contacted Instagram for comment.
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