Only a few months ago my account with Instagram was closed without warning. On the same day, I encountered a group of other users raising the same issue on the Instagram Facebook page. The only thing we had in common? The word curvy in our usernames. I kicked up a bit of a fuss and my account was reinstated with no official explanation.
I thought that was the end of my experience with their unacceptable body shaming but Instagram has caused a storm once again with its shameful restricting of certain search terms.
From today, if you search for the hashtag #curvy, you will be met with this page.
That's right folks. The curvy hashtag has been filtered out of Instagram searches to show no results.
I was informed that this was also the case for #skinny and #thin but upon investigation I have found that you can search for these hashtags and after accepting a content warning popup, you can browse the results freely.
So... why the total ban on #curvy? Can they not think of an appropriate warning?
An update from Buzzfeed:
A spokesperson from Instagram said the hashtag #curvy is not searchable because, according to the company, it was being used to share images and videos that violated Instagram's community guidelines around nudity.
But of course searching for clitoris or cunts is still entirely okay.
I find it disgusting that this filter is in place yet you can find hundreds of fatshaming images with a few clicks.
So heres the deal: I don't want to miss out on all the beautiful curvesome photos that the users of Instagram have to offer so from now on I will be using #curvee on my IG photos instead.
Please feel free to do the same and spread the word.
