5 ms·

But who is being the pedant? The owners of the account, or Instagram, or the unexamined cultural norm?

tunesmith 10y ago
In my point, I'm saying the owners of the account. I'm personally appreciative of the point that our cultural standards are hypocritical along these lines and need to evolve. But I also recognize that from Instagram's perspective, it's not really the nipple all by itself that needs to be flagged. I think that's easy for others to recognize too, which is why I think this is pretty much pedantic and pointless. From Instagram's perspective, the display of the female nipple is a rather accurate signal (aside from this account) that the female breast is also being displayed, most likely in a manner that the US culture would interpret as sexualized - and that, even if the poster posts it in some sort of empowerment kind of way, it can also simultaneously play into objectification and sexual violence, as a depersonalized thing for others to sexually enjoy, etc. I'm also aware that it's quite possible to do that with breasts without showing the nipple, and that those photos are allowed, and that's silly overall - but Instagram's silly distinction there reflects the same silly distinction that American society has overall. Instagram's exceptions are consistent with those views, as well - breastfeeding pics are allowed, as it is clearly a depiction of breasts being functionally represented as something other than sexual. Same with most pictures of art, sculptures, etc. A closeup picture of a genderless nipple is actually more valuable in helping culture desexualize the nipple than it is in pointing out any kind of hypocrisy on Instagram's part. Instagram probably just rolls their eyes at this since they don't see these photos as contributing to sexualized objectification or violence. So I wouldn't see it as pedantic if this weren't chiefly about attacking Instagram. If their chief goal were to contribute towards desexualizing US culture's interpretations of women, then there's probably all kinds of things they could do.

In my point, I'm saying the owners of the account. I'm personally appreciative of the point that our cultural standards are hypocritical along these lines and need to evolve. But I also recognize that from Instagram's perspective, it's not really the nipple all by itself that needs to be flagged. I think that's easy for others to recognize too, which is why I think this is pretty much pedantic and pointless. From Instagram's perspective, the display of the female nipple is a rather accurate signal (aside from this account) that the female breast is also being displayed, most likely in a manner that the US culture would interpret as sexualized - and that, even if the poster posts it in some sort of empowerment kind of way, it can also simultaneously play into objectification and sexual violence, as a depersonalized thing for others to sexually enjoy, etc. I'm also aware that it's quite possible to do that with breasts without showing the nipple, and that those photos are allowed, and that's silly overall - but Instagram's silly distinction there reflects the same silly distinction that American society has overall. Instagram's exceptions are consistent with those views, as well - breastfeeding pics are allowed, as it is clearly a depiction of breasts being functionally represented as something other than sexual. Same with most pictures of art, sculptures, etc. A closeup picture of a genderless nipple is actually more valuable in helping culture desexualize the nipple than it is in pointing out any kind of hypocrisy on Instagram's part. Instagram probably just rolls their eyes at this since they don't see these photos as contributing to sexualized objectification or violence. So I wouldn't see it as pedantic if this weren't chiefly about attacking Instagram. If their chief goal were to contribute towards desexualizing US culture's interpretations of women, then there's probably all kinds of things they could do.