More and more women are banding together to share the realities of their bodies online, and it’s created a huge community and movement. Because of this power, brands are starting to understand that representation matters, and are working to change their marketing, advertising, and even their size ranges.
One company that seems a little on the fence about the movement is Instagram, because they just tried to ban yet another body-positive hashtag.
Many women are increasingly turning to social media to join forces and tackle body confidence issues.
Through photos and hashtags, women are creating a community around flaunting traditionally-seen “flaws” and shaping how we see the realities of women’s bodies all over the world.
Carly Anderson of the Instagram account and blog Lipgloss and Crayons is one those body positivity influencers.
She’s super candid about her body confidence struggles, helping lift other women up in the process.
So, she started the hashtag #justwearthesuit on Instagram, encouraging women to proudly and confidently strut their stuff in bikinis, which is often a hot topic as summer approaches.
Somewhere down the line, Instagram decided to ban the hashtag, citing it as inappropriate.
Carly voiced her frustrations in an Instagram post, saying , “Inappropriate? Women sharing their body confidence journeys? Is it the bathing suits? Cause, there are an awful lot of women in bathing suits around these parts.”
But, she encouraged her followers to continue to create community and support around the subject in different ways — there was no way Instagram was going to halt her powerful movement.
Many of her followers, well, followed her instructions and continued to post bikini photos regardless of the ban. They also voiced their anger and frustration, not only on Carly’s post, but also TO Instagram in the form of e-mails and reports.
They all rallied together to get the ban lifted, and about a month later, it worked. The hashtag is back up and running. Yahoo!
Instagram hasn’t made a statement about their rationale for banning the hashtag, but one thing they should know: don’t mess with a gang of powerful women who deserve to feel confident in their swimsuits.
