CELEBRATED NOT CENSORED 

Stop social media shaming our bodies!

This campaign originated in July 2020 as a way of highlighting the challenges the breast cancer community faces with social media censorship when trying to raise awareness of services and products available to people affected by breast cancer.

I myself have been subjected to numerous social media censorship battles. As a medical tattoo artist, I provide life-changing 3D areola tattoos post-mastectomy. These tattoo images are constantly removed and my accounts suspended and shadow-banned, due to social media's hypocritical and sexist 'community guidelines'.
The nipple seems to be a particular taboo subject for social media and their 'sexual and nudity community guidelines'. But for some reason, these 'guidelines' only applies to the female form, as clearly stated by social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter.

In recent conversations with other members of the breast cancer community, we all became aware that this censorship isn't just limited to areola tattoo images. Social media have even taken their censorship to the extremes of rejecting, banning, and removing posts and advertisements for post-mastectomy bras, prostheses, and healing products; despite stating that mastectomy imagery is allowed in their 'guidelines'. It is imperative that the breast cancer community are able to use their social media platforms, to not only raise awareness of the services and products available, but also the support that is out there for people affected by breast cancer; without the fear of facing restrictions and limitations on their pages and posts. 

The many layers of hypocrisy and double standards surrounding this censorship are infuriating, and the more I spoke about this ridiculous censorship, the more others came forward with their own stories of social media censorship. It soon became clear of the many forms of censorship people are subjected to and that social media seems to pick and choose who they apply their 'guidelines' to.

I think we can all agree this is not only sexist but also completely hypocritical when you consider some of the distressing and inappropriate content that is allowed to flood our feeds on a daily basis.

The media have brainwashed us into hating our bodies. If we don't fit this 'ideal' image we are made to feel like outsiders, and I feel like this mindset of 'industry standards' is a huge contribution to the censorship we see across social media.
Women have been sexualised for advertising and marketing for decades, but the second an image of a REAL body is shown, all of sudden it is deemed as 'inappropriate' by social media. This needs to change!
We are ALL beautiful and worthy of being seen. Our bodies are amazing, scars, stretch marks and all, and it's time we were all celebrated not censored.

This campaign is here to support the breast cancer community and anyone who has been censored by social media. I hope this petition encourages platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter to reconsider the 'guidelines' and support these incredible communities.

www.instagram.com/tanyabuxton