Has Facebook and Instagram not learned from their mistakes of taking images of Tess Holliday in a bikini down? Apparently not! In the June 2016 issue of Singapore fashion magazine CLEO, these three women seen below, blogger Aarti Olivia Dubey, and her two friends were of course excited to be included in a fashion publication wearing bikinis. So they did what any other millennial would do and shared some behind the scenes photos on Instgram that were flagged and subsequently taken down.
Dubey decided to take things into her own hands and confront Instagram about their choice to take a harmless photo down all because some insecure trolls reported it. Even if a photo is reported, there has to be some reasoning involved to realize there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this image of women in bikinis. Dubey went on to say, “ Where is my freedom of speech as a plus sized blogger to post an image that resonated with so many and for all my posts as a plus sized person that give hope to my followers? Where is the justice in keeping terrible trolls and shamers and haters on the Internet while removing my image that is the antithesis of shaming or hating or trolling? What do you have as an explanation for this? Are you trying to tell me three brown fat women are more offensive than the muck and scum that you allow on IG? HOW IS THIS FAIR.”
The mere experience of being a curvy woman on the Internet is ridiculous these days—this picture being flagged and subsequently taken down is why messages of body positivity online need to be heard. There is no substitute for the truth, and the truth of the matter is that society still believes that nudity should only be shown in certain doses, sizes, weights, heights and colors.