Women’s bodies should not be censored nor have their photos taken down because they don’t fit society’s idea of beauty. Social medias have been taking down pictures, that may not have intended to be scandalous, while they leave up violent videos. Parents try to shield their children from such material constantly. When others complain or report these images it seems as though they are offended by their own anatomy.

Women who do not have perfect bodies have their photos taken down whereas models’ photos are all over social medias. A woman named Petra Collins wrote an article about how a photograph of her in a bikini was taken off of Instagram for inappropriate content, she claims because of her unkempt body. Her article stated that “I did nothing that violated the terms of use. No nudity, violence, lawful, hateful, or infringing imagery. What I did have was an image of MY body that didn’t meet society’s standard of ‘femininity’.” There are thousands of others, currently about 11,237,843 pictures, under the hashtag bikini that did not have their photos taken down. That’s because a large number of these people are celebrities, models, or a business trying to endorse a product. The photos may have exactly the same amount of skin showing, possibly even more, but those with a more appealing appearance have their photos remaining. Many breast cancer survivors had their photos removed from Facebook after they posted pictures of their mastectomies, to show their scars. All they wanted to do was show they survived but, even though they may have no remaining breast tissue left, it was too obscene.

Along with taking down the breast cancer survivors photos, Facebook allowed a very violent video of beheading to remain on the site. “Traditionally being forced strict on nudity and sex but allow for gracious levels of violence I films, TV shows, and video games,” it states in an article on Moral Communitiies. Movie ratings with strong violence are as low as PG but if a woman in a movie were to appear topless ratings would quickly change to R or even NC-17. Petra Collins states in her article that “TMZ requested to interview me about my T-shirt but then cancelled because the image was ‘too explicit for television’- whereas during Rihanna’s abuse scandal her beaten up face was broadcast hundreds of times.” Medias seem to think nudity is more obscene than violence.
Many parents would argue that they do not want their children exposed to such material. Many parents block certain television channels and do not allow their children to use social medias to limit the information their children receive. “With censorship parents can prevent their kids from being exposed to such topics at a young age,” it states on APECSEC. Parents hear about a topless woman and instantly shield their children, though if a topless male were to appear they would act as if it were nothing. They don’t seem to be worried about the violent graphics in their child’s video games but they seem to worry about women on social media expressing themselves.

It seems as though these parents are offended by their own anatomy. “Making people ignorant of things they ought to know,” it states on APECSEC. Children are often curious about the female body but parents treat it as a taboo topic. The health and sex education classes show bare bodies but when it is only a girl in a bikini on social media it is taken down. The problem is that “The idea that the female body in inherently seen as a sexualized object and the only view that matters is a man’s view of a women’s body,” it states on Moral Communities.  Instead of shielding children they should be taught not to objectify women.

The point is not to encourage a shirtless world, but to raise awareness on the way the female body if discriminated against.  Whether it is because our bodies are imperfect, because children are ‘too sensitive’, or because violence is more accepted than a topless photograph, our bodies are works of art that we should be able to express freely without being censored.