This Fierce Trainer Is Firing Back After Instagram Deleted a Photo of Her Cellulite
By Marissa G. Muller. Photos: Courtesy of Instagram, Courtesy of King.
While Instagram has become a beloved platform for posts that spark conversations about self-love and body inclusivity, it also has a track record of allegedly deleting those same kinds of posts, which don't seem to be in violation of their rules. For instance, there was a time three curvy girls showed off their adorable swimsuits only for the picture to allegedly be deleted, or when Instagram was accused of removing a photo of a fully clothed woman with period blood-stained pants. Instagram also [deleted] a partially clothed woman's "booty appreciation" selfie, only to later apologize for removing it.
"We try hard to find a good balance between allowing people to express themselves creatively and keeping Instagram a fun and safe place," a rep said at the time. "Our guidelines put limitations on nudity and mature content, but we recognize that we don’t always get it right. In this case, we made a mistake and have since restored the content."
Perhaps Instagram made another mistake when it allegedly removed a recent photo taken by fitness blogger Mallory King. The picture in question was a response to trolls who jumped at King in her comments section after she posted a photo proudly revealing her cellulite. King's next move was to post a side-by-side photo of herself with her cellulite front and center as she was giving the middle finger, on the right, and giving a thumbs up with her boyfriend, on the left. "To that guy who made a negative comment about my cellulite yesterday," she wrote in the photo's caption, as Cosmopolitan.com points out. "There are so many worse things in life than cellulite, like your shitty attitude. Let people do whatever the fuck they want and look however they please and post whatever makes them happy. Find a hobby and worry about ya damn self."
However, once the photo was regrammed by @SundayMorningView, it was mysteriously deleted.
King commented on the removal of the photo in another post, writing, "If you follow @sundaymorningview you probably saw the image they posted of me that's very similar to this one except I was giving the middle finger to the haters that leave negative comments about my cellulite. The image blew up, getting an overwhelmingly positive response. Well, that image was deleted by @instagram this morning. This upsets me for two reasons 1) Why do thousands of posts go unremoved that show butts and boobs in WAY more vulgar ways than mine? Is it because my cellulite is offensive? Is it because I'm not trying to be sexy? Is it because I don't have the body type that is continuously shared on here? 2) Why are people so threatened by a woman unafraid of showing her body and speaking her mind? People used the excuse that their kid could see the photo. Don't let your kid on social media! No, that's not it. It's either people feel threatened by my fierceness or people are so brainwashed by media that a perfect pair of tits or butt is fine to flash but a body that's outside of the norm is offensive. Fuck that. Y'all can report my photos as much as you want, I'm gonna keep sharing them because the world needs more women unashamed of their bodies and unafraid to share their voice."
Instagram's website clearly states that the number of times a photo gets reported doesn't actually make the company remove the photo. So, if Mallory King's picture was in fact deleted, it's not because people reported it. It also doesn't seem like the photo violated nudity guidelines, which state that you cannot post "photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks." As Cosmopolitan.com notes, the possible use of the middle finger isn't a violation either, as there are currently more than 370,000 posts hashtagged with #middlefinger..
We've reached out to Instagram for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
This story originally appeared on Allure.
More from Allure:
10 Celebrity Hairstyles That Make You Look 10 Years Younger
Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape
The 9 Prettiest Date-Night Makeup Looks
7 Weird Tricks Stars Use for Looking Great in Photos
