This Woman Wants Instagram (& the World) to Know Periods Are Totally Normal

Photo: rupikaur/Instagram

Like many women around the world, Rupi Kaur gets her period every month. Shocker! It’s not a bodily function that receives much attention, but it’s certainly not something to be ashamed about; it’s about as normal as breathing. Kaur, a poet, publicized her menstruation in a photo series posted to Instagram. Unfortunately, the social media site, which has guidelines that prohibit nudity, sexual acts and violence, deemed an image of the Canadian sleeping with a blood stain on her pajama bottoms and sheets, a violation.

In order for a post to be removed, it must be flagged as inappropriate by users and then reviewed by the Instagram team. Kaur, recognizing she was well within her rights to display the photo, continued to repost the image while adding it to various other sites. “Thank you Instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique,” she wrote on Facebook. “I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in underwear but not be okay with a small leak.”

Kaur, who is from Toronto, Ontario, explained that the shot is part of a series aimed at demystifying the period. Her project’s intended to “make something that is innate ‘normal’ again.” The post eventually caught the attention of Instagram after it was “liked” by more than 50,000 users and shared nearly 12,000 times, and social media platform restored the original post. Instagram apologized “for any inconvenience,” admitting that it occasionally makes mistakes. The 22-year-old shared the news with yet another post thanking her fans and supporters.

Perhaps this serves as a wakeup call to anyone who thinks getting your period is embarrassing (it’s not). At the very least, it’s one more strong example of why Instagram needs to rethink their policing policies.

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