Instagram Deleted Rupi Kaur's Photo Because It Showed Period Blood

Earlier this week, Toronto college student Rupi Kaur posted this photo to her Instagram account. instagram.com / Via Instagram: @rupikaur_ The next day, Instagram removed the photo, claiming it violated Community Guidelines. instagram.com It’s from a photoseries Kaur created with her sister as a final project for a college course. The project is meant to “demystify the period and make something that is innate ‘normal.’” rupikaur.com After it was removed, Kaur re-posted the photo pointing out that it does not violate Instagram’s stated guidelines. The guidelines state that users are prohibited from sharing content that: belongs to someone else, shows nudity, mature, or illegal content, or promotes or glorifies self-harm, none of which Kaur believes her photo did. Via instagram.com When Instagram deleted it a second time, Kaur posted it on Facebook, with an open letter to Instagram protesting the removal. Facebook: rupikaurpoetry “I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be okay with a small leak,” she wrote on her Facebook page . And then by Thursday morning, the post had reappeared on Kaur’s Instagram page with an apology. The photo sharing app claimed the image’s removal was a mistake. A spokesperson from Instagram told BuzzFeed Life via email: “When our team processes reports from other members of the Instagram community, we occasionally make a mistake. In this case, we wrongly removed content and worked to rectify the error as soon as we were notified. We apologize for any inconvenience.” rupikaur.com Kaur celebrated the return of her photos with a post on — yes — Instagram. instagram.com Buzz Feed