Florence Pugh poked fun at Instagram’s double standards when it comes to male and female nipples after making an appearance at Valentino’s latest fashion show.
The Oscar nominee was among the A-list guests at the event earlier this week, where she posed for photographers in a sheer fuchsia gown.
After the show, she posted pictures of herself taken to her personal Instagram page, including some in which her exposed nipples were visible.
“Technically they’re covered?” she joked, referring to Instagram’s nudity guidelines that forbid female users from posting pictures of their nipples, despite men being allowed to.
The Midsommar star added: “Feeling magical in [Valentino]... [Pierpaolo Piccioli, Italian fashion designer], you absolute genius. Stunning. Stunning. Stunning evening.
“Thank you again, my beautiful team, for making my pink princess dreams come true.”
In Instagram’s community guidelines it says: “For a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks.
“It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos in the context of breastfeeding, birth giving and after-birth moments, health-related situations (for example, post-mastectomy, breast cancer awareness or gender confirmation surgery) or an act of protest are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.”
Florence is not the only public figure to call out Instagram’s rule, though.
Last year, Madonna blasted the photo-sharing site for removing photos she’d posted in which her bare nipples were exposed.
“It is still astounding to me that we live in a culture that allows every inch of a woman’s body to be shown except a nipple,” the pop icon wrote. “As if that is the only part of a woman’s anatomy that could be sexualised. The nipple that nourishes the baby!
“Can’t a mans nipple be experienced as erotic??!! And what about a woman’s ass which is never censored anywhere.”
A spokesperson for Meta, the company behind Instagram, told HuffPost UKat the time: “While we understand not everyone will always agree with where we draw the line, our rules are designed to help keep everyone of all ages safe on our apps, while giving space for as much expression as possible.”
Rihanna was similarly vocal when Instagram removed a photo she’d posted of her exposed breasts back in 2014, while Miley Cyrus has also lent her voice to the “Free The Nipple” campaign.
At the time of writing, Florence’s photos remain active on her page.