Instagram accused of sexism after suspending account used to promote male naked charity calendar

The Warwick Rowers believe that "keeping men's bodies hidden is an expression of heterosexual male power”

(Warwick Rowers)

Instagram is in the midst of a sexism row after being accused of taking a stricter line on male nudity than female nudity.

This comes after the photo-sharing website suspended an account used by a university rowing club to promote their naked charity calendars.

The Warwick Rowers, who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity over the past decade, have won an army of fans for their risqué images including the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue and Stephen Fry.

While most of the models are heterosexual, the calendars have built a large following among the LGBT+ community with many of the calendar’s proceeds going to Sport Allies, an organisation which works to eliminate homophobia in sports through education and support of young LGBT athletes.

Despite their popular and charitable work, the team announced on Twitter this week that their Instagram account had been suspended without warning, following a series of posts being deleted by the platform.

“As you may have noticed, our Instagram account has been permanently deactivated without any reason communicated to us,” they wrote.

“We’re hoping this is a mistake and are waiting for them to allow us back on the platform to keep spreading our message.”

(Warwick Rowers)

In an open letter reported in The Times, the team criticise Instagram for allowing provocative images of women to remain online and insist that their images do not violate the platform’s nudity guidelines which forbid pictures of “'sexual intercourse, genitals and close-ups of fully nude buttocks.”

“Accounts that feature similar levels of female nudity, often presented in a far more sexualised and exploitative manner than the images featuring the Warwick Rowers, are left alone to post whatever they like,” they wrote.

(Warwick Rowers)

“We believe that keeping men's bodies hidden is an expression of heterosexual male power.”

Instagram has since reinstated the Warwick Rowers’ account, claiming that it was “removed in error”.

Announcing the reinstatement on Twitter, the rowing team said: “We want to thank @thetimes along with the many other media sources who ran the story of our removal from Instagram and the many supporters who fought our corner.

“With your help, we are back! Challenging power is about making the invisible visible, and we will fight on.”

The Independent has contacted Instagram for comment.