Umbrella censorship on Instagram has been receiving flak for the longest time. Right from censoring women's nipples to deleting "objectionable" content, the photo-sharing app has been flayed for its double standards. It's believed that men face less scrutiny than women do on Instagram. And that is the reason why women have now resorted to changing their gender to male on the app.

As per reports by Huff Post, Michelle, a pole dancer, decided to change her gender to male on Instagram as according to her she found her "content engagement increased significantly when her profile was labelled as a male versus female." This triggered a movement on Instagram when an account @everybodyvisible encouraged women -- who've been discriminated against by the app -- to change their gender to male.  The people who have been at the receiving end are mostly pole dancers and fitness instructors. Reportedly, these accounts have seen an increase in engagement after switching the gender to male.

Instagram is accused of sexist censorship after many women complained about their accounts getting deleted. After changing their gender to male, the Instagram accounts that are benefitting the most are "pole dancers, fitness instructors, and sex workers". The problem in question is said to be caused by the new algorithm that hides any "inappropriate content" from the users.

An Instagram account that shared their story with EveryBODYVisible wrote in their post: "When my account @stripperwithacamera was deleted, it was without any warning, no notification of prior infractions, just gone. The story, the timeline of this journey and the documentation project was cut short and erased. While I have all the images still, the isolation from my community, the access to the safe and celebratory space I was intent on contributing to, has negatively impacted me as an artist. That’s 8500 people I am no longer connected to, almost two years of slowly building my page with curated images that I spent many hours choosing with intention and emotion. Gone. It’s heartbreaking.⁣"

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My name is Nicky Ninedoors, @the.nicky.ninedoors. I am a burlesque and exotic dancer based out of Vancouver, Canada. I love music, movement, and imagery with all my soul, and I know these pursuits will be with me throughout my whole life.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I started taking photographs in the club I worked at because I was taking videos to promote, and I loved capturing the beautiful moments I see on stage. I decided to bring in my camera and delve into live photography. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ From the first night I brought my camera in, I was hooked. Those fleeting moments created on stage became lasting, and the emotion and feeling within them became something I could return to over and over. And when I went through my own personal struggles, I could pick up my camera and try to capture the magic I was seeing, transforming any internal turmoil into creating art with people whom I adore.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Sharing the images to instagram helped me tell the world how much I love strippers. It helped me tell the world of the beauty, the resiliency, the strength and sensitivity in what we are doing. What I didn’t expect was the growth of the account, and how it would connect me to an international community of strippers and sex workers. Being able to hype up my people and remind my coworkers in this industry of how powerful they are became something I really cherished doing. And looking at my feed full of my peers doing what they do, being unapologetically themselves, helped me feel more secure in myself, too.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ When my account @stripperwithacamera was deleted, it was without any warning, no notification of prior infractions, just gone. The story, the time line of this journey and the documentation project was cut short and erased. While I have all the images still, the isolation from my community, the access to the safe and celebratory space I was intent on contributing to, has negatively impacted me as an artist. That’s 8500 people I am no longer connected to, almost two years of slowly building my page with curated images that I spent many hours choosing with intention and emotion. Gone. It’s heartbreaking.⁣ ⁣ CONTINUES IN COMMENTS ⁣- please help us ask IG to reinstate @stripperwithacamera

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"How did it feel to go through this? It felt as if someone put their hand over my mouth. My voice was gone. This is not just about my body. This is my voice. A part of my expression. I am a woman of agency and I do this of my own free will⁣", @prettyfunnyshow shared with EveryBODYVisible, explaining how they had their content removed from social media.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2019 04:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).