Couple helping breast cancer survivors get tattooed nipples are kicked off Instagram in porn row
- 6 months ago
A couple helping breast cancer survivors get tattooed nipples have been kicked off Instagram – after pictures of the artwork was flagged as PORN.
Tattoo artist Katie Phillips and her husband Lawrence offered to help a charity which provides women with 3D body art following mastectomies.
The couple, who run Circle of Swords tattooists in Worcester, offered to hold a tattoo ‘flash day’ event on October 29.
Proceeds from the day will go to the Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance (MTA) which offers areola tattoos to women recovering from breast cancer.
To promote the event, Katie and Lawrence posted pictures of the procedure on Instagram but the images were removed for being “inappropriate”.
Lawrence said: "It is incredibly frustrating as it is really difficult to explain what nipple tattooing is without showing it.
"The process involves tattooing nipples, and some other designs as well, to help women feel like themselves again.
"Due to there being a whole issue with female nipples we cannot properly promote it on social media.
"When my wife has been posting about the event, she has been using some of the promo material from the charity which features tattooed nipples and the images keep getting flagged as inappropriate."
People will be able to walk-in on the day and pick a design from the flash sheet before getting tattooed with all proceeds going to the charity.
Katie said: "The most annoying thing is we do not often promote our own work that much but as this is a charity event we want to promote it but it cannot be done.
"It is just a shame because it is a great cause, it is tattoo-related and we are friends with the organisers as well."
The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance (MTA) was founded by Tanya Buxton in 2021 and
was created to help support breast cancer survivors reclaim their bodies after mastectomy surgeries.
MTA provide "life-changing and empowering" areola-nipple tattoos and mastectomy tattoos for people who have had breast cancer.
They say the tattoos help people reclaim their body and confidence after surgery.
The charity launched the campaign Celebrated Not Censored saying social media constantly remove the images claiming they “violate community guidelines on sexual and nudity activity”.
The charity added: "It is both an outdated and sexist attitude towards the female body.
“This also prevents an incredibly positive service reaching survivors."
Tattoo artist Katie Phillips and her husband Lawrence offered to help a charity which provides women with 3D body art following mastectomies.
The couple, who run Circle of Swords tattooists in Worcester, offered to hold a tattoo ‘flash day’ event on October 29.
Proceeds from the day will go to the Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance (MTA) which offers areola tattoos to women recovering from breast cancer.
To promote the event, Katie and Lawrence posted pictures of the procedure on Instagram but the images were removed for being “inappropriate”.
Lawrence said: "It is incredibly frustrating as it is really difficult to explain what nipple tattooing is without showing it.
"The process involves tattooing nipples, and some other designs as well, to help women feel like themselves again.
"Due to there being a whole issue with female nipples we cannot properly promote it on social media.
"When my wife has been posting about the event, she has been using some of the promo material from the charity which features tattooed nipples and the images keep getting flagged as inappropriate."
People will be able to walk-in on the day and pick a design from the flash sheet before getting tattooed with all proceeds going to the charity.
Katie said: "The most annoying thing is we do not often promote our own work that much but as this is a charity event we want to promote it but it cannot be done.
"It is just a shame because it is a great cause, it is tattoo-related and we are friends with the organisers as well."
The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance (MTA) was founded by Tanya Buxton in 2021 and
was created to help support breast cancer survivors reclaim their bodies after mastectomy surgeries.
MTA provide "life-changing and empowering" areola-nipple tattoos and mastectomy tattoos for people who have had breast cancer.
They say the tattoos help people reclaim their body and confidence after surgery.
The charity launched the campaign Celebrated Not Censored saying social media constantly remove the images claiming they “violate community guidelines on sexual and nudity activity”.
The charity added: "It is both an outdated and sexist attitude towards the female body.
“This also prevents an incredibly positive service reaching survivors."