YOUR FAVORITE MTV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

Sky Ferreira Reminds Us That There's Been Little Progress With Instagram Censorship

It's been two years since <i>Night Time, My Time</i> debuted, and she still can't show her album cover.

It's been two years since Sky Ferreira released her debut album, much to the delight of the synth pop lovers of the world, and on Thursday (Oct. 29), the singer wanted to celebrate with an Instagram tribute. But the album cover, which stirred up controversy back when it was released because it featured her topless, still can't be shown on the social site, which bans most nudity.

It's just another reminder that Instagram still hasn't fixed its sexist double standards.

"NIGHT TIME,MY TIME IS 2 YEARS OLD!...and I still can't post the actual album cover," Ferreira wrote on Instagram, posting a cropped version instead.

The photo, taken by filmmaker Gaspar Noé, shows the singer in the shower, her nipples exposed -- which doesn't fly with Instagram's Community guidelines, simply because they are female nipples. Dude nipples are A-OK though.

Instagram's double standard is echoed by those who continue to censor women's chests -- making them even easier to sexualize -- and Ferreira, a feminist, has always been adamant about defending nudity.

"I wasn't trying to sell sex," Ferreira, who is now working on second album Masochist, said when she visited MTV News in 2013. "Yeah, it's sexy and I don't think they're anything wrong with embracing your sexuality... I don't find nudity that big of a deal."

Instagram has come a little way since 2013. In April, they altered their guidelines to allow photos of "post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding." But its users have been fighting the photo-sharing site, saying that their rules are not only unfair, but are completely sexist.

Artist Petra Collins' account was deactivated around the time Ferreira was releasing Night Time, My Time, and she wrote an essay about the photo that got her handle taken down -- a snap of her in her underwear with pubic hair poking out.

Petra Collins

Petra Collins

"The deletion of my account felt like a physical act, like the public coming at me with a razor, sticking their finger down my throat, forcing me to cover up, forcing me to succumb to society's image of beauty," Collins wrote. "That these very real pressures we face everyday can turn into literal censorship."

And then there's been the experiments. One man posted a picture of his chest, which is allowed on Instagram, but when people told Instagram that it was a woman's chest, it was flagged and taken down. Only after they told Instagram that it was, indeed, a man's chest, they put it back up. Instagram could not tell the difference between a man and a woman's chest.

So the debate continues. Ferreira's album art has been censored for two years now. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer.

Latest News