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'Nipple artists' to protest outside Facebook London HQ on September 1st

16/8/2021, 10:26 am

Frustrated medical areola, or ‘nipple' artists, are set to turn up in huge numbers outside Facebook's London HQ on September 1st wearing inflatable boobs to show the social media giant they have a voice.

The aim of the campaign is for all medical tattoo artists and breast cancer survivors to be able to freely post images without being blocked and subsequently losing their account for days, or even weeks, on end.

The campaign is being spearheaded by medical tattooist Vicky Martin, the founder of World Medical Artists, a platform where nipple artists globally can be found by those with breast cancer who are in need of their services. Says Vicky:

Facebook's community guidelines already claim to allow post-mastectomy images, and all we are asking for is for them to fix their algorithms to match their guidelines. Breast cancer patients do not know that there is an army of artists on their doorstep and this needs to change urgently. The frustration lies with artists being unable to show the world via social media how incredible you can look after breast cancer.

Taania Wood is a micropigmentation specialist, and ‘nipple artist', based in Storrington, West Sussex. Taania’s passion is medical tattooing but as a relative newcomer to the industry, she is finding it frustrating and challenging to spread the word about the life-changing treatments she offers.

The work she does is hard to promote due to the algorithms of social media giants like Facebook, which is why she is attending the event on September 1st. Speaking about the event, Taania says:

Social media platforms are so valuable and important to medical tattoo artists and also to patients who have gone through mastectomy and breast reconstruction. They're one of the best ways to connect with others going through a similar journey but right now they're penalising people with breast cancer unnecessarily. The ridiculous thing is that both Facebook and Instagram Community Guidelines clearly state they DO allow post-mastectomy images yet their algorithms are designed to red flag any such images as porn, resulting in posts being blocked and our social media accounts being suspended and even closed completely. Having worked in IT myself for 20 years, I know this shouldn’t be difficult to fix. That’s why I’m supporting World Medical Artists and Standing Up to Facebook on September 1st in London.

Taania practising 3D nipple tattooing
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