Instagram censors #VaginalCancer hashtag, allows #VaginalSteaming

It's no secret that Instagram has an issue with nudity. Nipples are famously not free on the Meta-owned social media platform. And now, posts about a gynaecological cancer are being censored by the platform.

Instagram has hidden the #VaginalCancer hashtag, prompting outrage from gynaecological cancer charity The Eve Appeal.

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In a series of tweets, the organisation — which raises awareness and funds research for the five main gynaecological cancers — flagged that the words "this hashtag is hidden" appear when you try to click on the #VaginalCancer post hashtag. The message reads: "Posts for #VaginalCancer have been limited because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram's Community Guidelines."

Athena Lamnisos, CEO of The Eve Appeal told Mashable in a statement: "The Eve Appeal is the only charity sharing awareness of the signs, symptoms and risk factors for all five gynaecological cancers. One of these is vaginal cancer. We have a policy of only using proper anatomical words – no euphemisms and no substitute letters or symbols. Using these words is critical – it makes it clear that there’s no shame or taboo around these cancers."

The Eve Appeal first discovered that the hashtag was hidden when they posted someone's story of vaginal cancer on their website and Instagram, using the #VaginalCancer hashtag.

"At the end of last week, we shared a woman's story of being diagnosed and treated for vaginal cancer, and all of the amazing work she has done to raise awareness and talk about her experience for the benefit of others since. We used the hashtag #VaginalCancer," said Lamnisos. "We then had the shock of finding out that his hashtag was blocked as it 'didn't meet community guidelines'. Women diagnosed with gynae cancers and the clinicians who treat them flooded us with questions about why there was censorship on an information post sharing life-saving health information."

This isn't the first time The Eve Appeal has noticed vagina-related content being hidden on the social media platform.

As Lamnisos explained: "We have been here before with the word #Vagina. In 2021 during a campaign we noticed #Vagina was blocked and we launched a petition to get this changed. We had a really productive conversation with Instagram who unblocked it."

Lamnisos added that it's "really disappointing" to see #VaginalCancer is hidden on Instagram. "How can a type of cancer break community guidelines? Hashtags like #VaginalCancer help us, a gynaecological cancer charity, share evidence-based health information about these too little-known diseases. This hashtag being blocked is literally stopping us raising awareness and also compounding the shame, stigma and taboo that already surrounds gynaecological health."

The Eve Appeal has reached out to Instagram and requested to speak to the social media company about getting the hashtag unblocked. Mashable has also contacted Instagram for a comment, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

Journalist and author of Losing It, Sophia Smith Galer, pointed out that the #VaginalSteaming hashtag is not hidden, however. In fact, 150K posts tagged with this hashtag are visible. Vaginal steaming — aka "V-steaming" or "yoni steaming," is a practice rooted in health misinformation and popularised by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chrissy Teigen. Gynaecologist Dr. Jen Gunter wrote in her book The Vagina Bible that vaginal steaming "involves sitting over a pot of steaming herbs." "If any vapors even made it to the vagina, they could irritate — and of course, steam can burn. If air is introduced along with the steam, that could favor the growth of dangerous bacteria."

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So, what is the impact of censoring posts about vaginal cancer? Lamnisos told Mashable the social media platform is fueling shame and stigma.

"Women who are diagnosed with a gynae cancer often wrongly face shame around their diagnosis, and it's upsetting to see a huge platform like Instagram reinforce that stigma by sending a message that their cancer type is somehow 'inappropriate' for their platform," said Lamnisos. "Women who take the incredibly brave steps to push past the societal stigma to raise awareness to help save other people’s lives should not have to deal with being told their story is 'offensive or inappropriate.'"