EDGEWATER — Three days after taking it down, Instagram has reinstated the account for The TaTa Top — a company that sells bikini tops and is dedicated to raising money for breast health and highlighting double-standards between the sexes when it comes to local nudity laws.
The company's Instagram page and its 27,000 followers were surprised to learn Friday the account had been disabled by the social media site for allegedly violating its terms.
But by Monday morning owner Michelle Lytle said she could again access her account.
Lytle said the page returned after proving ownership of the company to Instagram, though she has not yet been given an explanation as to why her content was removed at all.
Instagram did not respond to request for comment.
She said her company didn't break any of the site's rules in the first place — in particular when it comes to nudity.
"The good news is this basically means we are not violating anything, even though we already knew that," Lytle told DNAinfo Monday.
Now that her account has received Instagram's "stamp of approval," Lytle said the whole experience is "even more ridiculous" because it highlights the site's tendency to censor women's bodies.
As Lytle explained: "A nipple that is printed on a piece of cloth and worn on top of a breast is ok; a nipple on a man is ok; a close up shot of a nipple where you can't tell if it's a man or a woman, is ok ... however, a nipple that is very clearly on a woman is not ok.
"That's pretty significant."
The top began as a way to protest local laws that prevented women from going topless at Chicago's beaches, but Lytle and her wife Robyn knew they would have to be clever on how they designed the product in order to avoid situations such as the Instagram incident.
The TaTa Top consists mainly of a line of flesh-colored bikini tops that depict male nipples because Chicago municipal code bans women from showing "any portion of the breast at or below the upper edge of the areola." The indecent exposure law that can carry fines of $100 to $500 for each offense.
Because the law allows for men to publicly expose their nipples, the TaTa Top is billed as a bikini top that shows male nipples instead.
"We very clearly stated on our bio that there was absolutely no nudity in any of the photos," Lytle said. "This is a cartoon representation of a male nipple."
Instagram bans "content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks," as well as nipples on women, though it does allow for men's bare chests and photos of breastfeeding, as well as "nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures."
Lytle said she plans to take things a "step further" in the near future, including compiling instances of Instagram censoring women.
She doesn't want what happened to her to be repeated, she said.
"Just because they restored our account doesn't make up for all of the accounts they haven't restored that we don't even know about because those people don't have a voice," she said. "I am definitely not done with this battle."
By Monday morning, the page's Instagram account had been reinstated. [Screenshot/The TaTa Top Instagram]
