Beautiful (Picture: Instagram/Pink Ink Fund/Amy Black)

The Pink Ink Fund’s photos of mastectomy tattoos are beautiful and inspiring, but sexually suggestive? Not so much.

However, that’s the reasoning Instagram gave when they deleted the account on November 14.

The account is run by tattoo artist Amy Black, who has been creating post-mastectomy tattoos after a breast cancer survivor approached her with a request in 2010.

Having seen how much the tattoo helped the woman, Black decided to set up her charity, which helps with funding and education for those who are interested in post-mastectomy tattoos.


The Instagram account is filled with amazing stories and inspirational photos of women celebrating their bodies after cancer.



Which is why Black was shocked when her account was shut down.

When she saw it had been disabled, she emailed Instagram assuming it as a mistake.

However, they responded on 17 November saying it was not a mistake . It was because the photos were ‘sexually suggestive’ and contained nudity.

Black told BuzzFeed: ‘I was very careful and always noted with text on the picture, comments, and hashtags that this was a breast cancer survivor or a mastectomy tattoo.’

She was angered by the double standard of deleting a cancer charity’s account, while still allowing the ‘soft porn’ she saw in her feed.

Her followers, including Orange Is The New Black actress Jessica Pimentel, took the Twitter to voice their outrage.

Really @instagram? I see a lot of nudity on your site and #pinkinkfund is not sexual in content https://t.co/ysXJE23cEI — Jessica Pimentel (@TheCrusher007) November 15, 2015

@AmyBlackTattoos @pinkinkfund Beautiful, gorgeous, life-affirming. Only a warped mind (or coward ) would find these photos obscene. — Julie Barnes Weaver (@julieweaver63) November 18, 2015

Since the uproar, Instagram have gone back on their prior email to Black, apologising for their ‘mistake’ and reinstating her account.

Black told BuzzFeed: ‘Even though they reactivated my account, I hope speaking out about it will hopefully stop Instagram from doing this again and make them change their standards.’

Instagram told Metro.co.uk: ‘We wrongly removed this account and immediately worked to fix the error as soon as we learned of it. We are very sorry for the mistake.’

They have clarified that they allow images of post-mastectomy scarring and that a mistake was made in this instance.

MORE: Breast cancer survivor shows off the tattoos that helped her reclaim her scars after double mastectomy

MORE: Why one woman chose to reclaim her cancer scars with beautiful mastectomy tattoo

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