After James insisted the image only featured male nipples, moderators agreed to re-post it

He posted a photo of 'acceptable' male nipples which was removed within hours after objections from other users who were told it was a woman

that still exists between the sexes on social media

One nipple may look very much like another, but when it comes to social media, it has become very clear that all chests are not equal, particularly when it comes to men and women's bodies.

And one man has taken it upon himself to 'expose', quite literally, the inconsistencies and gender inequality that still exists on Instagram by proving that, despite looking incredibly similar up-close, men and women’s nipples will likely never be treated the same by moderators on the app.

To test his theory, James Shamsi, who was born in London but now lives in Los Angeles, posted a close-up image of a pair of nipples onto the photo-sharing app, where it remained without issue – until moderators were made to believe that the nipples pictured actually belonged to a woman

Provocative: James Shamsi posted a zoomed in Instagram photo a chest that he knew to male. However it closely resembled female breasts and called on his Facebook friends to report the image as inappropriate

Help: Since the nipples look as though they could be those of a woman, he suspected that if reported, Instagram would remove the image and asked his Facebook friends to report the image to test his theory

Removed: The photo was indeed removed by Instagram, but when he told the company that it was actually a snapshot of a male chest, the picture went back up

As part of his online test of the #FreeTheNipple movement, James posted a random photo on Instagram that he found online of a bare-chested man with areolae larger that the typical male's.

He then put out a call to his Facebook friends to help him test his theory about whether Instagram would remove the image – no matter what it looked like – only when admins were made to believe the nipples pictured belonged to a woman.

'I saw a lot of posts recently about #FreeTheNipple by friends, so I started looking into it just this week,' James told the DailyDot.

'Soon enough I realized Instagram's (and societies) policies are still a little archaic when it comes to the perception of the Human chest. So, I wanted to see for myself and prove to Instagram just how silly their policies are.'

Provocative: James Shamsi, who was born in London but now lives in Los Angeles, posted a close-up image of a pair of nipples onto the photo-sharing app, where it remained until moderators were made to believe they belonged to a woman

Making a point: Last June, Associate Professor Micol Hebron brilliantly suggested that women simply paste male nipples over their own female ones and created this template last year to protest the nudity guidelines

Be free: The issue of 'nipple rules' has taken the internet by storm as more and more women are highlighting the 'sexist' double standard on social media

James posted the image to Instagram, knowing full well that he had violated none of the app’s policies – before spreading the word among his friends and family to try and convince them to report the image as being inappropriate.

Sure enough, as he predicted, within hours of the posting the image, it was taken down just hours later after multiple users reported it.

A day later however, Instagram reinstated the photo, after James explained that they were nipples from a male.

'For me, reinstating the photo was them acknowledging the silliness of their own policies, [it] goes to show just how little difference there is for both male and female nipples... All the feedback I've received so far has been overwhelmingly positive,' he told Attn.

A spokesperson for Instagram told Daily Mail Online that the app's moderation policies are born out of a desire to find the right balance between users being able to freely express themselves - and feel totally comfortable with the content that they are exposed to.

'Standards around nudity vary greatly by culture, country, age, and other factors,' the spokesperson explained.

Double standard: Aline Nilsson (pictured), 20, from Sweden, used the male nipple template created by artist Micol Hebron to cover her areolas in this photo, which was reported on Instagram

Work of art: This Instagram user photo editing to cover her own nipple with this image of a man'sin order to get around the Instagram 'nipple' guidelines

'Our goal has always been to find a balance between enabling people to express themselves, while also making sure that our large, diverse, global community feels comfortable. Striking the right balance is hard - and examples like this highlight the complexity of this issue.

'As always, we continue to analyse our policies to make sure that we’re listening to people and meeting the needs of our global community.'

This latest demonstration is a part of the Free the Nipple campaign, an equality movement that uses social media and film to fight against censorship laws in the US, where it is illegal in 37 states for women to appear topless.

The campaign also aims to desexualize women's nipples on social media.

According to Instagram's nudity guidelines, 'some photos of female nipples' are banned, 'but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed'.

And Facebook's nudity guidelines, which are similar, state: 'We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring.'

Photo fun: This woman covered her breast a cut-out photo of a mans nipple

James is not the only person to try and draw attention to the double standards of censorship that occur on the female body.

Last June, artist Micol Hebron, from California, introduced an idea of covering female nipples with that of males, explaining: 'If you are going to post pictures of topless women, please use this acceptable male nipple template to cover over the unacceptable female nipples.'

A year later Micol's concept appeared to have taken the internet by storm as women continue to grow increasingly frustrated with their topless photos being removed from Instagram and Facebook - where exposing any portion of the areola is deemed inappropriate.

Women from all over the world have joined the movement to protest the controversial nudity guidelines on Facebook and Instagram.