Fatphobia that leads to censorship on social media poses a particularly frustrating challenge for historians (like myself) trying to educate the public on the history of fashion, gender, and media. Body positivity influencers have often noted that apps like instagram and TikTok will remove their images more frequently than they will images of their thinner counterparts. Today, in response to a request from dozens (if not hundreds) of my TikTok followers, I posted a fun video (below) about Hilda, a famous plus-sized character created by Duane Bryers. This video was removed after a few hours.
While I have posted a number of videos featuring historical pin-ups, the only other time I had a video removed was when it included images of Hilda. Some commenters suggested that the use of the censor bar may have triggered the algorithm. However, I have posted at least one other video that included multiple censor bars for art from the 1930’s, and that video was not removed. This leads me to believe that it was removed because people are reporting the videos with Hilda en masse.
While I try to be entertaining and silly for most of my TikTok videos, I do want to educate and provide historical analyses as well. Hilda is worth analyzing, not only because of her increased popularity among audiences today, but also because she contrasts with other pinup models from the same era. This contrast is not just in her body type, but also in her carefree nature. I had planned on making a video comparing Hilda with frogs (as seen in the clips above) with other contemporary pinup art to argue that Hilda embodies an alternative form of femininity that is in tune with nature, rather than is scared of it. This I now plan to make as a blog post instead.
As a historian in the public I have to consider what material to cover, and that includes what historical material the platforms allow. Clearly the above art, even when censored, crosses lines with audiences on TikTok. But what about art from the Renaissance? Michelangelo loved painting and sculpting a nude figure. I also have wanted to do a series on Minoan women, but much of that art features women with bare chests, and as such I have not posted it.
Then, I go back to the figures in question–would this art be allowed (or not reported) if they only showed thin feminine physiques? Perhaps. This is why I have decided to start this blog, in hopes of spreading awareness of historical topics and sharing historical art that includes bodies that might be removed from other social media platforms.
Pinup Historian 