Hilarious #FreeTheNipple campaign calls out sexist social media rules

Nipples. We all have 'em, but for some reason men can get their's out in public while us gals must hide our's away like some kind of terribly shameful anatomical anomaly. Until recently, Instagram and Facebook had a strict 'no female nipples' policy. You could post a photo of a beheading, sure. But a boob? No way Jose. Because of a number of objections, the rule has been loosened somewhat... to allow for images of breastfeeding and mastectomies. Apart from that however, female nips are still not welcome on the World's largest social media networks. Now a campaign is underway to change the notion that women's nipples are somehow more offensive to look at than men's. Created by artist Micol Hebron, this tongue-in-cheek graphic has been shared hundreds of thousands of times over the weekend. The graphic has begun to inspire others to pitch in their own artistic efforts using the #Freethenipple hashtag.

fav pics #FREETHENIPPLEpic.twitter.com/CRCZ9qQcpF

— yas (@kiwibby) July 1, 2015

One Instagram user used the graphic 'pasties' to cover her own nipples in a top.less photo, adding: "Oh don't worry Instagram, I censored my nipples with my boyfriend's so nothing illegal here.

Bästa jag sett på länge #freethenipplepic.twitter.com/tAzBbNVaxy

— Hanna (@hannaweckman) July 6, 2015

Even celebrities have joined the crusade to free the female nipple, with Chelsea Handler, Scout Willis, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna showing their support for the campaign, which Handler says challenges the idea that "boobies are dangerous”. In Ireland, it might take a bit longer to reach a place where the sight of a woman's nipple no longer makes the villagers gasp in horror, but hopefully nipple hysteria is firmly on the way out. To find out more the #Freethenipple movement, watch Free the Nipple on Netflix.