Comment Casanovas shines a spotlight on all the sleazy comments left on women’s Instagram photos – so why did Instagram take it down?
The Internet, and Instagram particularly, can be a difficult place to be a woman – and even more so if you're a beautiful woman in the public eye. But one Instagram account is dedicated to calling out all the creepers and sleazes who populate the world's most popular photography app. Comment Casanovas offers a tongue-in-cheek look at the casual misogyny experienced by many women online, by highlighting some of the most extreme examples of gross lechery and naming their offenders.
In an interview with Galore Mag, Comment Casanovas' anonymous founder explained that he set up the account originally for fun, but along the way realised that Instagram had a casual misogyny problem. "As I spent more and more time trawling pages to find content, I became increasingly shocked and disgusted,” he said. “The proliferation of unsolicited, crude, sexual and absolutely disgusting comments was nothing short of horrifying. After a while, I realized there was more to this than humor. It became evident that these kind of comments are an epidemic on Instagram.”
Although some of the comments, taken in isolation are kind of funny (sample: Nice tits. From Dave) when viewed as a composite you do realise the extent to which Instagram is populated by creepy dudes who feel entitled to objectify and in some cases harass women online without fear of repurcussion. And even Queen Bey isn't free from online lechery, with one user asking the multimillionaire (and married) recording artist to help him lose his virginity.
Along the way, Comment Casanovas has received some flak itself, not least from the irate guys embarassed at being called out publcly online. One reported the account (which has 41k followers) to the Instagram moderators, resulting in Comment Casanovas temporarily being taken down (although the site was subsequently restored). Commenting on Instagram's temporary deletion of the account, the founder said "I think Instagram’s censorship in this instance is ridiculous. I am not creating any offensive content, I’m simply compiling content that is already on the platform in a creative way to make a statement. A statement that women are being openly harassed thousands of times, if not millions of times a day. My aim was to bring this issue to light and cause people to think twice about posting these type of unsolicited comments in the future. The only way to change people’s behavior is for their actions to have consequences."
Creepy Instagram dudes – watch out. Comment Casanovas is coming for you.