Recently I saw the documentary The Divided Brain (check out Vimeo!) where Dr. Iain McGilchrist explains the difference and workings of the two brain hemispheres.

 

To my understanding of the documentary, the right hemisphere is capable of seeing the bigger picture. It tries to make sense of what is seen, it interprets and associates. The left hemisphere focuses on the details, it tries to categorise the objects in the scene and is not able to see the bigger picture.

 

To Iain McGilchrist our current society is lead by people mostly using their left brain. Looking at the current sensorship rules on Instagram I certainly think for this platform this is the case.

Why does this platform choose to ban the nipple, and yes, the nipple and private parts, but it chooses not to ban seductive looking women trying to swallow a banana?

 

To consider an image as suggestive is the result of the right hemisphere. It considers all of is parts, determines its meaning and labels the complete image as suggestive. It is the left brain that categorises the individual elements within the image as suggestive.

 

I would plea for a change of perspective, and focus more on seeing with the right brain hemisphere. A nude body is normal, the pose of the body, the setting or the activity of the body can make it suggestive. We need our right brain to judge the complete image, not just it's parts.