Founded by actress and filmmaker Lina Esco, its goal is pretty self-explanatory – to shatter our oversexualised perceptions of the female body. “Just 100 years ago it was considered obscene and illegal to show an ankle, but one day we will look back at the nipple in the same way,” Lina explains. “A woman topless does NOT equal to nudity. It's about having the choice.”
Born out of desperation and despondency, Amber Amour started the #StopRapeEducate campaign after she was sexually assaulted by her roommate last year. “The cops managed to get a recorded confession (from him), but still told me they needed more evidence,” she remembers. “I lost hope in our justice system at that point and decided to do something about it”. And so she did –first by scribbling damning chalk art across New York City, then by starting an Instagram that is flooded with shocking statistics. Now, Amber is developing educational initiatives and also has a world tour on her agenda. “I hope that my account inspires people around the world to stay positive,” she says. “If it changes even one life, I'll be happy.”
A photographer who (rightfully) describes himself as a "photographer with a conscience". “What attracted me to Instagram was its ability to share with a wider audience the stories I see everyday”, says the photographer. His personal account (along with @everydayblackamerica) is a visual commentary on the black American experience – from the streets of his local community to the rallies of the Black Panthers and the KKK- a world that is rarely seen or mostly ignored. “If I am able to make White America, or the wider sections of this world see the plight of black folk – not as victims but as people equal in every sense of the word – then maybe the world can see how similar we all are.”
Mercy For Animals is a non-profit who is dedicated to ending the exploitation and abuse of animals and promoting compassionate food choices and policies. Their Instagram account is a mixture of cute animals, facts and news.
The Black Lives Matter movement is a call-to-action and response to anti-black racism, born after the controversial acquittal of George Zimmerman in 2013. It started as an outraged Twitter hashtag and has now become one of the biggest social media movements of the last few years. The injustice of the shocking number of innocent African Americans being killed by the police on an almost weekly basis can be really overwhelming and despite the popularity and support surrounding the BLM movement, there is still so much work to be done. The Instagram account does a great job of raising awareness and offering support.
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Awareness
