Science- Jessamyn Stanley is a world-renowned yoga instructor and body positivity advocate.
- She posts yoga content on Instagram, but it's often taken down for suggested nudity.
When Jessamyn Stanley started practicing yoga, she was a college student who couldn't afford classes. She'd roll out a mat on the floor of her living room, and in the company of just herself and her dog, Stanley would get onto her yoga mat nude.
Stanley quickly realized doing downward dog in solitude, while completely naked, allowed her to feel a connection to her mind and body she'd never experienced before.
Now a well-known yoga instructor, body positivity advocate, and cannabis justice advocate, Stanley has spent years sharing her love of yoga with her many Instagram followers.
Since she started posting tutorials, snapshots of yoga postures, and uplifting messages to her page, Stanley noticed posts where she showed her belly or wore a revealing outfit would be suddenly removed for violating Instagram guidelines.
After one final censorship experience in 2021, Stanley said she had enough and decided to add another social media account to her repertoire. On October 25, she launched an account on OnlyFans so she could share nude content, unencumbered by typical social-media rules.
Her move aligns with many other Instagram and TikTok influencers who have made OnlyFans accounts to earn money on content that other platforms block viewers from seeing.
Over the years, Instagram censorship had left Stanley feeling dis-empowered
A huge part of Stanley's career is content creation. Making videos and photos that showcase yoga help her feel creative and empowered, she told Insider. So when those posts are removed over and over without an explicit reason, it feels invalidating, Stanley said.
She recalled one time last year when she wore a swimsuit in an Instagram post about yoga. Stanley said the image made her feel like one of the angels in "Charlie's Angels," and she was excited to see the post rack up likes and comments more quickly than some of her others. Soon after, she says, the post disappeared from her feed, and she realized she was censored once again.
Stanley said she felt like she was being penalized for expressing herself and her body. "It was like, 'Shut up fat Black girl. Don't talk. You're bad. This is a bad thing,'" Stanley told Insider.
Users who are larger-bodied say they've been discriminated against with Instagram's guidelines because they believe they aren't equally enforced across body types.
A spokesperson for Instagram's parent company Meta told Insider that Instagram removes content that violates their policies and trains artificial intelligence "to proactively find potentially violating content." Instagram's website cites nudity — aside from breastfeeding, protest, or in sculpture or paintings — as guideline violations.
"This technology is not trained to remove content based on a person's size, it is trained to look for violating elements – such as visible genitalia or text containing hate speech," the spokesperson told Insider.
After dealing with sudden post removals over and over, Stanley started making plans for an OnlyFans account, which she hoped would allow her to have more control over the content she shares with her audience. She has a remote team of 10 people who help her ideate, film, and post to her page. (And yes, all of her OnlyFans videos show her completely nude.)
Stanley's OnlyFans is a place for naked yoga class, joint-rolling lessons, and livestreams
Unlike Stanley's family-friendly yoga initiative The Underbelly, her OnlyFans account is catered towards adults who want to feel more in touch with their bodies and spirits, she told Insider. She said that she believes doing yoga poses naked is one of the most intimate experiences a person can have.
On Stanley's OnlyFans, viewers will find step-by-step breakdowns of yoga postures, full-length naked classes, and live-streamed classes.
She plans to keep posting on her Instagram while creating exclusive content for OnlyFans.
As the founder of the cannabis-advocacy organization We Go High NC, Stanley also plans to incorporate her passion for weed on her adult-friendly page. Fans can expect tutorials on how she cleans her cannabis accessories and rolls a joint, she told Insider.
For Stanley, her pursuit of naked yoga content is a way to show people how expansive the practice can be, even in its most stripped-down form.
"Yoga is truly just about looking within yourself and honoring the divinity that lives within yourself and the connection to all that is. For me, it feels like OnlyFans is the place where we can really expand the way that yoga is even understood," Stanley said.