insta
Explanation
The comic shows two baboons sitting together, one looking at a phone. The other baboon consoles it: "Ohmygod sweetie, Instagram isn't real. That's a filter. Nobody's anogenital region is that red and tumescent."
The joke operates on a brilliant species-swap premise. The phrase "Instagram isn't real" is a common reassurance given to people (especially young women) who feel inadequate comparing themselves to heavily filtered and edited photos on social media. Weinersmith transplants this exact cultural dynamic onto baboons, whose primary marker of sexual attractiveness is the swelling and redness of their anogenital region (the hairless patch of skin around the rear). Female baboons develop prominent swellings that signal fertility, and these are genuinely attractive to other baboons.
So the comic imagines baboons having the exact same social media insecurity crisis that humans do, just mapped onto their own species-specific beauty standards. Instead of worrying about impossibly smooth skin, perfect waists, or flawless makeup, the baboon is upset that someone else's rear swelling looks impossibly red and tumescent. The reassurance -- "that's a filter" -- is the same hollow comfort humans offer each other, suggesting that the problem of unrealistic beauty standards mediated through technology would plague any social species with access to photo editing tools.