Friday 30 May 2014

Free the Nipple: A Beautifully Feminist Campaign

If your first thought was that this post would be about burning our bras all over again, then sorry but not quite (unfortunately...). It is a campaign to stop society shaming the female form, in specifically the nipple. Women across the world feel they can no longer breast feed their children in public as it will be frowned upon by men and women alike and so are reverting to feeding their babies in public bathrooms. Frankly, that's unacceptable.  



But this whole campaign goes beyond breastfeeding, it talks about women who feel ashamed of their baring their breasts to the world because somehow our nipples are profoundly different than a man's. This is reflected through what sparked the popularity of this whole campaign in the first place: Rihanna's nips on the cover of French fashion magazine Lui.



 After posting the picture on Instagram, it was taken down Rihanna was promptly warned for publishing "nude images" and she was then banned. Scout Willis, daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, has been campaigning for Free the Nipple from the start and her Instagram account was also deactivated for publishing nudity. It is Willis who has then consequently campaigned long and hard on Twitter to not only change Instagram's rules but society's view of the nipple as well. 



After going for a topless walk in NYC, which is entirely legal, Willis posted the pictures her boyfriend took onto Twitter with "Legal in NYC but not on @instagram". The images are incredibly beautifully and sensitively taken, displaying the female form as beauty rather than anything pornographic or violating, so it is surprising that Willis has got some backlash (from women?!) on the matter.



Willis has posted a range of tweets about the issue but the best must be Instagram's reply to her appeal. The Policy Team clearly do not see eye to eye and so write:

 "We love that people use Instagram to express themselves artistically and to capture important moments in their lives, and we're glad to hear that you are as well. Please note however that we prohibit all forms of nudity on Instagram because some audiences within our global community are particularly sensitive to this type of content."




I am 100% behind this beautiful campaign to allow women to take back the rights to our own bodies and feel comfortable enough to breastfeed our children in public or even sunbathe topless alongside our male counterparts. Female nipples shouldn't be offensive, they have the ability to nurture life and for some reason that makes them something to be hidden. 

#FREETHENIPPLE

Ruby

3 comments:

  1. I totally agree, this is so ridiculous! Dan Bilzerian and his pornographic pics is allowed on instagram but not female nipples? It's so confusing.

    http://thepunkfashionista.blogspot.com

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  2. This is such a great campaign! It's silly the way people think it's just women's nipples that are sexual - men's nipples aren't blurred in photographs, but as soon as it's on a female body, it's blurred. So strange. Hopefully this message will get across to everyone.
    Raissa | The Leather Fanny Pack

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  3. Great article about an important subject. It seems strange that something which nature has created to feed babies would be offensive to anyone. They need to reflect on the darkness of their own minds.

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