Nipples and Nipple Tassles

The Free the Nipple campaign, for those of you that haven't heard, seeks to achieve equality between men and women's upper bodies. That is to say that they are fighting against the sexualisation of women's breasts and nipples. Whilst it is widely accepted for men to be seen in public shirtless, this is rarely the case for women.

As the law stands in Britain, it is not illegal for women to be topless in public, however it is up to the police officers' discretion as to whether or not this is disruptive, because if they deem it antisocial, women may be asked to cover up. Thus the double standard does not lie in the law, but rather in our social conditioning.

It used to be the case that both men's and women's torsos were deemed inappropriate. In fact, before 1936, it was illegal for men to go topless in the US, and they too had to fight for the right to take their shirts off in public. However, following their success, it seems unfair that women are not accorded the same rights as men. Why, when men's torsos have been de-sexualized do women's breasts remain objects of desire?

It is clear that we need to alter society's perception of women's upper bodies in order to reach equality on this matter, however this will, undoubtedly, take time.

Furthermore, campaigning on this particular issue is being damaged by claims that the 'Free the Nipple' campaign is contradicting battles against the sexualisation of women in the media. Many argue that women going topless is only leading to more objectification and therefore is counterproductive. Instead they say women should cover up more, and therefore escape the male gaze. However this is not at all helpful, why should women be forced to dress more modestly in order to avoid judgement from males? It does not seem at all fair that women should need to suffer when the problem lies with society's perception of the female body, clearly society needs to change, not the way in which we dress.

The main message here is that we need to appreciate that the problem is not women dressing provocatively, but the reaction that they receive. In our current society it seems absurd that women should have what they wear dictated to them, instead we need to alter society's attitudes, so that women are just as free as men with regards to what they wear. In changing our perception of the female body, in particular breasts and nipples, we can have a situation in which women no longer need to feel self conscious about their bodies, something which is essential in the fight for equality.
 
So please lets avoid misunderstandings of Free the Nipple, because it's aim it to de-sexualise women's breasts and normalize toplessness in public, a very important step towards equality.


Written by Lili

Picture credit: Ellen

http://gotopless.org/timeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_the_Nipple_(campaign)