By Brittanie Gutierrez |Staff Writer|
In my opinion, both women and men have to take notice of the “Free the Nipple” movement because it is not about nudity, but rather gender equality.
“Free The Nipple” is a documentary and a social movement created to, “stand against female oppression and censorship, both in the United States and around the globe,” according to freethenipple.com.
The new feminist campaign has popped up on timelines and feeds everywhere with celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Cara Delevingne promoting it.
We see advertisements and other forms of media featuring shirtless men standing on the beach, working out and barbecuing without a care in the world. Abercrombie and Fitch, the clothing retailer, had shirtless male models standing outside of their stores in the U.S.
However, women are censored and not allowed to post “provocative” pictures that show too much cleavage or any breasts in general. Women cannot even breastfeed in public without being scrutinized.
The female breast is meant for feeding a newborn child; it is not for the enjoyment of the male gaze or for sexualization in mainstream media.
“Because of the way I was raised, I don’t see it being the norm yet,” said student Miguel Hernandez.
I believe that a woman should be able to freely post a topless picture, and society needs to stop sexualizing the female body.
“I feel like we should have the right to show it [nipple], but then again you also have to understand that you have to accept the effect of showing it,” said student Adriana Martinez.
“It seems a little shocking, because I’m so used to not being okay to post nudes, it’s inappropriate, but I think it’d be great if it was equal,” said student Amber Olson.
When I spoke to my mom about how she felt on the whole censorship issue, she agreed that women should have the freedom to post topless pictures and breastfeed in public, however, one cannot control the male mind from sexualizing the female body.
In my opinion, males have to be taught that the woman body is a human body and not made for pleasure.
When I was in elementary school, I was always told that I could not wear thin-strapped shirts because they were too revealing and was once told that it “tempted” boys.
I never understood what exactly was tempting to a seven-year-old boy and to this day still do not understand.
I always questioned why girls were told not to wear specific clothing but boys were not taught to respect girls or other men for that matter.
Why are women denied the right to walk around shirtless or criticized because of the way they are dressed?
I am not saying for every woman to walk around shirtless and post nudes every minute; I just believe that we as women should have the choice and not suffer repercussions or stigmatization.
A breast is a breast, a nipple a nipple, and society should not criticize a woman for self expression of her body.
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