The expression of nude women is slowly becoming a much more accepted and formidable force in today’s society. #Freethenipple is a well known campaign that promotes women going braless, an expression of women’s rights and a promotion of feminism. But this is not the first time a ban on bras has been attempted.
According to the Smithsonian, the 1960s brought many women to burn their bras to show their independence of men. These feminist movements are still prominent today, both in memory and in practice, and for the same reasons as before, women want equality with men but after 50 plus years feel as if they still have not achieved that.
Take breastfeeding, for example. A perfectly normal action often ridiculously judged for it taking place in public. Babies need to be fed the same as anyone else, but apparently their meals need to be private.
This goes along with the fact that breasts are often sexualized, so breastfeeding as a result, also suffers a similar stigma.
According to Mother.ly, breastfeeding in public places is now legal in all 50 states, and yet, many mothers are still scrutinized for doing it.
Similarly, a recent incident occurred where a girl was discriminated against due to a school’s dress code. According to The New York Times, a female student at Braden River High School in Bradenton, Florida, could not wear a bra to school because of her badly sunburnt back. Wearing a bra in this instance would have been incredibly uncomfortable and painful.
She was made to change for fear that her nipples would offend others even though her shirt was long-sleeved and dark. The school then took further actions by making her put tape over her nipples, ultimately humiliating her in front of her peers.
These sorts of things do not happen to boys, and they have nipples too. The larger problem here is that girls and women’s bodies need to be desexualized.
Women who are comfortable in their own skin and choose not to wear a bra for comfort or feminist reasons are labeled as “slutty.” Some would argue that by not wearing bras, breasts are indirectly made to be more sexualized towards men. This idea stems from societies’ oversexual ideas about women’s bodies.
Some people take this clothing choice as an invitation to be crude and inappropriate towards those particular women, sounding a lot like the promoters of the “she was asking for it” mentality. Women should have the right to live without a restricting piece of fabric on their chest. After all, men are not expected to wear an athletic cup every day and there is little difference between the two.
Bras are not only uncomfortable to most women, they are expensive. There is a popular misconception that women wearing certain clothing or not wearing a bra are more sexual and therefore a larger target for harassment. This puts women in danger when they are just expressing their bodies. Women are especially prone to harassment and possible danger when they post body-positive pictures on social media.
While it is understandable that some things put on social media are not socially acceptable, it is still not the fault of the person posting a picture to bear the burden of harrassment. Rather the fault goes to the person sexualizing the picture despite it supposed to signify something more.
The #freethenipple campaign is a great stride towards equality of the sexes. The only critique that has been brought up is that it only caters to a small group of women.
By promoting this hashtag with mainly white, thin, higher class women, it devolves it to less of a feminist issue and one of race, which sparks another unwarranted problem. Once it is relevant to all diversities of women is when it will make a real impact in society.
