Happy Friday everybody! What better way to celebrate the end of the week (and what might be the end of the working year for some) than by celebrating the wonderful, empowering movement that is #FREETHENIPPLE? The movement is the work of film maker Lina Esco, who wrote, directed and acted in her film Free The Nipple, which was released in cinemas on Friday December 12th.
The film is centered around a journalist called With, played by Esco herself, who is an activist for women’s rights in New York City. According to Esco, the film’s title shouldn’t detract from the larger issue of gender inequality but is one of the many ways in which women are censored and one that needs to be addressed. The Facebook page for the movie proudly proclaims “Our film Free the Nipple is not simply to highlight that men and women do not have equal rights when it comes to toplessness in America. It is the trojan horse and symbolic for a much larger conversation about gender equality and how men and women are treated differently in American culture”. The movie has all the charm of an independent, cult classic whilst also encapsulating the realism of the problems women still face. Although New York is still one of (only) 13 states where toplessness for women is not against the law, police officers are still likely to try and arrest those doing so!
The film erupts into a mass protest of women baring all whilst running through Time Square, which Esco described as “so liberating” in a recent interview and added “I think all women should try it, at least once“. Unfortunately, we’ve still got to get somewhere like New York first! And even then, would it be appropriate? Personally, I’d feel extremely self-conscious! I’m not an exhibitionist myself, but does it take this kind of action to really drive this message home? As women, we shouldn’t be ashamed to (or worse, prosecuted for!) breastfeeding our children in public! Nor should we feel oppressed on a hot summers day at the beach, where it’s perfectly acceptable for men to wear nothing at all on top! How can the nipple, a simple part of the anatomy, be perfectly normal on a man’s body, whilst offensive if seen on a woman’s body?
And the point of all this? Women and men should have equal rights. It’s a fact that women are still paid less than men for the same jobs. After a wave of recent human rights debates and questioning of judicial systems, why are we still in an age where being topless can be illegal for a woman but not a man? Hopefully this, however OTT a mass topless march through Time Square may seem, is the first step on the path of REAL gender equality! FREE THE NIPPLE!!
Photo by Rocio Lunaire for XConfessions: I Fucking Love Ikea
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