Free the Nipple: Empowerment and freedom, but for whom?

Post date: Apr 18, 2017 8:56:37 PM

Written by Dana Keyes-Gibbons at Thursday, April 6, 2017 8:16:03 AM

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook allow pictures showing male nipples, but not female nipples, and in many states its illegal for female-bodied people to go topless. Free the Nipple is a campaign fighting to change this. The movement gained popularity through social media, where many young, conventionally attractive celebrities including Cara Delevigne, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus posted revealing photos with the hashtag, #freethenipple.

According to the mission statement on their website, Free the Nipple’s goals are centered around “…equality, empowerment and freedom,” and the tagline of the movement is: “how far will you go for equality?” Feminists may want to critique Free the Nipple, however, for not going far enough. The movement is focused on normalizing the female body, but there has been a lack of representation of bodies that aren't young, thin, light-skinned and normatively beautiful, with perky breasts. These privileged women, as Gina Tonic put it, “[impose] their own beauty standards on their supposed "sisters,""in the same way the media/men were imposing on them. It seems like instead of trying to advocate for gender equity, privileged women are gaining more privilege under the guise of “equality,” while simultaneously participating in the capitalist and patriarchal oppression of more disadvantaged women.

One of the official Free the Nipple tee shirts features an image of breasts with x’s covering the nipples. These are not any breasts, however. They look like they could belong to a Barbie. Basically, like every other image of breasts seen in the media. The shirt is promoting the freedom to show skin, but only for an audience that is already widely encouraged to reveal it’s body, even if doing so isn’t permitted in all contexts or on all platforms. While I do see how individual agency regarding the choice to show one’s nipples is powerful, Free the Nipple needs to make an effort to empower a wider variety of people, not just a privileged few.

Additionally, while it does seem unfair that there are legal inequalities between the sexes, Free the Nipples goals are reminiscent of liberal feminism in that they are focused on equality between men and women, but still working within current legal and political structures. Aside from breastfeeding mothers, I don’t see how not being able to go topless or post topless pictures has a large effect on the day to day life of women/female bodied people in America. The movement does align with women of color feminism in that it problematizes the state, but it only asks for laws to be changed instead of the dismantling of a larger system that currently allows female bodies in particular to be legislated on by men.

Other bloggers have asked if there are more important feminist issues than Free the Nipple. This raises the question of how relevant a movement needs be to be considered important. While the execution of this movement hasn’t been inclusive enough, I don’t think that there would be negative effects on society if all nipples were “free.” It is concerning, however, if people identify as feminists, but focus their activism solely in this movement.

Free the Nipple has undeniably received much attention because its a sexy feminist issue. It allows certain privileged women to feel empowered and liberated, while at the same time maintaining the support of men who might be turned off by less desirable feminist causes. The movement isn't inclusive of body types that aren't already depicted as desirable in the media and in society as a whole. I can get behind a mission of empowerment and freedom, but it has to be for everyone.