N is for Nipple Censorship

 

Nipples. Everybody’s got ‘em. So why are they discriminated against? 

Who decided that the nipple was something so atrociously taboo that women are forbidden to bear their torso? God forbid a woman goes topless; the earth will shatter into oblivion, fires will erupt from the earth, earthquakes will engulf our cities, and society as we know it will crumble. I don’t think so.

Women are not allowed to show their fully bared chest in public, print, or tv. Most social networking sites forbid toplessness, most notably Instagram. Even the slightest slip of the nip will have your picture forcibly removed. Yet you see countless shirtless men on the beach, at the gym, and even on Ellen, as featured through her sexy topless gardener, because why not? 

Why are women forbidden to do and show something that men can flaunt as they please without any shame? 

Since the beginning of so-called civilized society, women have been shamed for their own bodies and taught to hide their breasts away with a lock and key. It is this shame for their bodies that has largely contributed to the over-sexualization of women. By hiding a woman’s body, it has become a tantalized, mysterious, forbidden entity. So of course girls in schools are forbidden to wear skirts and shorts the length shorts and skirts are actually made or expose the ever-so alluring bra strap, because, if not, young girl’s sexuality will be bursting at the seams and schools will be filled with eroticism. Because of these societal pressures, women are taught to feel guilt and humiliation for very normal and common body parts. Every bit of the woman’s anatomy has become its own sexual entity, and the breasts (especially the nipples) are the paramount piece.

 

So girls have been taught to hide their breasts because:

  • It’s indecent
  • It’s shameful
  • They’re “private”
  • It’ll cause arousal and who knows what that will cause
  • Don’t you have any dignity?

 

All these things has even made society forget the actual biological function of breasts, a mother can’t even freely breast feed without being harassed and condemned for doing something so “unsightly” and “grotesque”. Numerous states even lawfully forbid breast feeding in any public area.

Women should be able to do as they please with their bodies. Nipples are anatomical entities that shouldn’t have a forced connotation. They’re simply a part of the anatomy, just the same as men and every other person on the planet. Letting women cover, or not cover, themselves as they please would desexualize the nipple and let women have greater autonomy and freedom with their bodies rather than be an over-sexualized being forced socially and legally to cover themselves.

Fortunately, there have been some recent campaigns to stop the discrimination. The group entitled “Free the Nipple” aims to creating equality and stopping the oppression of women, specifically through the control of their bodies. This organization does so through its film and through peace protests, where women openly defy the law by going in public toppless, where they are usually arrested.

More and more people are getting behind these type of movements and want these double standards to finally be put to an end.

Stop the nipple discrimination and #freethenipple.

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