By now, a lot of us have heard about the “Free The Nipple” campaign circulating the Internet. For the few who don’t know, the movement (and film) supports equality by fighting for it to be legal for women to be topless in public.
According to freethenipple.com, the mission is to address “equal rights for men and women, a more balanced system of censorship, and legal rights for all women to breastfeed in public.” But why should it be limited to breastfeeding?
The campaign boasts some pretty big-name supporters, but it wasn’t until Instagram began censoring Chelsea Handler’s topless posts that it caught my attention. There are constantly photos of topless guys being posted. Why can’t there be a topless girl? This is a question I’ve been wondering for a while — not just concerning social media.
Some people struggle with the common idea of a female’s boobs being sexual icons. As I’m sure most will agree: The more people are exposed to something, the more they become used to it and less shocked by it. At least, based on my own experience I can attest to this. I would have jumped at the chance to see a real-life naked boob before, but if I see it now, I could simply appreciate (or ignore) a finely-shaped figure.
If women were just casually shirtless more often, would it be so taboo? Some people might still find their jaws dropping here and there, but tell me many people don’t do the same over a finely shaped masculine body.
But, I’m still reminded of some people’s odd obsession with the subject — I realize their obsession with them and what that means. The main reason boobs are so heavily sexualized, and in response hidden, is because they’re so heavily sexualized in the first place.
I remember riding in the car with my family when I was younger. I looked out the window and saw this huge sunburnt shirtless guy outside. It all hit me at once: Why do guys get to be shirtless and girls don’t? Especially if guys like him can be shirtless.
‘Cause, let’s be honest, lots of guys have boobs too. But the simple question was, why does it matter? So I asked my parents. “Well… because it’s just not appropriate. Girls should cover up.”
Granted, that’s not verbatim, but that was the gist of it. Either way, I was not satisfied. It just didn’t seem fair that men could enjoy a certain freedom that women could not.
My argument is not in support of going topless in public, but it is for equality. There are very few excuses for women or men to be shirtless in public. Most establishments actually reject the business of shirtless individuals. Equal amount of covering should be required of both men and women in any situation.
So since there doesn’t seem to be much of a push to ban all people being topless in public, then it should be legal for all people to be topless in public. All nipples might not be created equal, but they should all enjoy the same freedoms.
