Screengrab from Free The Nipple official trailer (IFC/Sundance)
“Censorship feeds the dirty mind more than the four-letter word, itself.”
-Dick Cavett, Talk show host
To quote John Lennon’s line in the song, Revolution, “You say you want a revolution. Well, you know. We all want to change the world.” Indeed, we all want change. And apparently, this is what documentarist/activist, Lina Esco had in mind when she decided to film a bunch of topless women running around the streets of Time Square to raise awareness on gender equality and the current state of female nudity in most part of the states across America.
Her latest offering, Free the Nipple is a documentary that tackles the issue of the long-considered taboo of nudity among women. Moreover, it aims to defy the censorship and the general thinking of indecency towards women being topless – including breastfeeding. This seemingly propaganda film follows a group of women choose to take their protest in the streets by means of going topless.
It’s Like a Topless Pussy Riot
If you’re familiar with the punk activist group, Pussy Riot – whom themselves actually had a fair share of performance videos and installation art to express their animosity towards Vladimir Putin’s leadership – then, this is practically how to describe the documentary. The only difference? Utter disregard for wearing shirts and intimate undergarments will be seen.
Through a mixture of script-driven clips and real event outtakes that transpired in New York, the film shows a formidable ensemble of actual activists backed by pure guts to express their utter dismay against the idea of obscenity and explicit towards the female body.
Although the main driving point is bare nipples, the film is generally about feminism and equality and women empowerment. The exposed chest is just merely an instrument to draw attention about far deeper issues that involve double standards, sexism and gender bias.
A “Meta” Way to Diss Censorship
This politically-fueled visual presentation also extends its reach to the issues of censorship that is being imposed both in media and social media platforms wherein “acts of violence and killing are glorified” and the exposure of the women’s nipples are considered far more obscene and derogatory, ergo must be censored (Quite “meta” if you ask me). In a recent interview, Esco also exclaimed the censorship imbalances on social media (Facebook in particular). She told, “You can show beheadings on Facebook, but the nipple was too obscene [for them]”, referring to the social networking site taking down pictures of breastfeeding moms for being “overtly sexual”.
That being said, it is reported that breastfeeding in public is still very much frowned upon (and even considered as a violation in some States) in our present times, resulting to an ongoing heated argument on whether it’s “proper” to do it in public or not.”
#FreeTheNipple
Along with the inception of the film, Free The Nipple has grown into a full-fledged advocacy that focuses on addressing equal rights for women and men, as well as to promote an equilibrium towards the censorship in media – pertaining to the perception of a woman’s bare body as being lewd and instigator of salacity.
Since then, many artists, influencers and celebrities have shown their support in the campaign, including Lena Dunham, Scout Willis, Cara Delevingne, Liv Tyler, Michelle Rodriguez and Miley Cyrus. The latter has been actively vocal in participating in the campaign as the Queen of Twerk was more than happy to lend her voice for the said movie’s official soundtrack.
In summary, I think this movie-cum-advocacy is what the world needs to hear the voice of all women in the world, yelling and screaming for gender equality. The movie is not just about being too radically racy or to promote any indecency. It is about grasping the freedom from being tagged and judged as such.
Free The Nipple currently runs on a limited release across North America.
A lot of you, readers may not agree on this article, particularly the censorship thing. Feel free to leave your thoughts below and let’s discuss.
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