Free the Nipple
In year 12 at my school, everybody has the opportunity to do an EPQ (an extended project qualification). This is a qualification which is equivalent to an AS, but totally decided by you, researching and then presenting your EPQ on whichever topic you wish. For example, a past EPQ student choreographed a dance representing geological activity, another baked a cake to show where different ingredients from the world are sourced as a result of colonialism. The title of the EPQ has to be a question - something you can research in order to eventually come to a conclusion.
I originally found it really difficult to come up with an EPQ title (mainly because I am soooo indecisive). I am currently thinking of studying Geography and Spanish at university, therefore I was looking to do a geography-based EPQ. However, after speaking to my supervisor, he suggested that I do something different, something that'll make me stand out, that I'm really interested in, but have never had the scope to research within the formal curriculum. Now this got me a little worried, because I couldn't think of anything I'm really interested in that I'm dying to know the answer to..... Until I stumbled across the Free the Nipple campaign.
I'd heard about the Free the Nipple campaign before on social networking sites, but had never really looked into the ins and outs of it. All I knew was that it's a pretty controversial issue, but didn't know why the movement had come about.
So to give you some context, the Free the Nipple campaign was started by actress and activist Lina Esco. It saw a surge in publicity recently when Scout Willis' (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) photo of a jacket with an image of her friends topless on the back was taken down by Instagram. There was a subsequent huge uproar about double standards/patriarchy in society regarding the censorship of women's breasts in the media, resulting in Ruth deciding to strut the streets of New York topless.
So to give you some context, the Free the Nipple campaign was started by actress and activist Lina Esco. It saw a surge in publicity recently when Scout Willis' (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) photo of a jacket with an image of her friends topless on the back was taken down by Instagram. There was a subsequent huge uproar about double standards/patriarchy in society regarding the censorship of women's breasts in the media, resulting in Ruth deciding to strut the streets of New York topless.
Censorship has always interested me, I guess due to my interest in the media and journalism. I try to be as honest as possible with what I say on this blog, however I am very conscious of the fact that I shouldn't post certain photos and should be very careful how I phrase things...
My exact title for my EPQ is this; Is the 'Free the Nipple' campaign a stand against institutionalised censorship and double standards in society, or an example of feminism going too far?
My exact title for my EPQ is this; Is the 'Free the Nipple' campaign a stand against institutionalised censorship and double standards in society, or an example of feminism going too far?
So, as research for my EPQ, I would like to ask you guys about your opinions on the Free the Nipple campaign. And I want you to be as honest as possible - I won't publish any contributors' names in my final piece. As a starting point, I will post a poll with a couple of 'yes/no' questions about the campaign, so if you don't want to write your opinion here, this will still give me a fairly good idea of how people feel about it.
For those of you who want to find out more about the campaign before forming an opinion, here are a couple of links which I think could be of use;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_the_Nipple_(campaign)
http://freethenipple.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/06/free-the-nipple-liberation-photos-breasts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_the_Nipple_(campaign)
http://freethenipple.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/06/free-the-nipple-liberation-photos-breasts
If you could leave a few words in the comment section, that would be extremely helpful and I would be forever grateful. Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing what you all think!
I think is a brilliant and important question to research for your EPQ ! I think it is just double standards , there is no reason that women shouldn't be able to be topless on a hot day when men can . I actually think that censoring topless images and making it such an issue is why there is so much controversy about breast feeding in public :)
ReplyDeletelots of love, Marianne xxx
http://myhappybubblexx.blogspot.co.uk/
This is a great topic, definitely important and interesting :)
ReplyDeleteI think it is ridiculous that women's breasts are censored in the media. The reason why they are censored is because they are considered to be sexual. But, the reason why breasts are sexualised is because it is considered indecent to have them displayed. You can't see them, therefore they must be sexual and indecent. It's a ridiculous way to think - they look the way they do to nourish infants and small children. That is their purpose. There is certainly nothing sexual in that!
Erin
http://orchidsandtea.blogspot.ca