Free the Nipple

Free the nipple!  

For those who hate bras.  

For those who desire to be topless.  

For those who need to breastfeed in public.  

For those who are learning to love their body. 

For those who praise their body. 

For those who are policed. 

For those who deviate from the “norm.” 

For those who are objectified. 

For those who are erased. 

My body is not a sexual object.  

It is to be celebrated in all its brilliance and history.  

The comfort concerning my body is mine and only mine.  

It doesn’t exist for the desire or ease of others.  

My body confronts you—it will not be censored.  

You may gaze upon my body, but it will strikingly gaze back.  

Free the Nipple reveals the overabundance of body policing and sexualization of women’s bodies, particularly manifested in Instagram’s recent ban on female nipples. Posts that include a ‘female’ nipple can be removed or reported for going against community guidelines, while all those that contain “male” nipples are unscathed. This binary censorship is problematic for women and people who are non-binary, whose nipples are being classified as “female” without their consent. Additionally, it reinforces misconceptions that bodies are inherently sexual. These ideas are then reflected within the comment threads, which creates an endless hole of degradation and perversity. Surrounding the clay breasts is a collection of these hate comments, as the extraction of them from the platform negates the viewer’s ability to scroll past. They are forced to confront something they might often glance at or ultimately avoid, which is now placed in a fixed space. The small scale of this series resembles that of a phone screen, alluding to how breasts are constantly confined and reduced to objectified images. The grid format mimics the conformity of women’s bodies to the societal norms and beauty standards we try to fit them into, while creating an overwhelming amount of repeated breast imagery to combat the censorship and confront the viewer’s gaze. 

Free the Nipple celebrates breasts of all shape and form to resist the excessive sexualization and policing of women’s bodies. These bodies will not be censored.