Nipple Politics : the Contradictions of Contemporary Culture

Melissa Williams
Nov 19, 2017
2 min read

‘NOWNESS’ recently released a provocative short film on ‘Nipple Politics’ as part of their #DefineBeauty series. The visual essay confronts the censorship of the female nipple in contemporary culture and raises the question: why is the female nipple so offensive?

'Let's help them see passed gender, let's fuck with the status-quo'

The video features clips of both female and male breasts in different scenarios; on social media, during sex, and breast-feeding. It is evident that director Matt Lambert has done little to no embellishment or editing as to keep the raw essence of the topic at hand, for starters the nipples are not covered. Adwoah Aboah voices the essay, a forward-thinking model and activist. She brings a confrontational edge to the film with her unapologetic, unwavering opinions on modern feminism. I admire the abrupt, and frank atmosphere created by Lambert who doesn't shy away from contraversy.

'A social media curse, a prevailing American prudist view on nudity.'

Social media sites namely Instagram and Twitter ban females from showcasing their nipples in pictures as it is seen as ‘sexual content’, showcasing the hyper-sexualisation of the female nipple. The film reflects the efforts of the #FreeTheNipple movement, in which activists strive to dismantle the culture around the fetishized female breast. They have done so by uploading topless photo to Instagram, and editing in male nipples on top of theirs. Visually this outlines the contradictory nature of the ban as the biology is the same. Micol Hebron stated that the censorship of female nipples gets to the point where 'the body is being seen only as a sexual object'. This is an unhealthy culture that has surrounded the female body/form for many years, and has been prepetuated more in recent years (especially in western society) due to media, music, film ect.

The flaws within the ban lead to further questions asked within the film...

‘Does the sexualisation of female breasts cease to exist when hers are smaller than a man’s?’

‘At what point do breasts become sexualised? Once a girl hits puberty?’

‘Where do we draw the line between sexual content and art?

‘If a transgender individual is transitioning, when do their nipples become sexualised or desexualised? Before or after binding or implants?'

This is a cultural issue that is relative to the West and it's mysogynistic reservations about the female body. The female breasts have become the epitome of sexuality, which simultaneously we are shamed for them? The Contradictions of Contemporary Culture.