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Will freeing the nipple lead to less
shaming and less sexualization of female
breasts?

Minerva Saucedo is a Student

at SLCC.

It is the year 2015 and women are

still being oppressed in our society. Let me
explain myself a little more fully. In the
United States, women get fined and even
jailed for going topless in public whilst men
walk around topless freely and legally.
Many people especially women,
feminists and breastfeeding advocates
have been raising awareness over this issue
by supporting and participating in the Free
the Nipple campaign; a movement founded
by the actress and activist Lina Esco,
focused on empowering women and
promoting gender equality to stop shaming
and sexualizing female breasts by going
topless in public. Although, will freeing the
nipple really lead to less shaming and less
sexualization of female breasts?
Im writing this blog to the general
public to inform them about different
viewpoints from people of our community
about the Free the Nipple campaign and to
invite them to discuss and participate in this
dialogue.
Lina Esco argues a feminist
viewpoint in the article Should we
#freethenipple, and says that women should
free the nipple because they should be able
to do what they want with their bodies
(Esco). I agree with her on this. I find it
unfair when men go topless in public places
because they cant stand summer heat or
simply because they want to show off their
summer bodies. Or when I go to the
mountains and see all these men hiking
without their shirts on. On the other hand,
Alyssa Milano, actress and breastfeeding

advocate, also has a good point. She says

that no, the nipple should not be freed,
because its a distraction. The essence of her
argument is that, in order to desexualize
female breasts, normalizing breastfeeding
would be more effective rather than
toplessness.
Haley Brase, a college student and
feminist, argues in her article, Brase: Nudity
Will Never Lead to Equality, that she
believes that freeing the nipple isnt the right
call to create gender equality, and that this
idea would only provoke less equality for
women. She states, Being treated with
equality can be achieved by being a
professional, responsible adult, not by
exploiting your personal being to the press
(Brase).
My feelings on the issue are mixed. I
do support Escos position that women
should be allowed to go topless in public,
but I find Milanos arguments and Brases
opinion persuasive. However, I dont think
that freeing the nipple will lead to less
shaming and sexualization of female breasts,
let alone gender equality. The reason why I
think this is because people, especially men,
will still sexualize female breasts. Moreover,
I think that if women are allowed to go
topless in public, women who fit in what is
considered to be beauty standards will
probably engage in this movement and
called brave for doing so; whilst people who
have big breasts or a flat chest will be
discouraged and shamed. I think women and

people in general have to work on being

equal to each other and recognize breast
diversity. I also think that if freeing the
nipple is allowed in public places and
socially accepted, breastfeeding in public
should also be allowed without shaming
mothers who are just trying to feed their
children.
Kelly Wallace, a CNN digital
correspondent and mother, explains in her
article Breastfeeding: Why Are We So
Squeamish About It? CNN.com, how in the
media celebrities often show cleavage and
are celebrated for it, whilst when seeing
mothers breastfeeding their children in
public, people feel squeamish. Wallace
interviewed mothers who breastfeed in
public. An Atlanta mom named Lee, stated
that education on breastfeeding should be
provided to our community.
Lees idea convinces me. We have to
educate our children about female breasts
and breastfeeding. We can start by teaching
kids in school that female breasts arent
sexual organs, therefore, they shouldnt be
sexualized. In fact, breastfeeding is
something normal and natural and cannot be
avoided. I think that by promoting the Free
the Nipple campaign, it will help raise
awareness to issues even more important
than toplessness in public, like normalizing
breastfeeding, for instance. With help of the
media this issue could spread and raise
awareness. Furthermore, I feel that action
should be taken on regulating nudity in
public places and the media. Either stop
censoring female nipples in the media or
censor both female and male nipples.
For instance, in the article Budrevich: Free
the Nipple Campaign Brings Attention to
the Disparity in Censorship, Jordan
Budrevich complains how the media
addresses the Free the Nipple campaign
issue. The social media application,

Instagram, takes down pictures of and

censors female nipples.

This is an example of the inequity against

women in the media. Budrevich explains
that, men post photos of themselves in social
media showing their bare breasts, but if a
woman were to post a photo like that, she
would be harassed and her photo would be
taken down. Facebook, however, allows
mothers to post pictures of themselves
breastfeeding their children without the
pictures being taken down.

Finally, some people are in favor of

freeing the nipple while others think the
opposite. I think that nowadays it would be
very difficult to stop shaming and
sexualizing female breasts. Conservative
people myself included will not free

the nipple in public places. I personally

think that it would be uncomfortable to me
to appear topless in public because I
wouldnt want strangers, my dad, brothers,
brothers-in-law, etc. to see my breasts!
Nevertheless, if other women want to free
their nipples in public, I think that they
should be allowed to and I would support
them and who knows? Perhaps in the future
our daughters may want to as well.

The point of the Free the Nipple

campaign is to make people more aware that
there is not enough gender equality in the
United States. Again like I stated before, we
should start by educating our youth and
normalizing breastfeeding in order to create
gender equality.

Works Cited

Brase, Haley. Brase: Nudity Will Never Lead to Equality. Iowastatedaily.com. Iowa State
Daily. 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Budrevich, Jordan. Budrevich: Free the Nipple Campaign Brings Attention to the Disparity in
Censorship. University Wire. 9 Sep. 2015. ProQuest. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Esco, Lina, and Alyssa Milano. Should We #Freethenipple?. Time 186.11 (2015): 70.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Wallace, Kelly. Breastfeeding: Why Are We So Squeamish About It? CNN.com CNN.
Cable News Network. 29 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.