Before we jump right into nipples, hashtags and where the two might intercede, consider this. It’s 2018. Yet here we are, coming off the backs of one of the largest gender-based uprisings of the century, each woman standing tall next to one another, saying “me too.” Finally acknowledging the mountain of harassment we have to deal with everyday for no better reason than our gender. Here we are, in a world that still pays women significantly less than men for the same amount of work, and here we are, programming the same biased rules into our virtual worlds too. For too many years now, women’s bodies have born the brunt of men’s objectification and it’s for this same reason that in most places (most importantly, in this case, instagram) it’s perfectly legal for men to show their nipples but the opposite is true for women. Cue slut-shaming, violence and so much more. So, no, #Freethenipple is not really about nipples at all, just like #Metoo isn’t about copycats. It’s about equality. It’s this core message that Indian singer, model and actress Anushka Manchanda hopes to touch upon in her recent photo story around the same topic. It’s a message people would be able to understand better if only they informed themselves with the history of the campaign–named after Lina Esco’s 2013 film of the same name that follows a group of women and their efforts. Their message spread like wildfire around the world and soon, #FreeTheNipple became a go-to tag for women calling for equal rights and liberties for all human beings.
Back to the arena of this latest fight, then. All of us have heard of at least one case where someone’s photograph is taken down for ‘violating community guidelines’. Whether it was Rupi Kaur’s menstruation photographs, an image of curvy Indian women in bikinis being taken down by Instagram or Feminism in India Editor Japleen Pasricha’s tumultuous relationship with Facebook, it seems that it is only women’ bodies that social media platforms seem to have a problem with.
“Historically, women have sometimes been arrested or charged with public indecency, disturbing the peace, or lewd behaviour for baring their breasts in public. But it is perfectly acceptable for a man to go topless,” writes Anushka Manchanda, along with her photo story that’s addressing the double standards that exist regarding the gender-based acceptability of nudity in public and on social media. So men can take shirtless gym photographs and get ‘wow bro great 6 pack’ appreciation, but women, forget being topless, even in a sheer top with her breasts showing through or a nip slip gets body shamed, slut-shamed or faces a mixed barrage of lewd and hate comments.
A result of a conversation she had with a friend regarding a photograph being reported and taken down on Instagram (yet again) because of a woman’s nipple, this photo story has created quite a storm of its own. Anushka’s message is simple: social media is a space that provides a lot more freedom and comes with open-mindedness that real life doesn’t mirror, at least when it comes to Indian society. So then why is it that there is still this censoring of the female form on such platforms? “Most of us will agree that it’s impossible and absolutely unsafe for a woman to go out in India with her nipples bared, but online, on @instagram, on @facebook , on platforms which allow more freedom than real life does... Let’s not discriminate! This is our safe place. Where we can express without fear,” she writes.
Over the years, women’s nipples have been highly sexualised to the point that any public appearance of it is either perceived as titillating or offensive. The whole purpose of freeing the nipple is to overcome this hyper-sexualisation. However uncomfortable seeing someone’s nipple might make you, the choice to show it or not is up to that person. Your choice is whether you want to look at it or not. It sounds pretty easy, right? Clearly, we still have a lot of hurdles to overcome regarding such topics but it’s people like Anushka, who have the platform and audience that they do to start such conversations that we need more of. “I have a friend who calls us ‘the microwave generation’ because we want instant gratification and have very short attention spans. It feels like a lot of people commenting haven’t read through all the posts and are having knee-jerk reactions purely to the hashtag. Then there’s a point many have made about the fact that female nipples are sexually arousing, and they don’t see the connection between asking for equality and #freeingthenipple. I must have used the word ‘normalise’ in at least 10 of those conservations,” Anushka explains to Homegrown.
She isn’t wrong, either. The Instagram comment section of her posts reads like a lesson in Indian gender studies with seriously diverse opinions. There’s the usual ‘feminazi/anti-feminist’ crusader, people that see feminism as having graver issues than just a woman “wanted to show off her breasts and be topless on social media”, while there are definitely those that have stood in her support. “One girl started talking to me about religion and how I should only speak for myself. That she and many other Muslim women don’t want to show their bodies to anybody, and so I should not try and make the conversation about equality or freedom of expression, but just about basically putting my tits out. She wanted to start a hashtag called #freeanushkasnipples. That stung a bit, I will admit. I have been accused of using this as clickbait, and many people are giving me genuine, sincere advice about how I can post topless photos on twitter or other websites! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Regardless, it’s heartening to see conversations between people in the comment section, having healthy discussions, seeing each other’s points of view, and responding with sass and patience to some really idiotic comments,” she tells us.
The best part of this series though is the discussion that Anushka has managed to start, and continues to engage in through the comments, whether they’re trolls or not. It’s rare that we have someone like her in the public eye that bothers to take on such a stand at all. Feminist female role models are few and far between in our country, where doing so could result in loss of audience, financial consequences and of course, a dimming in public opinion. And it’s not like Anushka has had it easy. Putting yourself out there like this, especially when your profession is constantly keeping you in the public eye, isn’t a trade-off many are willing to make. Most are happy to save their public image, avoid annoying their key demographics and remain as politically correct or neutral as they can to keep their box office numbers and promoters happy.
As much as it enrages us to see the silence that surrounds a lot of us celebrities, Anushka lends some clearer perspective. “What is important to you as an artist? What are your priorities? I can’t imagine that as a writer you would write with passion about something you don’t really care for. I can’t speak for anyone else but I do feel that different people are here with different agendas..to pursue their passion, to build their business or their image, to put their work out, to live and thrive within the boundaries their industries have set for them,” she tells us. “Creating content that’s politically/socially/mentally provocative and talking about it requires time and a lot of energy. Can’t really expect someone to invest that kind of time and headspace pushing something they don’t feel strongly about.”
At the end of the day, the personal is political, now more than ever and it’s something Anushka understands better than most, challenges notwithstanding. “Many things piss me off, scare me, confuse and upset me, and I want them to change. So it’s clear I’ve got to get my hands dirty,” she explains simply. “At the rate with which we are silently regressing in the background of the current chaos in the world... we all do.”
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