Our naked
bodies are and always will be the most natural thing in the world... So when
did it become acceptable to flaunt your nudity for some yet unacceptable for
others?
‘You painted a
naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a
mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity”, thus morally condemning the woman whose
nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure.’ – Ways of Seeing, John Berger
I recently saw the above
quote on Twitter being used in defence of women posting nude or semi-nude
photos on social media. In short, if
a woman can’t take nude selfies and post them,
then stop painting us, stop taking photos of us, because if we can’t then why
can you? This
argument is one I’d never previously considered, yet it seems to make a lot of
sense. A woman’s body is the most natural thing in the world so many people see
women posting nudes as a way for them to embrace this and empower themselves, just
as men admire our bodies through art, photography and films.
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| The Birth of Venus - Botticelli |
However, this
argument is difficult to use in support of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian
who fuels the fire of this controversial topic by continuingly posting
revealing photos of herself online which have not only received the publics
undivided attention and opinions but has also welcomed the opinions of other
celebrities such as Bette Midler who rather sassily tweeted ‘If Kim wants us to
see a part of her we’ve never seen, she’s gonna have to swallow the camera.’.
Actress Chloe Moretz also tweeted Kim her opinion saying ‘I truly
hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them
we have so much more to offer than just our bodies.’. Whilst the former tweet is
rather amusingly true considering that we’ve been subjected to non-stop biology
lessons on Kim’s body since her infamous sex tape with former flame Ray J,
Moretz’s tweet is also very relevant. Despite Kim’s claim that her photos are
empowering and promote the idea that everyone should love their bodies, to
achieve her empowering, self-loving look she piles on the professionally
applied make-up, artificial lighting, filters and not forgetting the thousands
of pounds’ worth of surgery she has had – all of which are unachievable for the
average girl or women who idolise her. So when reflecting on it, her message doesn’t
come across as rather empowering at all.
I
think people forget that, in relation to the quote, despite men having drawn
women naked for centuries, they didn’t draw women to empower them, they drew us
to admire us for little more than our beauty, ultimately just using it as a way
of objectifying us. Despite this however, even during these eras’ we weren’t
only subjected to art depicting naked women but also had sculptures and
paintings of nude men, so why is it that now men are provided modesty and are
empowered through their intelligence and talent etc. whilst many women still
feel as if they have to strive to be empowered through posing naked for the
world to see.
Another
question that’s no doubt on every girl’s mind is why is it ok for celebs to
flaunt what they’ve got and not for me?
Here’s
how the usual nude posting scenarios go:
- Ridiculously hot celebrity posts nude on Instagram and the whole world stops. Suddenly she’s trending on Twitter with the Twittersphere filling up with tweets about how every boy wants her and every girl wants to be her. Her photo gets thousands of likes and ends up on the Daily Mail under a headline about her ‘incredibly toned, sexy body’.
- Sarah the girl you sometimes bump into on nights out posts an underwear photo on Instagram and the whole world stops. Suddenly the whole of your town is tweeting about how much of a ‘slag’ she is and screenshots of the photo are flying around your group chats commenting on how she has no self-respect. The Instagram photo is removed for indecency within an hour.
At
which point did it become ok for celebrities and people some of us consider as
role models to do something but not be ok for us to do it? This isn’t an
argument of right or wrong but more of morals and the way in which the rich and
famous are put on a pedestal which allows them to be proud of their bodies and
to flaunt them whereas we, the general public, are made to feel ashamed about
doing the same thing. Even in a recent vox-pop I did, in which I asked members
of the public what their views on people posting nude photos online are
and whether their opinion changed when its celebrities posting these photos,
showed that many people thought girls posting nudes showed a ‘lack of
self-respect’ whilst celebrities doing it was far more widely accepted as ‘if
it’s the way they make their money then it’s not harmful in any way’ proving
there’s incredibly high amounts of double standards in this situation. However,
there was also the view that ‘as long as you’re a consenting adult and they’re
your own photos then you can do what you want as it’s your own body’ proving
that there are people fighting for both sides of the argument.
Ultimately, I
don’t think it’s empowerment that we need I just think it’s just acceptance of
our bodies and the power to not be ashamed of something so natural. However,
this doesn’t mean we need to strip off and shove a photo of our bodies into the
unsuspecting faces of everyone who happens to be scrolling through their
Instagram timeline on that particular day. Find empowerment through your skills
and talents, be proud of your body but don’t make it so you end up being
‘respected’ for little more than your skin and bones.
