Better?

       Out of all of my identities, being is a woman is one that I simply cannot separate from myself. It is apparent in all of my actions, from getting ready in the morning to how I interact in class to the art I make; my female identity persists. I have always considered myself a feminist but it wasn’t until I entered college that I realized how many problems still face women and thus I reclaimed feminism and the necessity for me to speak up about the problems that this community faces.

       As an artist, I deal with images of nude women and nudity in general all of the time. To me, the body can be more than a sexual object and looking at the female body can reference history and historical nudes, but it has also been reclaimed by women themselves. However, outside of the art world, the female body is still hugely objectified and reduced to a sexual object, especially in American culture. It is against the law in most parts of the United States to be topless as a woman and will be cited as “indecent exposure” or “lewd conduct”. The fact that a woman who is breastfeeding could technically get a misdemeanor in some parts of the US is astounding to me, especially when it is legal to show all of your breast except the nipple. Males have nipples just the same, however women have an actual purpose for their nipples, feeding infants, and yet they are not allowed to show them in public. This largely stems from the sexualization of the female breast because of the fat tissue in them. That is essentially the only difference between a male and female breast, because even males have mammillary glands that would allow them to produce milk if induced by the right hormones. The female nipple is such a tangible example of how sexism is intertwined with politics and how many individuals want to stick to the same reasoning they have always had about female breasts- that they are solely a sexual object that will cause distraction to the males surrounding them if seen.

      This problem was brought to my attention when I came across the “Free the Nipple” campaign that sold Tata Tops, which are essentially bikini tops with non-gendered nipples on them. This points out the ridiculous notion that a male nipple is more acceptable that a female nipple. It looks like you are not wearing a top when you put it on, but technically its legal because it is not a specifically female nipple on it.

       For my project, I wanted to use this top to draw attention to the “Free the Nipple” Campaign and also to put into question who is asking women to cover their nipples. I chose to photograph myself in a fashion where I looked compressed, as I was thinking of using the paper as a sort of metaphorical box that I am forced into. In the drawing I am putting on the top, tying it behind my back but showing the string that attaches it to ensure the viewer knows what it is. The top does not fit perfectly because I want to show that the nipples on it are not mine. I also made them extremely larger to further that. There is an angry and subversive look on my face, showing the aversion to the action I am doing. I placed the word better? above my head to make it look like its being forced down in shame and to address the viewer. “Better” is a short representation of the whole phrase Is this better? or Is it better now that you can’t see my nipples?. The shortness of better allows for those interpretations. I hope that this piece will come across as confrontational. I chose to do a smaller almost poster sized piece of paper because the graphic font and composition if the drawing is to look like a poster. I chose to render the figure realistically in graphite because I think it makes it look more stark and aggressive. I did not want to add a background because I wanted the viewer to focus on the figure and how absurd its action is.