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women’s power and fighting for their equality against the social expectation from the society.
Today, feminists lead a movement of taking off an item of their clothing, specifically their bras,
to show the power of feminism via the “Free the Nipple” campaign.
Women makeup half of the population around the world yet take the brunt of
discrimination and suffering from society. Despite their ages or races, their commonplace was
women; their shared enterprise was women, their rights, and their freedom. Additionally, this
sparked a movement about breastfeeding in public which was not acceptable despite its
necessity. These women questioned why breasts needed to be covered while breastfeeding and
argued it was an unlawful gender discrimination. As more powerful groups supported the
movement, more participants joined to support their wives, girlfriends, and daughters. These two
movements of women taking actions with clothing were not just for a practicality, they show the
ongoing pattern of women taking a stand for their freedom and rights.
Cho 1
These two movements promoted rights and freedom by breaking social pressures and
expectations for females. As you recognize the changes in women’s clothing, you can also
recognize the changes in their freedom and rights. These two movements’ impacts are shown in
today’s women’s clothing. Bloomers and trousers were not just practical attire, but a freedom
from societal constraints that limited women both physically and symbolically. Through this
movement, women gained rights and freedom. However, the ongoing movement of women not
wearing undergarments takes the further stance and shows the power of feminism by breaking
the social norm, a weakness of the pants’ movement. It was an expected norm from a society that
women have to wear bras in public yet these feminists continued to protest. While women
wearing pants focused gender equality, women not wearing bras represent the resistance against
the society’s expectation of being “feminine” women by covering our parts of bodies.
Take a look at women’s clothing presently, it shows how these movements are ongoing
successes around the world. It is because these movements successfully caught the eyes of kairos
and were alive through media, newspaper, magazines, or even social media.
As Feminism became a familiar and recognizable topic in society, a filmmaker Lina Esco
made the self-documentary “Free the Nipple” in NYC, running on the street without wearing
undergarments to express freedom from social pressure(MetroUSA, NSFW: Miley Cyrus and
Lina Esco want you to 'Free the Nipple'). Now, it is the symbol of modern feminism. The video
was spread by social media with #FreetheNipple on Instagram and was appeared on more than
four million posts.(Instagram and Twitter, 2018.) Also, due to celebrities such as Miley Cyrus,
joining this movement and sharing their support of Esco’s approach, more people around the
world were familiarized with this movement.(Twitter @MileyCyrus, December 14, 2013) In
Cho 2
2013, Facebook removed these clips, citing their guidelines, and banned related posts(Price, Rob.
“Facebook bans most photos of female nipples for ‘safety’ reasons exec says”). However,
feminists still believed in the power of their campaign. Later, male supporters conducted a social
experiment titled “Nobody looks at the topless man, why a woman?” in August 2017 to show
that gender inequality still remains(Mackley, Elizabeth “Why these women went topless on
Hessle Foreshore today”). The issue became more rationalized and encouraged by the #metoo
movement, a movement to support survivors of and end sexual violence(You Are Not Alone,
2018). The media caught both movements’ impacts of empowering feminism and spread them to
Neither pants themselves nor the absence of a bra are symbols of feminism; however,
these women are. They show how they were and could be civically engaged to fight for their
equal rights and freedom. Objections to it were fierce but the change happened nonetheless.
Because feminists and activists showed civic engagement by breaking the social pressure and the
expected norm. We are here in this world: a world where a girl can wear pants to a class, go to a
college, and vote- the three fundamental things they would not be able to do without these brave
women and their effort. These brave women took actions by making a unique choice of their
outfit to show the power of a feminist by wearing or not wearing items of clothing with pride and
meaning. Choosing an outfit is a simple everyday action and yet is a way for you to get engaged
as a member of society. Starting tomorrow, when you get dressed in the morning, think and
appreciate the spirit of these women who took and are taking actions for themselves and for you.
Cho 3
Works Cited
Cover Photo, Life (June 27, 1895), quoted in Karen Kriebl, From bloomers to flappers: the
Cyrus, Miley Ray. “Merry Christmas ❤❤ THANK YOU NY for Being One of the Few States
twitter.com/mileycyrus/status/411959790760624128?lang=en.
Finamore, Michelle. "The Audacity of Pants". Los Angeles Archivists Collective. September 23,
2018.
2491?terms=elizabeth+smith+miller&sType=quick
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/freethenipplemovement/
Cho 4
Jocelyn Sears, “Why Women Couldn't Wear Pants on the Senate Floor Until 1993.” Mental
mentalfloss.com/article/93384/why-women-couldnt-wear-pants-senate-floor-until-1993.
McGuire, William, and Leslie Wheeler. "Amelia Bloomer." In American History, ABC-CLIO,
https://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display
/246037?terms=Amelia+Bloomer&sType=multi
McGuire, William, and Leslie Wheeler. "Susan Anthony B." In American History, ABC-CLIO,
https://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display
/246037?terms=SusanAnthony+B.&sType=multi
“NSFW: Miley Cyrus and Lina Esco Want You to 'Free the Nipple'.” Metro US, Metro US, 18
Dec. 2013,
www.metro.us/entertainment/nsfw-miley-cyrus-and-lina-esco-want-you-to-free-the-nippl
e/tmWmlq---931vcsxST11k.
Price, Rob. “Facebook Bans Most Photos of Female Nipples for 'Safety' Reasons, Exec Says.”
www.businessinsider.com/freethenipple-facebook-bans-photos-female-nipples-safety-20
18-4.
“Research Paper- Pants Phenomenon: The Switch from Skirts to Trousers.” Weeklysilence, 9
Dec. 2011,
Cho 5
weeklysilence.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/research-paper-pants-phenomenon-the-switch-
from-skirts-to-trousers/.
www.revolvy.com/page/Free-the-Nipple-(campaign).
www.change.org/p/instagram-stop-taking-down-body-positive-pictures-and-stop-sexualiz
ing-the-female-nipple.
Steinmetz, Katy. “Why We're Not Talking About Hillary Clinton's Pants.” Time, 14 July 2016,
time.com/4363815/history-women-pants-hillary-clinton/.
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc? a=d&d=LAH18950915.2.50.
You Are Not Alone. (2018). You Are Not Alone. https://metoomvmt.org/