When Rihanna went topless on the cover of the French magazine Lui in April, she posted the image to Instagram and her account was suspended. This month, she was criticized for the sheer dress she wore to the CFDA Fashion Awards. And recently, an ad for her Rogue perfume featuring RiRi covering her bare chest with her arms has been restricted in the U.K. because it apparently is too sexually explicit for children.
It's official ... breasts are the devil.
Since Lina Esco made the movie "Free The Nipple" last year, the whole female toplessness thing has been the subject of plenty debate. Rihanna was not the only celeb to bare her boobs; even Miley Cyrus and Scout Willis are repping openly for Team #FreeTheNipple. And why shouldn't they? Why is it that a man's bare chest is acceptable while a woman's is inherently pornographic? Boobs feed babies, how unwholesome can they be?
And the scrutiny isn't just coming from men: Women throw way more shade at each other. I learned that the hard way in fifth grade when a group of flat-chested girls cornered me in the hallway to confront me over their belief that I stuffed my bra. They were so sure I was faking it that one of the girls actually poked my boob. Hard. In front of everybody. The look of shock on her face when she realized she'd just touched titty meat was priceless. As far as I'm concerned, that counts as my first and only lesbian experience.
Do guys have similar experiences of having their bodies sexualized? What's the male equivalent of having your fourth-grade teacher pull you aside before recess to inform you that it's time to start wearing a bra? What's the boy version of getting unwanted attention while doing jumping jacks in gym class? That stuff affected my big-breasted self all the way until 2011, when my stylist, Marta, forced me to go braless for a photoshoot. Being in front of a camera without a bra? Oh no! I didn't realize I had a stigma about my boobs until I had to confront it. I'm glad I did.
If there is one thing that I don't love about being female, it's the fact that we are expected to be aware constantly of how our bodies are perceived by others. Are you showing lots of cleavage? People might think you're easy. Are you too fat? People might find you unattractive. Are you too thin? People might think you're on drugs. Breastfeeding a baby can get you a ticket for indecent exposure in some places, while dudes with the jiggliest man-boobs can bounce around topless without a care in the world.
American women are warned that revealing outfits are unsafe while reports of sexual assault are on the rise in some countries where women legally are required to cover themselves. At what point do we accept the truth: Our bodies are not the problem; the world's attitude toward them is the problem.
I can't say nipple freedom is something I'm particularly passionate about. I just think anything that inspires dialogue about women's rights is badass. So if I ever decide to become a hashtag feminist, I'll probably campaign against the oppression of the well-endowed female in the form of hating on camel toe. I even have the catchy hashtag all figured out: #FreeTheToe.
RedEye special contributor Nikki Lynette, a Chicago native, is an indie recording artist whose music appears on MTV, VH1, Showtime and more.