she’s performing is very different than the way the world thinks about her nipples when she’s wearing a backless dress at the bar, or at the grocery store, or at a dinner party. The nipple of the 1970’s emerges in sepia tinged pictures at the Woodstock Festival, in footage of feminist marches, during tennis matches between Gabriela Sabatini and any opponent who dared to take her on. It’s embedded in photographs of musicians, celebrities, and models; on the cover of one of Carly Simon’s most famous albums, No Secrets . The look was naturally shaped breasts, and nipples poking through shirts or dresses. There was an element of comfort with a subtle sex appeal. It became so popular that towards the end of the 70’s, some companies even sold a “Nipple Bra,” with one ad reading, “Our exclusive braless-look-bra is the very first bra to have its own built in nipple. Imagine having that sensual cold weather look all the time. It’s so sexy.” The decade was a defining moment in the visibility of nipples, because it gave the nipple an opportunity to be seen in various contexts: feminism, fashion, and athletics. The 80’s nipple is more difficult to pin down in a decade defined by statement pieces and patterns; it neither progressed nor regressed. However, the transition to the 90’s nipple began in the form Madonna’s iconic cone bra, worn during her Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. Breasts and nipples seemed much perkier than before, and most of the imagery was coming from television shows, like Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel, in the hit series Friends . After the 1990’s, the ease of not wearing a bra went away; the nipple went back into hiding. It really had no place in fashion or pop culture other than signifying sex. While the nipple was in hiding, though, the actual breast was not. Cleavage—deep, dark, intriguing cleavage—is now a thing of the past, but was the popular trend for women throughout the early 2000’s. Large, inflated breasts once again became the ultimate symbol for sex, so it’s surprising that incidents like that of Janet Jackson’s famous “nip-slip” during the 2004 Super Bowl Half-Time Show was such a big deal. For a while, tabloid images of Pamela Anderson and every other celebrity popping out of her top sat pert above supermarket checkout lines, much like the images of the breasts that inhabited them. It’s confusing why those images were acceptable, but an accidental nipple wasn’t. The Janet Jackson incident and the popularity of melon-sized breasts wholly represented the belief of the time that nearly exposed nipples in the form of cleavage was fine, but an actual nipple was not. When Lina Esco released her documentary Free the Nipple in 2014, the nipple once again poked its head out from behind the padded push-up bras working hard to cover and lift, and re-declared its controversial position in society. The film, which explores the idea that women should be allowed to show their nipples in public, rapidly turned into a gender equality campaign named for the inspirational movie title. Since the beginning, the campaign sought to normalize nipple exposure based on the idea that female nipples have always been sexualized, and viewed as indecent for women to flaunt. In addition to gender equality, Free the Nipple campaigns for breast cancer awareness and legalization of marijuana. The campaign has been called radical and over-the-top, but has been most successful in reigniting the conversation about nipple exposure. Despite the freedom that Free the Nipple projects, the images they feed to the world are of women running through streets completely topless, which is effective for propelling a message forward, but ineffective at normalizing it. It takes a lot of confidence to stand topless in a city street; so for many women who may be more comfortable not wearing a bra but don’t have the confidence to do so openly, Free the Nipple loses its appeal. The movement also favors certain groups of women, or rather, certain groups of breasts throughout different parts of the campaign. While it tries to be inclusive in every way; the campaign’s Instagram account (@ FreetheNipple ) is riddled with topless breast cancer survivor pictures, of women with varying body shapes and sizes, and nipples in every way they can be shown without being taken down. They are striking images, and those are important for people to see. But the t-shirts Free the Nipple sells in support of the movement feature a black-and-white photo of two perfectly round, censored B-Cups, and hardly anyone’s natural breasts are so neatly sculpted.
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