Topic Exploration: Free Nips

1. What was the protest? If it was part of a larger movement, where are you drawing the boundaries (geographical, chronological, legislative, etc.) around your project? 

Free the Nipple, or free nips if you’re one of the cool kids, is a campaign that gained a lot of publicity for a movement of equality. Actually several movements for equality in regards to double standard laws and social norms against women. The Free the Nipple campaign spawned or perhaps was inspiration (it’s a smidge unclear) for a film directed by Lina Esco about a group of women who protested to change New York laws about which gender could be topless in public legally. At the moment there seem to be several factions of movements or protests all addressing the issue of inequality of women’s states of undress versus mens. 

For this project i’ll focus on this particular campaign and protest since it has gained a huge following, they have their own hashtag. So from 1992 to now I suppose is the timeframe I have to work with. I probably won’t really have geographical boundaries however I will limit myself to things that are more relevant to this movement. I’ll look into legislation and sociological side effects. I should probably watch the movie.

2. Why do you believe that this identity is tied to this protest in a significant way? For whom is this tie significant? 

Women, the female identity, are tied to this movement because they have nipples and are the ones facing the discrimination in a much more severe way than men. Almost no one cares if man is topless except that it may be unusual in certain settings. If a woman is topless even in places where it may be legal, such as New York, she may still be arrested. The laws surrounding female toplessness are sadly the first step. The taboo on female bodies extends through society and results in larger problems for women to face for the rest of their lives.

3. How did the group you’re looking at participate in the protest?

Mostly they took off their shirts in public. Also there was an appeals case People v Santorelli.

4. When you think about this project, what are you worried or concerned about? Do
your worries have anything to do specifically with whether you can tie your identity to the protest clearly? Are there questions that you think it will be hard to answer? Do you have methodological concerns? What part of this project do you think will be the most difficult for you? 

I’m worried about finding scholarly sources more than anything, there seem to be plenty of journals and articles. Though I don’t really know how to look for those so i’ll have to employ some of those library skills we learned the other week. This is like five questions Stephanie I don’t want to answer all of them. I think it’s a bit intimidating as it is. I’m a one step at a time kinda gal.

Finally: if you are working on a topic that is similar to someone else’s, how will your projects be distinct from one another. (This will obviously require talking to/emailing with the other person/people about their projects.) 

Nobody else cares about boobs so my project will be different because literally I’m the only one talking about boobs.