In 2004 Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction and accidentally showed her nipple on stage for 1/9 of a second during her Super Bowl performance after Justin Timberlake tore her outfit to reveal what was supposed to be a red laced bra. At the time this was a huge scandal and everybody ganged up on Janet Jackson even though she had no control in the Matter. CBS forced her to make a public apology and take full blame for the incident while Justin Timberlake pretty much got off scot-free.
Now, forward 15 years later Adam Levine ends up taking his shirt off and showing his nipples for the majority of his Super Bowl performance and nobody bats an eye. The cameras don't cut away and nobody says anything about how Adam Levine showing off his breasts and nipples isn't family friendly.
We see this concept so much in the media today. If a female exposes her nipples then it's usually considered pornographic or not safe for children. I cannot count how many times I have seen a man shirtless in tv shows like The Middle, Riverdale and Greys Anatomy, yet the only time I ever see a woman expose her nipples are on Networks like HBO and Showtime.
We see female nipples all the time on tv shows like Game of Thrones and Shameless, and nobody makes a big deal about it, but they still can't be shown on primetime networks. Yet, a man's nipple can be shown on any television show and nobody cares.
In Disney's Descendants, Mal's main love interest Ben takes his shirt off when he goes swimming. The film doesn't shy away from showing his shirtless body, I mean we can see his nipples and his abs perfectly. This movie is on the Disney Channel, which means that it has to be 100 percent family-friendly. At the time, the children may not think anything of this because society is so accustomed to seeing men portrayed this way, but we should really be addressing this double standard as a whole.
It's not just in movies and tv though, women who chose to breastfeed in public get so much hate for exposing their nipples. Men do this all the time when they decide to take their shirt off in public when they get hot, yet nobody says a word. Women also are not even allowed to show their nipples on Instagram. Men are completely free to have shirtless pics and show their nipples yet women can't.
The only true difference between a man and a woman's breasts and nipple is the fact that women have a little more fat and they can produce milk. There is nothing wrong with that.
It's not fair to penalize one gender for showing a body part that everyone has. If we want things to truly change then we either need to start penalizing males for being shirtless on tv and in public or allow females the same right and let them be shirtless on screen and in public as well.
