Everyone remembers the "Free The Nipple" campaign made famous by feminist celebrities like Cara Delevigne, but when that campaign ended, did everyone simply forget that the double standard of social media still exist? Recently, celebrities like Usher and Justin Bieber barred it all on their social media accounts and no one blinked an eye. It may seem trivial, but had Selena Gomez shared a picture of her butt on Instagram, people would be going crazy about how she is a "whore" or "unfit as a role model for young girls." Sorry to say it, but by that logic, is it then perfectly acceptable for Usher to be a role model for self confidence in young boys? The way his PR spun that incident I have no idea.
On the topic of PR, when a nude image of a female in the public eye is leaked, why do people instantly victim blame? Guys, it's the 21st century. People communicate more through picture than they do conversations! Does that make it ok for someone to hack into your phone or conversation and distribute those pictures without your consent? No! Do people do it anyway? Yes, because living your life in fear of the dangers of the internet is crippling. Of course taking those pictures opens you up to the potential for hackers, but apparently so do bluetooth, video baby monitors (it's true. Look it up, shit's scary and people are insane). This doesn't detract from the fact that when nude pictures of female celebrities are leaked, they are labeled whores or worse people critique their bodies. Women who choose to share nude or semi nude images of themselves must tone down their figures or cover up parts of themselves that, for some reason, are perfectly acceptable to show on a male body. Demi Lavato has recently been at the forefront of body acceptance, but even her nude photoshoot was criticized.
On the other hand, when nudes of male celebrities are leaked the public is outraged because that celebrity's privacy has been compromised. They go after the hacker instead of the celebrity for posting the image. Many times, the nude image is shared by the male celebrity them self and fans ogle at the sight of a dad bod or the six pack of a person who makes money on looking good at all times.
While Dylan Sprouse had his nude image leaked, he was not labeled a whore for taking the picture, but rather praised on how hot he looked! If you don't see the double standard by now, please just stop reading because if the message I'm hitting you over the head with using a large anvil, isn't getting through to you already, it never will. I could go on with examples because Hollywood and our society are chock full of them, but I'll spare you.
As an aside, remember when everyone started freaking out because Jennifer Lawrence wasn't "skinny enough" to play Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise? How is that ok? How is it ok to say that a woman as petite as Jennifer Lawrence has to lose weight to fit the role of a malnourished woman? Do people not understand that she would have had to literally stop eating? Apparently not.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler said it best in their Golden Globes opening monologue when they called out the immense weight lose that Matthew McConaughey went through for his role in Dallas Buyers Club: "For his role in Dallas Buyers Club he lost 44lbs, or what actresses call 'being in a movie.'" People need to stop criticizing women in the public eye when most of America's population is obese, just saying.
I digress because the issues of gender inequality really gets my blood boiling. However, these issues shouldn't even be a problem anymore! Women should be allowed to do with their bodies what they want without being shamed for acting on their desires. It's not ok to censor a post of a woman's body on Instagram and not censor a similar picture of a male body. It's not ok to tell women they need to lose weight in order to be in a movie. It's not ok to send girls home from prom for showing their shoulders! If people are worried about women playing their infamous roles of the temptresses in the 21st century, there's a bigger issue going on here than the censorship of pictures of the female body. Honestly, if you feel that women are on this Earth to tempt men to stray from their paths in life, please go back to sometime in BCE where you and your "ideal" social constructs belong.
