#FreeAllBodies
October 3, 2015 9:15 PM   Subscribe

Do I have boobs now? "Dear Facebook and Instagram, I'm a trans woman starting hormones. Are you going to censor me?"

Courtney Demone's "Do I Have Boobs Now?" Project Goes Beyond #FreeTheNipple To Include All Body Types
At what point do breasts come to be considered "scandalous?" This is the question asked by transgender woman Courtney Demone's project "Do I Have Boobs Now?" as she documents her gender transition through hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Much like #FreeTheNipple, Demone's focus is on the censorship of women's bodies — and, of course, their subsequent sexualization. After all, censorship implies that the object in question is unfit for the public eye; in short, it continues the discourse that women's bodies are shameful. Relegating nudity to a private setting, however, merely strengthens the association between female nudity and sex.

The absurdity of all this has been discussed before, often in conjunction with #FreeTheNipple, but as Demone points out on Mashable, crucial voices have been left out of the conversation. "#FreeTheNipple has failed to show the diverse ways in which people with differing bodies are sexualized, fetishized, exoticized, and shamed," she writes. "It has also failed to recognize that baring her nipples doesn’t mean freedom for every woman."
Free All Bodies on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

How Transgender Women Make Topless Laws Look Even More Ridiculous And Offensive Than We Already Knew They Were

Via The Mary Sue: Instagram Blames Apple for Not Freeing the Nipple; We’re Not Buying It
posted by homunculus (17 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Something’s hypocritical in the state of Denmark city of Cupertino.
posted by MikeKD at 11:44 PM on October 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


In 2013, a transgender woman named Ashley Del Valle was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, for allegedly exposing her breasts. Like my sweet home Chicago, it's illegal for women to show their breasts in public in Savannah. Then something magical happened, something that can only happen when transphobia and misogyny combine: Del Valle was placed in a men's cell because the prison determined that she was "technically a male,"

Okay... right... yes, I'm only slightly drunk but I'm sure I can follow the logic here. So female breasts are illegal to display in public because, er, they... well I'm a bit tipsy and there must be a reason that I've just forgotten. Anyway (hic) ... so Ashley has a pair of these spooky female breasts and displayed them in public, and must go to jail ... okay yes that follows if we accept the axioms, I guess, though I'm still a little vague about why I'm even conceding that. And Ashley is a trans woman so ... wait, why was that relevant (and how much alcohol is in these beers?) .... and she's therefore "technically a male" (...sigh, really?) ... and so she's in a male prison for the crime of being a woman who went topless? Okay, how many of these have I had? Did I get hammered and start reading Kafka? Why would I do that!?! (lapses into unconsciousness)
posted by langtonsant at 1:47 AM on October 4, 2015 [58 favorites]


It's extremely common to see pictures of FTMs before and after top surgery where the "before" picture is censored. Same person, same chest, same exact nipples. Just less tissue underneath. It is so ridiculous. This picture of 7 shirtless bodybuilders is (apparently) okay on Twitter but was censored on Instagram.
posted by desjardins at 8:38 AM on October 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


I vaguely remember some yahoo (male in this case) hade silicon boobs implanted on a bet. He was talking about it on some TV show, and when he opened his shirt to show them, they were blurred out. Weird.
posted by jonmc at 10:51 AM on October 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


Jon - I actually remember that -- it was the Man Show. And yeah -- it was odd.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 11:05 AM on October 4, 2015


Given that Instagram is already pointing the finger at them, I think some real progress may be possible by applying this wedge directly to Apple. There is no way they want to get into a major public fight over this, and I imagine many at the top are privately sympathetic. Apple isn't the crux or cause of the problem, of course, but if you can budge one trillion-dollar company, that could be strategically very helpful in budging the others.
posted by chortly at 11:28 AM on October 4, 2015


MetaFilter: Did I get hammered and start reading Kafka?
posted by Riki tiki at 3:33 PM on October 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


Kafka: Did I get hammered and start reading MetaFilter?
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:28 PM on October 4, 2015 [7 favorites]


Related tale of gendered oppression by bare-chest policing: Jody Jaecks, who in 2012 was so-graciously granted permission to swim topless in Seattle's public pools (revealing a chest left scarred but nippleless after a double mastectomy) has gone on to take part in a photo campaign by gender-inclusive underwear company PlayOut, in collaboration with Flattopper Pride.
posted by gingerest at 8:01 PM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


I vaguely remember some yahoo (male in this case) hade silicon boobs implanted on a bet.

He had major surgery on a bet??? That's enough Internet for today.
posted by sfkiddo at 9:06 PM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah! There was a Nip/Tuck episode "loosely" based on it where he was played by J.K. Simmons.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:30 AM on October 5, 2015


There's actually some really interesting philosophy around how perceived femininity is the triggering line for misogyny in that first article. I'm not sure quite what I think of it yet, but I definitely want to chew on it - the idea that there's a magic tipping line where body policing happens, and it lies on the edge of anti-gay activity and "where a man finds me attractive". It makes me think a lot about the butch/femme divide of where a man considers it acceptable to comment on armpit hair. I need to mull on this one for a while, for sure.
posted by corb at 5:08 AM on October 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


He had major surgery on a bet??? That's enough Internet for today.

If I learned one thing in my decades as a repressed queer on the internet, it's that kinky and gendercomplicated people in bad situations are endlessly inventive in coming up with justifications for doing the shit that deep down makes us feel happy and comfortable and alive.

I have no idea what exactly it is about this guy and boobs (or this guy and body modification, or this guy and ceding control over his body to others, or…). And I have no idea whether he's consciously aware of it either.

But I feel totally confident asserting that it wasn't just some random bet.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:00 PM on October 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


Ugh. Sorry. That probably sounded super scornful. Like "ha ha ha I know he's secretly getting his rocks off on that shit."

What I mean is, odds are really good that there is something about those tits — or about the story he gets to tell about them — that makes this dude really fucking joyful in a deep and sincere way, and that's rad as hell.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:06 PM on October 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


Doesn't have to be anything deeper than attention seeking.
posted by Mitheral at 6:59 PM on October 5, 2015


Should I do this? I'm not sure if I should do this. I don't use Instagram, I don't think my Facebook friends would appreciate it, and Twitter doesn't give a crap about boobs. Sincerely, how is one meant to participate? It seems pretty fraught.
posted by WCWedin at 6:05 AM on October 6, 2015


I don't read Demone's invitation to take part as an implied ethical obligation for trans women (or anyone else). The invitation reads, "Whether you are transgender, have had a mastectomy, are bigger-bodied, are breastfeeding, have a disability, have scarring, are a person of color, or have a unique view from a unique body, we want you to help challenge oppressive censorship policies and share your experiences of your own body. Using the #DoIHaveBoobsNow or #FreeAllBodies tag, write about your own experiences and/or post your own photos, topless or not. You can check out our Facebook and Tumblr pages where we will be sharing our own stories and the stories we receive from you."
I'm not The Boss of You but I think it's completely legitimate to decide that fighting this particular aspect of gendered social media censorship isn't where you need to put your energy today even if you find it a very important movement, and certainly not if you're ambivalent about the need or the approach.
posted by gingerest at 4:10 PM on October 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


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