Lisa Looye: @dudenips

Censorship on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook use shaky logic to determine what counts as “appropriate” posting behavior. When it comes to nudity, the censorship is not only shaky, it’s downright sexist. The nipple is the source of much of this controversy. Using antiquated moral standards as means to determine which gender is allowed to show a nipple is a desperate attempt to cling to the patriarchal and damaging stigma around bodies that are not cis male. Using such binaries to determine the gender of a digital or actual living body is further damaging to the notion of gender fluidity across a wide spectrum of expression. @Dudenips will post one photo a day of a nipple to Instagram, up close and no holds barred. The context will fluctuate. By presenting social media with “a nipple a day” followers will have a socially acceptable nipple show up in their feed daily. The continuation of the feed daily serves not only as a reminder of our censored world but also as a platform for experimentation.

Lisa Looye, @dudenips, 2015, Paris, Cropped Images