By Emily Carroll – Staff Reporter

During the Victorian Era it was wrong for a woman to show her ankles in public. Not until the 1900’s was it seen as more acceptable to be able to reveal ankles. It wasn’t until the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, when four men from Coney Island protested to have topless rights. In 1936, after the men went to court, the male judge passed a bill so that men can go topless. Now not only is it a time to show that women deserve to be able to do what they want with their  bodies, but it’s a time for gender equality. The question about this topic is whether it is a feminist movement and how the campaign Free the Nipple is shedding light on inequality.

“It doesn’t come down to being a female rights issue,” said actress Rumer Willis, a supporter of Free the Nipple. “It comes down to a human rights issue.”

This act is to draw public attention to gender equality and encourage discussion of violence and repression of sexuality. It is to simply change the publics view on womens bodies and to highlight the obvious gender inequality.

“Girls are growing up to believe their value lies in the way they look and their sex appeal [as defined by men],” Lina Esco the creator of Free the Nipple, Lina Esco, told Elle Magazine.

Free the Nipple is an organization and a film created in 2014. The movement involves issues that are being addressed such as equal rights for men and women, a more balanced system of censorship, and legal rights for all women to breastfeed in public.

It’s not a movement telling women to go topless. It’s about women who would and do want to go topless being able to have the choice.

“Free the Nipple is a way for us to shine a light on other areas of inequality that women face around the world,” said Esco.

The film refers to the characters starting a movement and observing how it progresses.

“The title is supposed to be funny and engaging, that’s the whole point,” said Esco.”The film has to be charming so people allow themselves to open up to the dialogue on this subject matter.’

The movie was filmed in New York City where people are allowed to be topless with only that intention.

The woman featured in the film mapped out the locations and rehearsed with clothes on, then  did the scene topless in one take at about 6 a.m. During filming, they were being arrested for “disorderly conduct”.

“You can see at the end of that scene the cops are pulling up,” said Esco. “They are real cops.”

There are 37 states that don’t allow women to go topless in public, but in 33 of those states is it legal in certain areas.

“Even if it’s legal, no one is going to go out topless all day long,” said Esco. “It’s about having that right [equal to a man’s right to go topless].”

As of April of this year, it is legal for women to sunbathe topless on Venice beach in California. In other areas it isn’t legal, though, there is the Ta-Ta Top.

The Ta-Ta Top is a bikini top that is made to look like a breast which supports organizations like Free the Nipple. This was created to use a sense of humor in a serious situation while simultaneously raising funds for women’s rights and breast cancer awareness.

“It’s great to create a product that makes people laugh, but it’s even better to be able to do something very serious with that success,” said the creators of the Ta-Ta Top, Michelle and Robyn Lytle.

It is legal in 49 states for a women to breastfeed her child in public wherever and whenever and are exempt from public nudity and indecency laws. Still, women are being shamed and told to cover up because the act of breastfeeding involves a nipple.

A study from the Center for Disease Control and Preventions in 2013 showed that 77 percent of mothers breastfeed. Most children start off life feeding off of a breast and only see it as shameful when taught to.

“Why can’t a mother proudly breastfeed her child in public without feeling sexualized?” said Willis.

There are many arguments to why women shouldn’t be given this choice. Some of which include: Men will stare, children will see, and mens’ chests are different.

“There’s no reason why we should be censored,” said Willis. “Literally, the only difference is that we have some fatty tissue and milk glands.”

It is something that people will get used to just like men being topless. Fifty years ago, seeing woman in a bikini was obscene and a century ago it was ankles.

The argument that men will stare entails that it will lead to an increase in rapes, but in Europe being topless was normalized decades ago and is statistically one of the safest places for women today.

Many well known female celebrities show support with the organization by sharing pictures and spreading the word on social media using the hashtag #FreeTheNipple.

“We started getting attention and other people started tweeting about it- Lena Dunham, Scout Willis, Cara Delevingne- and that’s when distribution companies started calling,”said Esco.

Miley Cyrus, who acted in LOL with Lina, contributed to the film by doing a cover of Melanie Safka’s song “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma”  that plays during the end credits.

Scout Willis posted a photo on instagram of her buying flowers topless in New York City with the caption, “What @instagram won’t let you see #FreeTheNipple.”

The hashtag has impacted such a change in society today. Now facebook now allows mothers to post pictures of themselves breastfeeding their children.

Social media is a way to promote low-budget films like Free the Nipple; Especially because of the films title.

“I like to think social media is an outlet i’m really thankful for – without it, we wouldn’t be where we’re at right now,” said Esco.

The Tribeca Film Festival, founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, made comments on what they thought about the film.

“The film has great energy to it,” said Zachary Wigon, a writer for tribecafilm.com. “It’s about a political organization, but the narrative is infused with a kind of energy and momentum that recalls the feeling of starting a business or a creative endeavor.”

When Lina and her partner, Hunter Richard, starting writing the film they were completely broke. Until enough money was raised, they went out and were learning who the real topless warriors are.

Lisa Azuelos, the director of LOL, raised a million dollars to help Lina and Hunter start filming.

When the trailer was released in November of 2014, ironically, the video was censored.  In order for the video to be shown on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter, it had to be censored.

“You can show beheadings on Facebook, but you can’t show breastfeeding,” said Esco. “If you’re going to censor nudity and love, you should censor violence.”

There is a page on Facebooks called “Free The Boobs” where there are porographic pictures of women, to the point of objectifying them, except their nipples aren’t exposed.

The Free the Nipple campaign shows breast cancer survivors and women breastfeeding, but had their website shut down three times.

“The only time it’s made a weird, secretive thing, is when we make it that way,” said Willis. “We have a choice in what we objectify.”

This also connects to how women aren’t getting equal pay. Women still get paid 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.

“We still live in a world where gay marriage was just legalized recently,” said Willis. “So as progressive as we are and we hope to be, I hope that in the next ten years that we can continue to grow to a place where it’s not even a question.”

Free the Nipple implies the all around idea of equality for everyone in every situation.

“It’s about trying to fight for an equal playing field for everyone,” said Willis.

The money accumulated from donations go towards making t-shirts, posters, and stickers to raise more awareness for Free the Nipple.

(Some information courtesy telegraph.co.uk, thetatatop.com, freethenipple.com, huffingtonpost.com, wikipiedia.org, elle com, gotopless.org, time.com, randominterestingfacts.com, foxnews.com, instagram.com, cbsnews.com, tribecafilm.com, womenyoushouldknow.net, variety.com, dragonflyeffect.com, bustle.com, etonline.com, usmagazine.com)