March 2013 is here.
The photo for this month’s Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is that of Writer and Publicist Saskia Vogel.
She says:
I joined this ‘scream’ in solidarity with Elmahdy, but not exclusively to raise awareness about Islamists and their relationship to the female body. I joined because the female body is a source of shame and female sexuality is treated as something suspect around the world, and on a personal note, most frustratingly in the US, the country of my birth. The academic David Hermann’s ‘Rumpelstiltskin Hypothesis’ goes some way to explain the power and purpose of Namazie’s calendar. He says “following the fundamental contrarian idea that if there are those ready to be offended, and whose readiness for offence curtails our individual freedom, then we should strive to offend them hard, loud, often, and wherever possible, until they burst.” By standing in solidarity with Elmahdy through this calendar, hopefully we’ll gain a critical mass of attention that will call into question the perception of the female body.
Unlike the context and presentation of a Page 3 girl, the women in this calendar are productive, independent and stand for more than our nudity. There is more to us than a naked body. Surely the modern media and tech savvy viewer (by this I mean, anyone who has grown up with audio-visual, digital and print media) is equipped with the tools to understand the difference between Page 3 and the Nude Photo Revolutionary calendar. Modern society has made us savvy to so many kinds of images and narratives, surely this and the progress of the women’s movement allows us to see this not as a project that panders to the patriarchy, but for an activist statement meant to raise awareness about an issue that is close to the hearts of the participants. Indeed, the calendar may be tantalizing to some, but it very clearly stands for so much more.
Only when we can think freely and sanely about the female body will we be able to achieve gender equality. Cultural anxieties about the female body and sexuality have pernicious ripples. Just think of the debates around women’s healthcare, access to contraception and the right to choose to have an abortion in the US at the moment. This calendar (and the feedback to the calendar) is calling attention to these unproductive attitudes.
By the way, here is her censored photo for Facebook since it doesn’t allow nudity…
You can download the calendar here and join the scream on Facebook or Tweet #NudePhotoRevolutionary Calendar. By the way, the calendar finishes April 2013.
To see extensive media coverage on the Nude Calendar, click here.
Join the Scream!
Dogs spend time each day grooming themselves so licking their paws is natural. However the licking, licking, licking all night long…biting, biting, biting until the skin is raw and bleeding, licking until the fur is a funky pink color, IS NOT NATURAL!
So, why does your dog lick his paws? What compels a dog to lick his paws constantly? And most importantly, how can you how to stop a dog from licking paws?
The only difference between America, or the West, and seemingly more “conservative” countries is that in the former sexual abuse is exposed, whereas in the latter it is covered up.
“When governments begin passing laws dictating how we are to dress, that is the time to “undress” …
… and then, in America, be forcibly covered, then groped beneath the blanket, then tossed in the pokey, then put on the sex offender list for life, then fired.
Ain’t America wunnerful?
When governments begin passing laws dictating how we are to dress, that is the time to “undress”–to what degree and for how long is up to the individual, as what we can wear in the first place should always be.
By ‘bravely’ daring to be nude for the short time it took to be photographed, by signing a publication release, and by regarding those acts as an effective means of protest, the participants are buying in to exactly the ludicrous prejudices they claim to oppose.
I strongly doubt that any of them live nude or are nude among others a substantial portion of the time. Only when I see evidence that they do and are, and that they regard habitual nudity as quite unworthy of mention, will I believe that they’ve broken the chains that bind them just as strongly as such chains bind others.
And besides, nude calendars are so … so … dated. They stopped being effective about 30 years ago.
It is not only the Islamists who have a problem with the female body, but also all of the organized religions in the World..
Our parents conceived us completely clothed, right? Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo what the devil is wrong with nudity? To the best of my knowledge we were all born naked!