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January 2013: Why? Because I can.

January 2013: Why? Because I can.

  • Posted by Maryam Namazie
  • On December 31, 2012
  • 17 Comments
  • Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar

January 2013 is here. Happy New Year!

The photo for this month’s Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is that of mother and actor Cleo Simone Powell.

Why? Because [she] can…

NPR_Jan13_uncensored

By the way, here is her censored photo for Facebook since it doesn’t allow nudity…

NPR_Jan13_censored

You can download the calendar or purchase it 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!

 

17 Comments

atheist
I enjoy Ms. Powell's relatively minimal pose in this photograph, and her everyday expression. I am both attracted to her beauty as well as made uneasy by the matter-of-fact nature of the image. The image suggests both the pleasure and the suffering of her body. It is an interesting feeling, thanks for sharing.
loofasword
No bee, no bonnet, seldom any clothes at all. I’m an experienced analyst, not a naive hand-clapping fan. IMO, the approach is sadly dated, and will not be nearly as effective as a better chosen approach would have been.
What metric are you using for "effective"? What exactly do you claim to be analyzing here, except the projects' failure to accomplish an objective that it does not hold?
    loofasword
    Oh and, I'm an "experienced social activist", just like everyone else on the internet, and you're still missing the point.
alanflynn
My sympathies with those defending this month's photo. All of the women photographed are participating in a specific act of solidarity with Aliaa Magda Elmahdy by emulating her simple act of posting a photo of herself in her natural state; an act for which she received death threats. The calendar ought to be hung in the home of every freedom-loving person the world over. I note that Aliaa has also made an interesting call for Egyptian men to take photographs of themselves wearing veils & to post these on the internet. Sounds like a great idea for a Veiled Photo Revolutionary Calendar. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/272667/20111226/egypt-s-nude-revolutionary-aliaa-elmahdy-asks.htm
    loofasword
    I was going to participate in the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes fundraiser (http://walkamiletoronto.org/) wearing a burka. The various muslim groups, particularly the women's groups, with which I consulted before approaching the walk's organizers though it was a great idea. The organizers blinked and asked me not to, at the last minute. I would totally do a Veiled Photo Revolutionary Calendar, except that absolutely no one knows who I am.
jenny6833a
These stiff, stand-there-like-a-dunce nude photos somehow repel me. I have the impression that she was conventionally clothed a minute before and again a minute after the photo was taken. She ought to be doing something, something that indicates that nudity is a frequent choice. As it is, this and the many similar photos seem to say, "Nudity is abhorrent to me, but I'm doing it for shock value as a protest."
    JackSchofield
    > She ought to be doing something She is doing something. She is being brave (a lot braver than I could be) and standing up for her rights.
      jenny6833a
      <cite She is being brave (a lot braver than I could be) ... That's funny. You're confessing to being irrationally taboo-ridden. ... and standing up for her rights. Oh? Please explain. How does a perfectly ordinary and 100% legal photo, of which there are millions on the internet, 'stand up for her rights'?
        JackSchofield
        Are you as unpleasant in real life as you are online?
        loofasword
        Oh? Please explain. How does a perfectly ordinary and 100% legal photo, of which there are millions on the internet, ‘stand up for her rights’?
        The explanation is in a link in the very first sentence of this blog post. You have to work very diligently to be that obtuse.
    jeroenmetselaar
    The purpose o this picture was not to shock or Glod forbid to arouse. It was made to show female nudity just as that: female nudity. As a (hobby) photographer I like the approach: It shows a naked female doing something very every-day conventional (standing having a cuppa) without being anything else. Considering how the howling and drooling masses react to free-minded, independent and naked woman it was also certainly brave.
      jenny6833a
      The purpose o this picture was not to shock or Glod forbid to arouse. It was made to show female nudity just as that: female nudity. Fifty years ago, that photo would have achieved the goal. Now, it's just trite. As a (hobby) photographer I like the approach: It shows a naked female doing something very every-day conventional (standing having a cuppa) without being anything else. Real people seldom if ever stand stiffly to have a cuppa. Considering how the howling and drooling masses react to free-minded, independent and naked woman it was also certainly brave. Perhaps it was 'brave' for that particular woman -- I don't know -- but overall it hardly qualifies. Thousands upon thousands of such photos exist, and have existed for at least fifty years in print and on the web. As one of many examples of mere nudity, see http://classic-nudists.blogspot.com Although I certainly support the goal of the project, I don't regard it as effective. In 2013, such photos are a penny a thousand. As I said in my OP, she needs at the very least to be doing something that portrays her nudity as a ho-hum part of her daily life. That wouldn't make the photo especially unusual, but would take it out of the old fashioned category. A stiff, posed photo simply doesn't stand out from the thousands upon thousands of others that clog the web. Such photos have become extraordinarily ordinary.
    loofasword
    She ought to be doing something, something that indicates that nudity is a frequent choice. As it is, this and the many similar photos seem to say, “Nudity is abhorrent to me, but I’m doing it for shock value as a protest.”
    You've missed the entire point of the exercise. The calendar isn't aimed at the sensibilities of most Westerners. It's aimed at those whose cultural sensibilities see simple nudity as an act of criminal violence, and want to punish women accordingly.
      jenny6833a
      The calendar isn’t aimed at the sensibilities of most Westerners. It’s aimed at those whose cultural sensibilities see simple nudity as an act of criminal violence, and want to punish women accordingly. You're missing the fact that such photos are dated, that literally millions of more effective photos are available to anyone who has a computer -- which those with the cultural sensibilities you describe certainly do.
        loofasword
        How many of those "more effective" photos were created specifically in response to and in support of Aliaa Magda Elmahdy? These're also stylistically imitating Elmahdy's original photo---and hommage of sorts. The photos are a means to an end. It's the act of solidarity, the symbolism, that's important. I'm seriously not understanding why you have this particular bee in your bonnet. You still come across as missing the point.
          jenny6833a
          • Jan 6 2013
          I’m seriously not understanding why you have this particular bee in your bonnet. No bee, no bonnet, seldom any clothes at all. I'm an experienced analyst, not a naive hand-clapping fan. IMO, the approach is sadly dated, and will not be nearly as effective as a better chosen approach would have been. Poking at me in fan-fan fashion won't change my mind or the predictably sub-par results. :-)
George Connell
Bravo for shining the light of civilisation into the crevices of prurient and prejudiced minds. There is a beauty in the human form which transcends sexuality. Yes, we are made for reproduction, but we are also made for greater things. As an artist, I celebrate the female form and the spirit which inhabits it...

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