There were some unusual scenes outside of Facebook’s New York office on Sunday morning.
In a demonstration against Facebook’s nudity policy, 125 people gathered outside the New York office with nothing but giant photos of male nipples to cover their own genitalia.
The #WeTheNipple art action was led by non-profit Grab Them By The Ballot and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and orchestrated and photographed by American artist Spencer Tunick.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, currently prohibits “some photos of female nipples”, as per its Community Guidelines.
It’s a policy which the NCAC said hurts artists.
“It particularly harms artists whose work focuses on their own bodies, including queer and gender-nonconforming artists, and the bodies of those in their communities,” the group said in a statement following the demonstration.
“Museums and galleries are constrained when even promoting exhibitions featuring nudes.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByNLdScB-2c/
The enlarged nipples used in the demonstration belonged to Bravo host Andy Cohen and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, as well as artists Andres Serrano and Paul Mpagi Sepuya.
#WeTheNipple was yet another nude art demonstration from Tunick, and marked the first time in 20 years he had attempted such a thing in New York.
In 2000, he was taken to court over an attempted shoot under the Williamsburg Bridge.
But this time was different.
“This is actually a clothed photograph,” Tunick said after the event.
“People are just clothed in male nipples.”
