As IF Times

Source: Nude models gather in NYC to protest Facebook and Instagram’s female nipple ban | Fox News

Protests have been an essential part of the fabric of any society for as long as there have been societies.  They arise because of a grievance that a subset of the population bears at the hands of the greater society.  There have been all kinds of manifestations to exhibit disgruntlement.  In the very extreme cases, people have inflicted self harm by setting themselves on fire as happened recently in front of the Whitehouse and in previous times by Buddhist monks unhappy with political regimes.  The standard form of protest is the wielding of signs and marching and chanting.  Nowadays, most of these signs have spelling errors and the chants are a real stretch, artistically speaking.

One form of protest has been around for hundreds of years and perhaps had its root with the nude horseback ride of the famous Lady Godiva in the 11th century of England.  Lady Godiva was actually a noblewoman who sympathized with the plight of her people that suffered under an oppressive tax regime imposed by her husband, the Earl of Coventry.  The legend goes that the Earl agreed to reduce the taxes if Godiva would ride through the town naked on horseback.  She did so and accordingly, the Earl kept his word. Based on the apparent effectiveness of that nude protest, that tactic has survived to this day as a form of civil protest.

But times have changed, to say the least.  Whereas in the 11th century, when an exposed ankle was scandalous, public nudity certainly held an element of shock.  In today’s ribald world,  nudity has hardly any shock value at all. When nudity of all kinds can be accessed literally by a few flicks of the finger on electronic devices, are there still people out there who are titillated by a nude body?  I’m unsure of how public opinion can be swayed by virtue of having to view a bunch of naked women.  It’s an odd expression of protest since there is no consequence if no behaviors are changed.  Burning of cars and buildings, sure, but mass nudity? Seems iffy to me.  It’s kind of the adult version of holding your breath as a kid until you got your way.

We live in a time when overt exhibitionism is on display everywhere you look.  From various extreme hair colors not found on any natural species on earth; to piercings of body parts that would be considered horrific torture in most societies; to gargantuan facial and body tattoos, the bar level of shock value of the human condition is pretty high.  Simple nudity doesn’t budge the needle at all.  That is not to say that some things aren’t worth fighting for.  If Kate Upton were to ‘protest’ the consumption of red meat for example, people  might be persuaded to hear her out.  But I’m guessing it may take a long time to convince most men.