When I was 16, an older boy texted me, “I wanna see what’s under that bikini ;),” after
I just posted a picture of myself on Instagram. I was at the beach rocking a skimpy two-piece swimsuit from Victoria’s Secret.

I looked at the phone and my heart started pounding. “A nude?” I thought. “That would be social suicide! My reputation would be over. I would get kicked off the cheer team!”

Fast forward four years. This time when my phone buzzed, a notification from Instagram read, “@newyorknarcissist, your post was removed because it did not follow our safety guidelines.” That was the third selfie I posted that month to be removed because Instagram deemed it too explicit for their platform.

At 16, I was taught to believe that as a woman I should be humiliated by my sexuality—as if to be open sexually meant that I didn’t respect myself—that I gave myself away. In high school, sending nude photos was taboo. If someone exploited these private images and leaked them, I would be scrutinized and publicly shamed.

Now movements on social media, such as #freethenipple, are reclaiming the nude. Women are posting images of themselves baring it all to make a statement about their own body autonomy. To publicize the nude means to not be ashamed of revealing oneself as a sexual being.

“My life is based around exposing myself on the internet,” said Mati Hays, a Parsons junior majoring in fine arts with a concentration in fashion design. Her stance is a response to multiple stories of women’s careers being shut down because of a sex tape or nude photos being leaked. “It all comes back to haunt them,” she explained. “I’m going to take the reins of that. I know the internet is a catalogue, everything you put into social media will resurface at a point in time, even if you delete them.”

In this patriarchal society, women’s bodies are always being surveilled and monitored. Hays resists this by choosing to put everything out there herself. In some nude photos, she’s getting ready for a night out and strikes intense poses in front of a mirror in her apartment on St. Mark’s Place. In others, she’s displaying a bruise or a sunburn.

“If someone wanted to hold me back from releasing a nude photo of me, it couldn’t happen, I put it out there,” Hays said.

“I think it’s an ongoing struggle for people to really understand why you do it, why you make the choice to put yourself out there.”

The first nude she put on Instagram was taken in a mirrored room at Parsons. Since posting it, she has used Instagram as a platform to try to inspire young women to take control over their own bodies.

Similarly, art model and fine arts sophomore Morgan Sheridan posts photos of her work, which include nude photos of herself in scenic locations, as well as photos of herself and a friend posing seductively in lingerie on a bed. Through her modeling, she wants to show that empowerment is different for every woman.

After being approached by a freelance photographer in Atlanta three years ago, Sheridan has modeled for numerous fine art nude photographers, and has also been the subject of lingerie and fetish shots, which she doesn’t describe as porn, but “all the other stuff.” By posting her work on Instagram, it is easier for photographers to reach out to her to book jobs. Her following has been as high as 12,000.

On a smaller scale, Hays uses her private account, @artisticservices_69, to post pictures of her various projects, including a photo series of women urinating in public and casual nude selfies taken while deciding what to wear on a night out. She created this account to share intimate moments of her life with a following of her choosing. Mati joined the wave of the “finsta,” a private Instagram account, with curated content that is shared privately. She feels that finstas create an internet community that is a safe space with little censorship.

Hays also shares controversial images on her public page. After one of her photos was reported, she invited some of her public followers to follow @artisticservices_69. Soon after, there was excessive reporting on her private content and her account was deleted. She has since made another account, but is suspicious that one of the new lesser-known followers of the original account reported the photos.

The Instagram guideline for deleting accounts—including private accounts—reads, “We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.”

Sheridan explains that she follows these guidelines on her instagram by blurring out nipples, genitalia, and sometimes close up shots of her butt. Even through following these guidelines, her account has been deleted three times. She is currently on her fourth Instagram account.

Sheridan and Hays argue that when women’s bodies are un-censored, they are destigmatized. Exposing their nude bodies online is their way of dismantling preconceived notions of women’s sexuality and normalizes the female body. After all, a photo of a shirtless male will never get reported on Instagram.

The advice that Sheridan gives to women who want to explore the potential of exposing themselves on the internet, is that if one feels empowered being nude and wants to share it with the world, it is an incredible experience.

Hays said that the most backlash she has received has been from her own family. “I think it’s an ongoing struggle for people to really understand why you do it, why you make the choice to put yourself out there,” she explained.

“I think it’s an ongoing struggle for people to really understand why you do it, why you make the choice to put yourself out there.”

Sheridan on the other hand, has received harassment from many sources. She explained that harassment varies from absurd comments on her posts, such as “send an [uncensored] photo of your tits” to messages and emails sent to her. Some have even asked her if she offered Skype sessions, or if they could masturbate to her photos. Sometimes she will experience backlash from people on the street recognize her from Instagram and know her profession.

However, she said, “The backlash is typically from other females, particularly those who aren’t in NYC, or other accepting cities for nude art. It baffles me, especially since most females are labeling themselves as ‘feminist’ and that promotes acceptance of all females and their jobs.” She said she ignores the trolls and she doesn’t let them break her confidence in her work.

“The positive aspects of it outweighs any backlash or negative comments. The amount of joy and fun this has brought me is indescribable and I urge people to do it if that is something they want to explore,” Sheridan said.

Photos by Julia Himmel