The Controversial American Political Debate: Is Female Nudity Empowering?
As a 4th wave feminist political nudist and a certified Human Rights Consultant, and former feminist Human Rights leader, I have both first hand experience and knowledge of how political nudity drives results. My use of nudity is constantly a social media debate. Online haters love to report my content and make dangerous comments; yet I remain a feminist political nudist in fact I’m naked on the cover of Boricua Gringa, a Biography written by fellow Welsh feminist Eleanor Wait. It’s was only fit that two feminists would join forces to create a provocative protest book that would be submitted as evidence in an administrative case with the U.S. Navy as a result of the infamous Manker Settlement.
Let’s get straight to the point. Americans love to debate the topic of female nudity. I know this because I’m constantly at the center of debate in the military and veteran communities. Before I share my personal experience and thoughts; let’s look at the history of nudity as a form of protest.
The Historical Timeline of Nude Protests in the Western Hemisphere:
- Taíno First Nations People Pre-Columbus Era – Nudity was a way of life for single Taína women living in the Caribbean Rainforests & Beaches. According to ToPuertoRico.org a nonprofit that works to preserve the indigenous history of Puerto Rico, “Men generally went naked or wore a breech cloth known as a nagua. Single women were headbands (headdresses) and walked around naked and married women wore an apron to cover their genitals (to signal they had a partner(s) Taínos were polygamous). The length indicated a woman’s rank in the tribe. Both sexes painted themselves; they wore earrings, necklaces, and nose rings sometimes made from gold.”
- 1508 A.D. Columbus Invasion – West African Yoruba tribe taught the Taíno tribe of Loíza (then Hamanio village) which was governed by the only female cacique Yuiza (prounouced Juisa) about Bomba. Bomba is a resistance dance that is unique in that the dancer leads by making specific moves and the drummer follows the dancer. This genre of music is a form of storytelling through dance. The Yoruba tribe used bomba to communicate with the Taíno tribe because they both spoke different languages and niether language was written. Bomba became the main form of communication especially when it came to organizing slave rebellions against the Spaniard & Portuguese militaries. It is well documented in Christopher Columbus & his high ranking military officer’s journals how they would whip, beat, capture, and rape Taína women. Bomba became a way to fight back against the first forms of Military Sexual Violence (MSV) in the Western Hemisphere. Make single Taína women were sent to distract and seduce the European military men. When they were having sex with the military men; the African men played the tambores (African drums) and the Taíno men raided the slave ships, stole weapons and freed African slaves. Nudity, sex, and dance led to any of the soldiers abandoning their posts and joining the Afro-Taíno tribes. Hence, the beginning of today’s Puerto Ricans (we are mixed race because of this resistance to slavery). This is the story of my DNA and my very existence. Both sides of my family are from the part of Puerto Rico where these events took place and my DNA matched these events. It is these reasons that Bomba has been suppressed. Bomba resistance is also the first documented form of naked and sexual protest. Even today, Puerto Rican government suppressed education surrounding Bomba. Yet, the Black Lives Matter movement has brought Puertorriqueña Bomba to the United States. As a result of these protests almost bankrupting the Spaniard crown; the Vatican sent nuns and set up the first covanent called El Convento in San Juan, Puerto Rico to convert single Taína women to Catholicism so they would be forced to wear clothing and be taught that modesty is “Godly.” It was really designed to oppress Taína women to enslave them.
- Second Wave Feminism USA 1960s – Alongside the Civil Rights Movement was Second Wave Feminism. Religious indoctrination and economic oppression left many women to abandon nudity and sex politics, despite its efficacy. Until 2nd wave feminism emerged. Nude protesting remerged during the Sexual Revolution. The Patriarchy deemed this a threat to their power structure.
- 1990s – 2010s Single Issue Nude Protesting emerges in many resistance movements from PETA Animal Rights Protests, Land Rights, Femicide Protests, Trans Rights, Anti-War, Female Athletes Equal Rights Protests, Anti-War and Peace Protests have all used nudity to draw attention to issues caused by patriarchal structures.
- 2018-Current 4th Wave Feminist MeToo Movement: The Military MeToo Movement is known as the Military Sexual Trauma Movement. Prior to my work as a human rights consultant, I founded and lead the military arm of the 4th Wave Feminist movement. I used and still use nudity, a lot. 4th wave feminism is about combatting sexual violence & harassment. Being Puerto Rican I have often drawn inspiration from my Caribbean Native American ancestors. Patriarchy throughout history has controlled women through the use of modesty. I use nudity as a form of resistance to rape culture. Sexual violence is most prominent in conservative circles whether that be the church, the military, the labor force, or politics. The trend with sexual violence lies within the radicalization pipeline of conservativism. I intentionally rebell against patriarchy for this reason.
The Power Political Nudity Yields is Historically Undeniable:
The history of political nudity is so powerful that the Patriarchy is so threatened by nude protesting they go to extreme lengths to oppress it. Whether it’s creating a religious doctrine of modesty, or organizing a mass slut shaming campaign or even outright making up conspiracy theories; they will go to extreme lengths to shut down nude protesting. We must ask ourselves why? According to AfricanFeminist.com authored by African Radical Feminist Twasiisma Tricia is a lawyer from Uganda who specificalizes in gender equality and Social Justice states,
Resistance in all it’s forms is a push back against the status quo. It is not meant to soothe those which whom it is aimed, rather to demonstrate, as creatively, effectively, as shockingly what the resistor intends… as a form of protest nudity is an effective tool at challenging Patriarchy.
Our bodies convey political truths. We must see our bodies as political as they are. Understanding all of the choices we make; what to wear, how to keep our hair, to love the body you have, etc. can be an act of resistance or acclimatizion (to Patriarchy) is important.
There’s a trend amongst feminists from India, Africa, the United States, Israel and most notably Iran. All are saying that modesty is a tool of patriarchy. If you haven’t been hiding in a closet the protests in Iran where hundreds of teenage women have died fighting for freedom from the morality police should help wake you up. Modesty is a precursor to a fascist regime who’s interest solely focuses on controlling every aspect of a woman’s life. As a feminist political nudist myself, this is something I figured out early on as a movement leader. As my public profile raised, I noticed an interesting trend. The amount of people in the military and veteran community who found it utterly okay to criticize my looks at every opportunity they had. Whether it was my signature red lipstick, corset, or my natural un-dyed wavy hair. These people on social media felt it was okay for them to discuss my looks. I intentionally continued to resist. As the movement evolved and became intersectional; I noticed how white supremacist factions worked to regularly harass women veterans. I saw how they organized and made female burner accounts to enter female only Facebook groups and would attack who ever spoke out about sexual violence on male burner accounts they made. I even watched as a they recruited and radicalized a number of female veterans to join their hate-groups. I witnessed the levels of instability and hostility in those female Marine groups. I repeatedly witnessed and even experienced the destructive forces of patriarchy at work. Doing what I do best, I documented everything and submitted all of it to the United Nations because no matter how many times I submitted this information to the Department of Defense they ignored it. I went as far as leaking these human rights abuses to the news.
With a target on my back, I became the target of a failed assassination attempt, smear campaigns, and violent social media attacks on my reputation. These white supremacists wouldn’t stop so doing what I do best, I documented more than I responded and laid out my case to the UN Human Rights Council and I described at length the human rights abuses the U.S. Navy & Marine Corps. enables. I went after the institutions that breed these extremists. As a feminist, I defended my human right to body autonomy. While I was working on documenting all of the military patriarchy’s human rights violations on the international level; I also continued to resist indoctrination and subjugation into patriarchy by utilizing radical feminist political tactics: the most historically successful one, political nudity.
I myself identify as an intersectional feminist and I generally pull inspiration from radical and liberal feminist political tactics to draw attention to my movement. This certainly did the trick. The level of engagement both positive and negative expanded my reach beyond measure. The more threatened patriarchal actors got and the more they attacked me; the more money I made for my human rights organization and continued to fund my work fighting for social justice.
- It challenges the sexualization of women’s bodies for the male gaze and male profits.
- It challenges patriarchy’s commercialized images of women’s bodies with what body type is the ideal.
- Political nudity directly challenges patriarchy’s hold on purity culture which has been and is still used to oppress women.
- It challenges patriarchy’s control over women’s bodies because political nudity takes back the power from the patriarch through the use of nudity. Women’s bodies and morality are controlled by patriarchy. Political nudity is the stance of resistance to the patriarchy’s status-quo of male ownership and dominance over women.
- It challenges male domination and female subjugation by directly calling out double standards in how men are treated vs. women.
- It challenges patriarchal legislation that controls women’s bodies such as banning abortions by taking control of our bodies by resisting this control by getting naked because it’s our body so it’s our choice.
- It’s a bold statement about obvious inequalities such as men freely being topless while women are sexualized and subjugated for the same act, and therefore can not experience the same freedom. In other words political nudity directly calls out male privilege and rape culture thus proving patriarchy exists. Which means females are in fact presently enslaved and denied human rights. It’s a simple yet powerful political tool to call out the obvious hypocrisy of patriarchy.
As a feminist political nudist myself, I can assure you it yields results and feels empowering to tell the patriarchy to fuck-off
It resulted in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Safe-to-Report policy which removes disciplinary, administrative, and criminal processes out of the Chain of Commands; they can now only refer Sailors and Marines to medical and legal when they report Military Sexual Violence to their chains of commands. Boricua Gringa: The Biography of Jánelle Marina Méndez-Viera tells the story of why they were backed into the corner of having to implement that change.
My evidence was able to prove that the retaliation was a result of white supremacy and systemic administrative and physical violence against women, LGBTQIA, and minorities. My free the tetas campaign made that happen. My nude protests allowed me to fund trips to Washington D.C., Texas, & New York for groups of veteran survivors. It even helped me fund the development and lobbying efforts for the Military Industry Regulatory Authority which is currently being enacted by the Department of Defense due to my human rights complaints sent to the United Nations and yes in case you’re wondering, the evidential biography was submitted to the UN. My tetas (tits) even helped me fund lobbying efforts to help me bring LGBTQIA veterans to the congressional table during the authoring of the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act. The congress members working on the bills specifically told me and my volunteers that the Guillen family was not interested in adding gender identity protections in their bills so I made those staffers listen to my LGBTQIA volunteers and then brought them to the meetings for the MJIAPA which U.S. Senator Gillibrand’s staffers to ensure gender-identity and all LGBTQIA statuses were covered in the protections.
Nudity has specifically been the reason why I am the first and only person in United States history to repeatedly enact intersectional military/veterans legislation. This is why I am so hated and demonized by the patriarchy. They finally met their match. In a time when Christian nationalism is on the rise, a roll back in women’s rights are occurring, and a time in history where members of the military participated in an insurrection on our Nation’s Capitol alongside insurrectionist leader and ex-President Donald Trump who was in power leading a white supremacist faction of the Republican Party called MAGA; I authored, lobbied, and enacted the Restoration of Honor Act of 2019. The first intersectional military/legislation in U.S. History. Since then, I’ve accomplished intersectional legislation at the federal and international level with the Safe-to-Report Policy and MIRA (Military Industry Regulatory Authority) and now, I’m educating the next generation of 4th Wave feminists on how to carry the torch of justice and world peace forward.
Political nudity is a tool to carry in the political toolkit. It’s been extremely effective for resistance movements since the inception of the colonization of the Americas. I am committed to representing the origins of political nudity as an icon of the Afro-Taíno (Puerto Rican) Resistance culture. I am the most prolific 4th wave feminist political nudist who’s protest have lead to the most progressive and intersectional legislation in U.S. history for our era. It’s worth taking notes out of the feminist playbook. Resistance culture is my lifestyle.
References:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/feminisminindia.com/2017/08/28/modesty-outraged-patriarchy-law/%3Famp
