While frecent years have been all about the butt, 2016 was most definitely the year of the nipple. On catwalks, sets and the streets of New York (because laws), Kendall Jenner, Rihanna, and Gigi and Bella Hadid unabashedly bared their girls. Needless to say, fashion fanatics followed suit. “I’m weird! I love my tits being out, it’s like one of my things, I guess,” Kendall’s remarked on the subject.
Model Melina DiMarco, creator of photo-editing app Nood, takes a more profound stance on the issue. To DiMarco, there’s “nothing wrong” — or weird — with being nude. Rather, the real issue is that society misperceives and over-sexualizes the female form. Which is why, after Instagram repeatedly censored DiMarco’s nipple-freeing posts, the model decided to take matters into her own hands.
A photo posted by nood (@nood.life) on
Tired of concealing her ladybits with cutesy emojis, DiMarco developed an app that covers your nipples and nether regions with anatomically correct illustrations. “I thought about what the real issue is here and I knew that the way that the female form was being perceived was wrong,” DiMarco told Mic, referring to the way Instagram restricts women, but not men, from showing their upper bodies. “I was like OK, I can’t post what I want, so what if I post nipples on top of nipples?”
“The use of the app is meant to be temporary. I wanted to make this statement of nipples on nipples and at some point, social media is going to need to revise their policies,” DiMarco continued. “The hope is that if you see the female form or the body with these stickers, maybe the body can be desexualized.”
The stickers can be edited to be larger or smaller, made to mimic an au natural or post-Brazilian look. DiMarco also designed C-section and mastectomy scar stickers and period blood and breast milk driblets for those who want to keep it really real.
It’s a no-judgment, gender-inclusive tool. “I’m really hoping it’s an app for all people,” DiMarco shared. “Women who are more modest can use stickers that aren’t necessarily the nipples, and people who don’t identify as women can too.”
At the moment, however, it’s an app for no people — the Apple app store judged Nood to be “objectionable material.” But DiMarco hasn’t given up. For your part, you can express your support for Nood by signing her Change.org petition. In the meantime, for those wishing to #FreetheNipple there’s always Twitter and — if you’re located in New York, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio or Texas — the streets.
