Feminism without Clothes

In another indicence of coincidence, Candy's blog entry for today touches on a conversation I had just last night and was considering blogging about today. Seeing Candy's entry makes me think it's a point worth addressing, and 4th of July weekend seems like the right time to discuss matters of freedom and personal liberty. Hope she doesn't mind that I borrowed the name of her blog for the title of this post.

As I've mentioned, my sister is in town visiting and last night was the first chance we've had to really discuss my photography. While she is being very supportive of me and likes my work, she admits she has minor qualms with some of the subject matter (i.e. nudity) in terms of her stance on feminism. I said that I'd understood feminism to be support for the right of women to do whatever they choose to do, within the limits of the law, and even to work to change the laws.

Obviously the models I work with are posing of their own free choice. Some as a form of personal artistic expression, some like my work/style and want to be a part of it, some out of a desire to see themselves photographed by "a professional" rather than their friend's camera phone, and some primarily for financial reasons. Or for several of these reasons at once. As I understand them, the feminist arguments against glamour/fashion/nude photography or even pornography range from perpetuating stereotypes, objectification, exploitation, to corruption of society and promoting violence against women.

From my perspective, most of the models I have worked with have been among the most liberated, independent, and feminist women I've ever met. As Candy's blog points out, feminism is essentially about freedom, including sexual liberation, and repression is the opposite of freedom. Repression, as I see it, is the greatest threat to feminism, and women in general. I'll spare you examples. Feminism is also the freedom to choose whether or not a woman participates in "the beauty culture." But I think a big part of feminism is withholding judgment on the actions of any women who are exercising their freedoms.

I don't mean this to sound like a rant against my sister at all... she sees my point of view, and is a highly intelligent and rational woman who expressed mild reservations about this aspect of my work. I appreciate her kind support in my efforts to create beautiful images -- some more sensual and sexual than others. The discussion just seemed blogworthy.

By the way, today's photo is not Candy, but Amber, who is obviously her own woman, and is ready to fight the power. It's from a series of "protest images" I did for Boyd Hambleton's literary magazine, The Center of Our Universe. The download version of the magazine is less than $4.00, so be sure to check it out.