Exposure Therapy

We always wondered why nipples on kids are OK, nipples on male teens and men are OK, but somehow nipples on a pubescent girl or a grown woman are… not OK. In fact, Emma Shapiro says her experience as an artists’ model showed her how crazy common it is for a woman’s nipple to be labeled obscene or pornographic even if the context is far from sexual. (Hello, whose nipples are part of an all-natural food delivery system?)

Emma, whose degree is from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, has designed an artistic challenge to the ridiculous taboo that discriminates against women’s bodies. As Emma points out, “A nipple is not even gendered.”

To show how silly it is to freak out at the sight of a nipple, she created nipple stickers that people are putting on everything and anything they want to. (Don’t worry, they’re waterproof, don’t damage surfaces, and are removable.)

Emma says, “Seeing these nipples will lead people to ask questions such as:

Is a car with a nipple sexy?
Could a sidewalk with a nipple be pornographic?
Is my laptop now inappropriate?
Would a telephone pole be obscene?
Is a tree with a nipple dangerous?”

The project is called Exposure Therapy, and for maximum exposure, Emma needs to produce and mail more nipple stickers to people of all genders (get yours by messaging her on Instagram, or emailing her)! This Awesome Without Borders grant will help with that. Perhaps there’ll be enough left over to subsidize the website and the zine Emma wants to produce, because she wants to reach more people and find new nipple sticker models! She’s just produced a fresh round of stickers that are a fleshtone rainbow of nipples, but let her know if you’re interested in lending yours. (If you think that sounds obscene, you’re why we’re giving this grant.)

Follow along with Exposure Therapy on Instagram, and visit the project page on Emma’s website.