One Feminist Site is Baring it All to Reclaim Women's Bodies From Insecurity

In the society of America where nudity is so taboo, ex Neighbours star and Australian actress Caitlin Stasey has launched a new feminist website that has been blowing up the internet this week featuring artistic female nudes, including some of herself. The site, called Herself, is a feminist project where nude photos are accompanied by interviews with the woman in question. Some of their stories and views are quite fascinating.   When asked how Herself came about, Stasey states in an interview to Daily Life.com: "It was really born out of hearing the incredible stories of the women around me, both socially and online. With #yesallwomen and #freethenipple I was opened up to a whole world of women struggling for equality, demanding to be heard and finding empowerment through honesty and solidarity. I want to help demystify the female form, to assist in the erasure of coveting it, and to help celebrate the ever changing face of it." "We consider a woman's sexuality so linked to her physicality that for a woman to appear naked publicly is automatically an act of sex and not for herself. There's also a very specific construct of woman we are all used to seeing, and while those women are no less women, I was so desperate to see different faces, different bodies." The 24-year-old said the world largely views women as “mothers, sluts, virgins or wives”. “Women — Love each other, support each other, defend each other. It comes at a greater cost to you to attack the women around you than it does to empower them.” While some are super supportive of Stasey's aim, other's are more critical. An article on News.com.au argues, "By putting naked photos of yourself on a public platform, you are simply offering your body up to the world for scrutiny and judgment. You are complicitly foregoing total ownership of your figure and inviting others to weigh in." True. However, what's to stop anyone from scrutinizing another, even with clothes on? When you think about it, if we are going to be judged, we will be judged for other things-even if we aren't naked-whether it be our hair, our fat or skinny bodies, our work, our teeth, our cooking-whatever it may be. By throwing it all out there, these women are saying "There, you go. Now what?" After all, you can only talk about one naked body for so long.. until another one pops up. But why are we, as Americans, so obsessed with nudity as an object instead of appreciating for what it is. Take Europe for example. Europeans are, compared to Americans, more comfortable with their bodies and with sex.     " Things are certainly changing, our tolerance for bullshit body stipulations is lessening, our desire to appease the male gaze is wavering and our ability to forgive ourselves is increasing. I've spent so much of my life mitigating and apologizing: for my thoughts as a woman, my body as a woman, even my taking up of physical space as a woman. And now through Herself.com and the work of other women's projects like it, I'm able to maintain sanity and self love through loving these women, who despite the odds are telling the patriarchy to go f-ck itself."" You can check out the entire site here and follow Caitlin on Twitter here.   Click the image below for free diet and workout plans: