The “Free the Nipple” movement has jumped from Hollywood to the masses, with demonstrations invading the Assemblies of God territory.
Springfield, Missouri, pastors are not happy about it, to say the least.
“My wife and I are currently children’s Sunday School teachers and we are nauseated by the very idea that this would be legal for any of the young girls in our church,” Robert Tony Pawlak says.
The rally was meant to protest the sexualization of the nipple, but was planned in such a way that families and children would see the demonstrations.
“Yet to think that this nude protest not only coincided with the artwalk but was also within the same vicinity as a group of junior high students who were performing a concert during the same time horrifies me even more,” Rev. Kristopher Burnett says.
But rally, and movement, organizers say the opposite.
They believe the appearance of women’s nipples should be a non-issue, an everyday occurrence with which all are comfortable.
“Sexual objectification is the problem. There’s a difference between sexualization and sexuality. Breasts don’t hurt children, breasts feed children, and it’s the sexualization of women’s bodies that’s actually hurting children the most,” campaign leader Soraya Chemaly tells MIC.
The movement began in the 2014 winter, and boasts supporters including Miley Cyrus and Scout and Rumer Willis, who are the daughters of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. What started as a celebrity trend, though, is now affecting suburbia.
“In foreign countries where it’s never seen as an issue, it’s not. They were never meant to be a sexual thing and that’s what kind of sucks about it,” rally organizer Alysa Berrer says.
The Springfield rally was mere miles away from the AG headquarters. Some onlookers were taken aback by the blatant nudity, telling local news the protesters’ actions did little to support their supposed cause.
“I can’t imagine how that would boost their (sic), give them any benefit at all—career wise, education wise, personal relationship wise,” one woman tells a local station.
While the protesters went topless with black tape over their nipples, they were still in accordance with the city’s nudity laws.
But after the rally, the Springfield City Council leaders went to task to present stricter indecent exposure laws.
And they have the support of the local body of Christ.
“Rest assured that if any such ordinance is passed catering to this behavior, that the voices of the many Christians in this city will be (united) come next election,” says James Lindly, pastor of Grand Community Church.
