Emily Clarkson campaigns to ‘free the nipple’ in belated IWD campaign
Emily Clarkson has teamed up with Lovehoney in a bid to Break the Bias and stop social platforms from policing women's bodies following International Women's Day (IWD).
The 27-year-old social media campaigner - and daughter of Jeremy Clarkson - shared an image of herself in the popular sexual wellness brand's lingerie as they both take a stand against the fact 'the nipple (still) isn't free'.
The Grand Tour and Top Gear host's eldest daughter, from his marriage to second wife Frances Cain, revealed Instagram had previously taken down pictures of her due to them being classed as 'adult content and sexual solicitation'.
Making a point, the image of her wearing the red lingerie comes after what looks like a typical Instagram warning sign, but is instead a graphic made by Lovehoney that reads, "Not Sensitive Content. This image contains a woman's body, which should be celebrated, not policed" with the option to 'See Why'.
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Speaking out to give women back the power over their own bodies, Clarkson captioned her Instagram post, "BREAK THE BIAS!!!! AD! I am SOOOOO excited to be partnered up with @lovehoneyofficial as they take a stand this International Women’s Day against social platforms attitudes towards and policing of women’s bodies.
"You might remember just after Christmas I was shadowbanned (blocking or partially blocking a user or their content) on here after a series of my old photos were removed for 'adult content and sexual solicitation'. They were (though she says so herself) beautiful photos of my body that should not have been deemed 'sensitive content'."
Clarkson then points out the hypocrisy of rules surrounding men's and women's bodies, adding, "why, for example, on a hot day in England will you see hundreds of male nipples and yet women feeding their babies have to do so under layers in restaurant bathrooms? The nipple isn’t free. And we do not have autonomy over our bodies. It’s time to change the narrative!"
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Watch: Emily Clarkson demonstrates changes to her appearance using social filters
Many fans flooded the comments to show their support. One wrote, "I love you and all you stand for" while another said, "The partnership we've been waiting for yes please goodness".
Others also sarcastically addressed social media attributing women's bodies to 'sensitive content', with one commenting, "Omg so sensitive. I'll never recover from this" and another, "'Sensitive' aka any female 'pushing the boundaries' 'crossing the line' into what is acceptable of males. How dare we".
Lovehoney has explained why the partnership and campaign is so important to it, with the sexual wellness brand keen to combat the censorship of female sexuality on social media.
A spokesperson said, "Lots of people we work with have had really positive sexual wellness content taken down because it was considered inappropriate by social media censors, denying the individuals the right to free expression.
"This surge in censorship is impacting in lots of other ways. Google’s new SafeSearch algorithm has had a profound impact on sexual wellness search and stopped thousands of Lovehoney customers from finding our content."
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Lovehoney first shared its campaign on IWD, with featured model Naomi Native, BBC's presenter of Transitioning Teens Charlie Craggs, anti-diet content creator Katie Budenberg, disabled model and activist Lucy May Dawson, model Rachel Peru and more.
It added, "Tired of seeing your favourite creators and brands' posts being taken down, banned or marked as 'sensitive' content? Us too!!"
Clarkson concluded her own belated IWD post urging everyone to celebrate women's bodies and their sexuality and give them back their power.
"We don't just exist for the male gaze or to be enjoyed in the context of a man," she added.