BBC Ideas

BBC: The Nipple is Taboo

Sentio Space, in collaboration with documentary company WhatLarks!, was approached to tell one of the first stories on the new BBC Ideas platform, all about how the nipple has been perceived throughout history.

In ancient times the nipple was cherished as a symbol of fertility

Ancient Goddesses were sacred and worshipped

So how did this happen?

#modernadvertising #ohdear

The female body is used to sell everything under the sun, yet the nipple is considered taboo: why?

As is often the case, it all started back with those Ancient Greeks.

Men were depicted as symbols of power and virility.

#AncientGreekArt

Women meanwhile were covered by a seductive drape.

Horror stories of Amazon warriors removing a breast to fire a bow and arrow.

#AncientGreekStories #AmazonWarriorsNoHusbands

Since the 1960s, women have fought back against the objectification of a body part.

BBC archive footage of women’s rights march in 1960s.

#YourBodyBelongsToYou

Yoko Ono’s had members of the audience remove her clothes with a pair of scissors.

#PowerDynamics #GenderIssues #1964

Carolee Scheemann reinterpreted Manet’s Olympia.

#investigationintothetaboo #1963

#Édouard Manet, 1863

Femen & Free The Nipple campaigns call for women to take to the streets.

#Femen2008 #FreeTheNipple2012

What is in store for the future of the nipple?

Well, that depends on..

Educational Institutions

Communicating with clarity and sensibility through online channels is now a defining feature of effective educational institutions. Animation is an increasingly popular route, as it allows diverse characters and multiple locations to be realised without the need of film crews and location scouts. Identities can be concealed when sensitivity is required. And it is at home with younger audiences.