This is a guest commentary on Tavi Gevinson, whose Fashion Rookie blog was shut down by Blogger yesterday because she posted a 1998 fashion photo revealing the model’s nipple. Here is the Gawker version of the story. The model was Maggie Rizer — another story worth knowing.
By Beth Bagner
This whole thing with Tavi is ridiculous, well in a way not as much ridiculous as it is preposterous. The thing about Tavi is that she truly gets it (I’ve been reading her since she’s 11 when Stylerookie began, she just turned 14).
She’s a pint-sized curious creative genius, a true artist. As a photographer, her art has inspired me (that should tell you something right there, because I photograph A LOT of nudes, this includes nipples). She’s an ancient soul reincarnated into a middle-schooler living in the ‘burbs surrounding Chicago. Tavi Gevinson self describes herself as, “A tiny 13 year old dork that sits inside all day wearing awkward jackets and pretty hats.”
But there’s a lot more to her than that, and she knows it. She has captured massive amounts of attention from designers, publishers, and business people. Not to mention her fan base, I’m not quite sure the amount of hits her blog receives daily, but I will bet its up there. She has inspired fashion collections, and overall she’s a smart cookie.
I have to admit that when I first heard of this story here on Planet Waves (thanks Kyla), at first glance I thought that I was reading that Tavi exposed her own nipple on Stylerookie. I chuckled pretty hard for a couple of seconds because I thought that if it was true, that was really awesome on Tavi’s part.
When I found out what the real story here was — that she had republished a widely-seen 1998 fashion image — there was a mix of feelings. Disappointment, sadness, and anger. I felt bored too, and I can only imagine how Tavi felt. This is as ridiculous as the Australian Film Board banning depiction of small breasted woman, because they somehow feel that this represents exploitation of children.
You shut down a 14-year-old’s community oriented creative outlet because she posted an artsy picture of a fucking nipple. Yeah, that’s what happened. This is disrespect at its finest. As simply stated as that is — here’s where the real questions arrive.
You shut down a 14-year-old girl.
Agreeing with Jin here: Have these people not heard of Art, Health, Anthropology, and umm Nature? We should just take the crayons away from toddlers all together while were at it….I can only imagine what Karl L. is thinking about all of this.
In truth, as 30 is creeping its tongue up my ass. I am finding that I am both learning and becoming inspired by some truly gifted young people. Recently, I find that many of them happen to be in the 14-year-old female form. Putting “limits” on there human potential is nothing that I want to be a part of. And I am here to tell them that “The Northern Lights are not drowning, they’re waving.”
And Tavi, today in your honor, I shall wear my Rodarte tutu, rainbow Doc Martens, and heart shaped sunglasses; deciding which Jesus button to rock. Either the orange one which is a parody on Slice orange soda, but instead of Slice it says Christ — or the pink one that simply states JC is my BFF. I might even flash a nipple or two and take some self portraits. Keep rocking girl.
–Beth
Beth,
Thank you for your important blog. Eric, thank you for publishing it.
Tolerance sounds easy. It was fundamental to the teachings of Gandhi. It was and continues to be an essential element of the evolving civil rights movement in the United States. It was, of course, what Jesus was asking us to exercise with each other. Yeah, tolerance sounds easy.
When we begin to feel threatened, it gets difficult. Each of us must inquire of ourselves the moment we think any sort of “zero tolerance” sounds like a good idea. How do we get from the ideal of tolerance to the doctrine of zero tolerance in the blink of an eye? What triggers that? If we can ask that question of ourselves. If can find an answer inside of ourselves. That would be a good start.
This is going to be one heck of a sideways and backwards sexual revolution. But here we cum.
and wow, thanks for looking into the model’s story as it also is clearly right up there as an example of the same dynamics….. this from that Wiki link:
At 20, Maggie and her mother hired a New York City financial manager to handle her money in exchange for five percent of her earnings. Weeks later, her stepfather John Breen, who was in the insurance industry, told her that this was a waste of money and that he wanted to handle all of her finances.
“John (Maggie’s stepdad) had a serious drinking problem, however. After dropping off his younger children at school, he would spend the day at a local bar, The Speakeasy (currently renamed to Fort Pearl because of this story), and was addicted to the state-run lottery game “Quick Draw.” According to him, after he lost his savings, he turned to Maggie’s money and sometimes lost over $60,000 of it per week. Maggie was unaware of these losses. Maggie’s mother eventually forced her husband into alcohol rehab and while he was gone, she found receipts, documents, and forged checks in his trashcan. She discovered that John had gambled away all of Maggie’s modeling income as well as the money Maggie had inherited upon the death of her biological father Kevin from AIDS in 1992.”
can we say slavery?
Thanks Eric for featuring Tavi today.
I have to say, I was just delighted with the timing of her intersection with the “controllers” and the boobquake day, it was a meeting made in heaven for sure, time-wise……
Beth, thank you for your eloquence on this. IMO Tavi is a true spark of Sacred Liberation Impulsing Goddess Waves and I love it that she is being given this (albeit sideways and backwards) opportunity to Shine!
xo Kyla
And how about this: an interview with radical feminist Kate Millett.
http://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/interv_kate_m.htm
Millet, Kate: Blasius, Mark, Sexual Revolution and the Liberation of Children: An Interview With Kate Millett
A sexual revolution begins with the emancipation of women, who are the chief victims of patriarchy, and also with ending of homosexual oppression. Part of the patriarchal family structure involves the control of the sexual life of children; indeed, the control of children totally. Children have virtually no rights guaranteed by law in our society and besides, they have no money which, in a money economy, is one of the most important sources of their oppression. Certainly, one of children’s essential rights is to express themselves sexually, probably primarily with each other but with adults as well. So the sexual freedom of children is an important part of a sexual revolution.
More articles here.