Have you heard of Kaylen Ward? She’s a 20-year-old Instagram model who now likes to call herself ‘The Naked Philanthropist’.
She was profoundly distressed to hear about the devastating bushfires that have been burning across Australia and wondered to herself what she could possibly do to help.
Kaylen is a nude model, so decided to sell naked pictures of herself in exchange for donations to the bushfire crisis.
This woman is a modern-day hero with a terrific plan – rational and commendable and altruistic. She reportedly had 10 verified direct messages a minute once she had put out her tweet, offering to send a nude picture to anyone who donated $10 (£7.60) and has allegedly raised more than AU$700,000.
However, because a woman’s nudity is still so morally weighted, Kaylen has been bullied, trolled and banned from the platform on which she was famous: Instagram has deleted her account.
The way Kaylen has been treated shows that it’s time we got our heads around the fact that women can do what they want with their time, their bodies and their bank accounts.
There are many thousands of women who put naked pictures of themselves online, for all sorts of reasons – some for money, others just for the thrill – and so long as they’re happy with that, it’s completely fine.
Celebrities do it frequently – think Kim Kardashian or Emily Ratajkowski – and don’t experience the same backlash. Why are we comfortable with famous people taking their clothes off, but not ordinary women who want to use their nudity for a decent cause?
No one deserves to be mocked, judged or punished. Whether it’s for help with climate emergency reparations or for important medical treatment, as is the case for 28-year-old Michelle De Feo.
Michelle has been posing topless for strangers and sharing photos of her feet for fetishists, but in her case it’s to raise funds to pay a specialist to treat her for Lyme Disease; something she wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.
She’s on the internet in the hope of raising £7000 for specialist treatment in Washington, US.
‘I’m going to get judged and my dad gets upset and other family members do,’ Michelle told Metro.co.uk. ‘But if you were in my situation you would do anything.’
In a better world, Michelle’s treatment would be accessible and affordable through universal healthcare. It’s profoundly sad that it’s not and I wish Michelle didn’t have to get naked for money.
Kaylen Ward wanted to sell nudes, so she did. Michelle De Feo wanted to do that too – so she did.
Michelle’s campaign may not be as joyous or as cavalier as Kaylen’s, but it’s obviously worth doing and I wish her so much luck. I really hope she meets her target and is able to live a better life.
Complain about the systems if you want – an Australian government that refused to act on climate change and failed to support fire fighters right when they need it, or unequal healthcare systems. Those are the real issues here, not whether a woman is taking her clothes off to raise money.
Selling naked photos is absolutely fine. Commendable, sometimes, even.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/26/wrong-women-selling-nude-photos-choose-12120957/
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