So, you remember how Amber Rose flashed her bush to the world via Instagram?
Well now Piers Morgan is trying to feud with her because he craves negative attention doesn’t think that she’s a real feminist.
Though Instagram quickly deleted the image, everyone had of course already seen it.
Which was exactly what she wanted — because Amber’s nudity wasn’t without purpose.
In addition to just raising awareness for her SlutWalk, she had a specific and powerfully feminist message in mind:
“Amber Rose challenge anyone? Lol post your version of my picture and hashtag #amberroseslutwalk on behalf of feminism, body positivity and not conforming to society norms of how we should live, what we should wear and where we should shave.”
Piers Morgan wasn’t feeling it, and decided to express that in a super condescending way:
“Put it away, luv. Thanks.”
After Amber called him out for being an obvious misogynist, he seemed to get even angrier.
“It’s not ‘misogyny’ to think that posting nude photos in the supposed name of feminist empowerment is pathetic attention-seeking bulls**t.”
So, nothing that we haven’t heard from him before.
When Amber questioned if he was simply off-put by her pubic hair, he clarified.
“I can handle your naked body, Amber — relax. I just can’t handle your ridiculous claim to be stripping off in the name of feminism.”
We don’t know how long it will take for him and others like him to get it through their thick skulls that a major component of feminism is doing what you want with your own body.
If you’re an adult and you want to wear a bikini or share your nudes or go topless on the beach or do anything else with your flesh prison that doesn’t hurt anybody, nobody else has ownership over you.
And that also means that you can wear a hijab or a burka if you’re so inclined.
It means that you can have sex with a thousand partners or with zero. Your body belongs to you.
Poor Piers doesn’t seem to get it, because he continued to defend his position.
“I just find this new trend of famous women posting nude photos & pretending it’s to ‘promote feminism’ utterly laughable.”
Well, Amber Rose was promoting SlutWalk, a transnational feminist movement to end rape culture — including slut-shaming.
And her photo was literally promoting it. There’s no ambiguity there.
Finally, Piers Morgan says something that’s actually true.
“‘The only way for a woman to succeed in life is to post nude photos of themselves to millions of strangers’ — said no true feminist ever.”
That is accurate, in that no true feminist would say something so ridiculous.
Because, again, there are countless ways for women to succeed in life, and only a few of them involve sharing their nudes with the public.
We’ll never understand Piers Morgan’s pathological obsession with controlling what women do with their bodies, but, like most people, we’ll just try our best to ignore it.
Piers Morgan seems to make a habit of feuding with famous feminist women, even daring to malign Beyonce.
Though he at least had the decency to eventually apologize to Ariana Grande.
We all know why he takes aim at the likes of JK Rowling and Kim Kardashian, and it’s more than just misogyny (though clearly also that).
He just wants attention.
We don’t just say that because he’s a nasty, justifiably reviled fellow who craves attention and apparently doesn’t care if it’s negative.
He also just wants ratings, like everyone else on television.
Feuds bring attention.
Unfortunately, even within feminism — like, actual feminists, not Piers Morgan — there are those who are opposed to sex-positive feminism like Amber’s.
Why? It depends.
Some see sex-positivity among women as being more about them being appealing to men and still abiding by patriarchal beauty standards.
They forget that all sorts of women can be sex-positive, including lesbians, whose sex-positivity definitely isn’t to benefit men.
They also forget that those same patriarchal values often shame people for engaging in sex outside of certain contexts — usually marriage — so yes, having sex can absolutely be a feminist statement.
There are feminists who disagree with sex-positivity because they believe that it’s harmful to people who choose to be reserved about sex and also to asexuals.
These feminists have a point, because sex-positivity is worthless if you don’t consider all choices that women might make for themselves about sex.
Similarly, it would be hypocritical for someone to “yasss” over a topless selfie but then rail against a woman who chooses to wear a niqab.
The “my body, my choice” thing goes in every direction, every time. There are a few feminists who forget this.
But Amber Rose doesn’t — her advocacy may have a lot to do with nudity and sex, but it’s clear that her feminism includes everybody.
Admittedly, we were a little uncomfortable with her “bring back the bush” caption that she shared at one point while discussing her photo.
As Ashley Graham reminds us, personal grooming is a personal choice.
But we don’t really think that Amber Rose is pushing women to make the same choice that she does with what does or does not decorate their genitals.
She’s just pushing for a little more acceptance, because she knows that pubic hair is less fashionable these days and she wants young women to know that it’s okay to not shave or wax if you don’t want to.
Regardless of your personal tastes, you know that it’s an important message.
Like any political statement, Amber’s post was divisive on a number of levels, even if we ignore Piers Morgan’s willful ignorance.
Not everybody’s going to see eye-to-eye on everything.
One area where we can probably all agree: we haven’t seen the last of Amber Rose and her super hot photos.
