To think I can feel empowered without needing to strip to my (sexy) underwear

[fandabbyfannyflutters]

Just saw something on twitter saying all women should have a boudoir photo shoot as it's so empowering. Fine if you want to do that. Cue also the usual comments from men 'phwoar if only I was 30 years younger/was single' etc etc
Am I being wildly out order to point out well no actually I don't need to do that to feel empowered?

I'd feel sexy. But 'empowered' by a tits n ass photo? (Even if it is glam). Why? I am more than my body and whatever scale of physically attractive we are supposed to be.

@dollydaydream114 the person I've posted about is a minor celeb. The 'empowering' photos are all over her twitter page with giggly type emojis and mainly a male following going 'corrr if only I was younger/local/single' which is the polar opposite of empowering to me

Most of the time "empowerment" is linked with a sales pitch of some sort.

@YesQueen agreed - I model nude too. It’s not about ‘showing off’ my body, but I am just very confident as I am.
I think some women have always had body issues from day dot, so maybe don’t realise how you can feel quietly happy about it, without shouting from the rooftops.

Modelling nude empowers me as I make a good income from it, I meet loads of lovely people, I can pick and choose the hours I work and who I work for and I can take my dog to work with me, who I adore!

Being empowered is not about being dressed or nude, it’s doing something that works for you.

Most of the time "empowerment" is linked with a sales pitch of some sort.

This. Or to justify the type of female activities which benefit men, eg stripping or prostitution.

"Empowerment" is a meaningless word, at least in the way it's used these days. Commonly served up in some banal word salad aimed at selling women something either literally or figuratively. How often are men and boys told that certain activities are 'empowering'?

Modelling nude empowers me as I make a good income from it, I meet loads of lovely people, I can pick and choose the hours I work and who I work for and I can take my dog to work with me, who I adore!

There's a difference between doing something to make a living and doing something because it 'empowers' you. Lots of jobs could be 'empowering' by the criteria you use.

Get back to men when men are told to strike coy poses and strip to their boxers as a form of 'empowerment'.

Modelling nude empowers me as I make a good income from it

Flip that one round.

Making a good income is empowering.

You're empowered because you're making a good income.

The thing that makes me go "hang on a minute" when you phrase it as "nude modelling empowers me" is you're saying it within the patriarchal context, which is full of women who are lacking real power and looking for a way to feel like they're not powerless.

When you phrase it as "nude modelling empowered me" they hear it as "nude modelling = empowers the modeller" and it gets interpreted as "I feel powerless; taking my kit off and posing for some sexy photos will make me feel better" and the patriarchal context exploits this.

Nude modelling has been available for you to exploit in order to achieve the empowering benefit of having a good income. It helped you - but you're being a role model to women in need of empowerment, and if you're not mindful of how you present the causal link, the net effect is you're modelling a positive association between "sexy performance with reference to the male gaze" and "positive benefits to the performer".

And that contributes to the covert pressure on women to adapt our behaviour to meet the requirements of what men have decided is sexiest today, while at the same time pressuring us to reframe that adaptive submission to male dominance as a positive.

So it might make sense to you, on an individual level, to phrase your understanding of your lived experience as "nude modelling empowered me", but you're unwittingly making it harder for a rather large proportion of other women to empower themselves, by blinding them to the source of their powerlessness.

Having just reread my last post - Spaniel I've quoted you at the start and then phrased my thoughts as an address to you, in order to clarify my point - but I need to acknowledge that I'm not actually accusing you personally of habitually phrasing things in a way that disempowers people. It sounds like you're sufficiently on the ball on that front already. Apologies for the unintentional implication that you're not!

Empowering?

Nauseating maybe...

IMO I think that a lot of women who feel get a sexy photo shoot done are confusing “feeling good about themselves” and “empowerment”. Just because something makes you feel good/happy does not make it empowering.

Doing something which makes you purely an object of desire/ decoration is fitting right in with the patriarchal view of women. It’s a bit like saying you feel empowered by having a really tidy house, it might make you happy as an individual, but it isn’t empowering.

Empowerment is about doing things you aren’t expected to do (as a mere woman), not about fitting in with expectations to look sexy.

I think some women have always had body issues from day dot, so maybe don’t realise how you can feel quietly happy about it, without shouting from the rooftops

You seem to assume that anyone who doesn’t want to do nude modelling isn’t happy about their body. The old trope of “ you are all jealous because you are not gorgeous enough to do it and I am “.