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I'm adua boa a model founder of girls
talk and an advocate for female
empowerment she feels really amazing and
empowering I do it for myself and people
respect that you know they admire that
riding motorcycles is basically a symbol
that we're not going to be told what to
do anymore and we're going to just do
whatever we
want I want to use my personal
experience of depression and an
addiction to get girls around the world
talking about mental health body image
and
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sexuality last year 65% of women in the
USA reported being Street harassed so
I'm in LA to talk to girls about their
experiences of sexism to find out why
some are choosing to free the nipple I
think I've always sort of been aware of
my gender I think the earliest memory is
like barbes like playing with Barbies
and like undressing Barbie and taking
her in the bathtub and then being like
this is what a woman's body should be
like that's my earliest memory of being
female free the nipple is a global
movement that started life on Instagram
it aims to tackle gender equality by
highlighting the difference in social
attitudes between male and female
bodies I never had to take my clothes
off yet I don't want to be in a magazine
with my boobs out if it's
not you know
creatively like important for the shoe
if you get what I mean I think I'm
self-aware
because I think getting sober played a
big part of that free the nipple do you
want to free the nipple do you want to
free the nipple your nipple already out
blue you never hide your nipples come on
Blue Bell
I've come to alian park to meet Lena
Esco actress filmmaker and founder of
fre the
nipple
hiy oh lonely to see you so I just
wanted to kind of bring you here
and hear your side of the story it all
started in 2010 was an idea of a film
that I wanted to direct uh about women
challenging the censorship laws in
America by going topis for quality and
it ended up happening backwards the
movement became super Global very
quickly I had reached out to Miley who's
a friend of mine and she started
tweeting and Instagraming about it and
it just went viral before 1937 it was
illegal for men to be topless in America
you know cuz now you see a man walking
around topless you don't even question
it free the nipple has been such a great
inspiration to me starting up girls talk
in the way in which you've attracted so
many girls to just wake up and stand up
for themselves and stand up for each
other what's beautiful about it is that
it's not competitive it's not
judgmental I think that was like the
whole mission to inspire you know and
you know in other words activate and I
think that's a really important point
the nipple is not the main message it is
this beautiful metaphor for something
bigger for me it is all about the youth
M it is all about girls and boys younger
than
myself starting you know 13 and up they
are they're going to make the change
whether it's social media advertising
fashional peers I know girls are feeling
the pressure to be sexy inspired by Lena
Ali Marsh began her own movement in La
leading protests in her time off from
school I went to see her and her friends
Mel and Sarah at home to talk about
their
experiences so as young girls were you
aware of feeling precious to be sexy
yeah I developed very early so I sort of
had I had like Double D breasts by like
13 but I first got them at 9: and then
people started like pointing it out so
it was like brought to my attention and
I felt very awkward and like
uncomfortable about it yeah I wore a bra
and then when people in my grade found
out they started making fun of me so I
cut off all my hair and I refused to
shop in girl sections of clothing stores
so I would only wear men's clothes but
then starting in seventh grade it was
the opposite all of a sudden people were
like why aren't you showing off your
boobs so then I was like felt all this
pressure to start wearing like push-up
bras and like really low cut shirts then
you get shamed well for me it was
like a complete opposite you know like
for me I didn't develop boobs until like
I would say freshman even sophomore year
you know and so I was always shamed for
not for being flatchested and people
would go like on hardwood floors or
whatever they' like mimic the fact that
it's like so flat or like against walls
up until I was like 9 or 10 like I'd go
in the pool naked and like my parents
would be out there like and my dad would
be there and there's nothing still go in
the pool naked yeah but there's like
nothing sexual about that and it's
because of the way this our society is
where like the naked body is definitely
sexual that that all becomes weird and
for me like growing up that wasn't
weird Ally mentions how close she is to
her mom and her grandmother I'm
interested to meet them and see if
attitudes vary across the
generations hi hello this is my mom Ann
nice to meet you lovely to meet you this
is my grandma Jo to meet you I'm so
happy to meet both of you um three
generations of amazing women
but I mean have you always felt
comfortable talking to your mom about
sex yeah like I think when I had sex for
the first time I told you that night I'm
pretty sure you called your grandparents
the first time you had sex I did and I
told you you don't have to share
everything with your
grandparents how did you feel when Ally
first decided to free the nle I mean it
doesn't bother me as much when she wears
it did at first where she wor revealing
things I'm not comfortable with the um
nipple thing even though she may be in a
healthy place in her head and not
sexualizing herself yeah other people
aren't there yet in society but she says
how are they going to get there if I
don't rock the boat mom so it's hard
it's hard as a mom to want to keep her
safe yeah but want to let her get out
there and and Shake It Up what would you
say to your younger
selves oh my God to to be more aware I
mean I was so unaware of of sexism and I
mean I would tell myself to wake up and
uh have more self-confidence
yeah later that evening Ally invited
some friends over to celebrate her 19th
birthday
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today proved that body shaming and
sexualizing of girls starts at a young
age but it was great to hear so much
openness and support among alie's
friends it's the main reason I started
girls
talk and while Anne and Joan might not
agree with Ali's approach they've given
her the space to Define her sexual
boundaries for
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herself today we're going to be meeting
Ally and her friends we're at Venice
boardwalk and we'll be following them as
they free their nipples hi Alie how are
you are good how are you this is Molly
oh yeah
beautiful I started um protesting with
Ally earlier this year um I started with
her at the Trump rally um we protested
against that people were throwing money
at us and that kept happening over and
over again there was old men telling us
that we had daddy issues and that we
weren't going to get jobs was Trump at
the rally yes he actually sent his
security guards to come get us and make
sure that we were not let in as it got
nearer to the protests I have to admit I
started to feel anxious there were so
many people and the fear of being judged
crept in 1 2
3 are you doing it yeah I haven't
decided yet you should oh my God I feel
so empowered for you guys I just don't
know if I can do and like I guarantee
though me by the end of the day it's
just going to feel like the most normal
thing ever I mean how do you feel about
this as young women I agree with it I I
also I get in trouble all the time at
school just for not wearing
bra I mean I commend these girls I
really do I wasn't as confident free
the yeah so why are you clapping cuz I'm
clapping for whatever you guys are doing
in free the able because I believe it's
the right thing to do I'm glad you guys
are out here you guys believe you guys
should have support yeah and do you
believe in what they're saying yeah nice
to see you I know you want us to see
your breast move your signs down so we
can see him it's so exhausting being
constantly sexualized especially like I
hate it like I no I contact my face all
down here since she's been like 14 years
old it's just been constant like
disgusting sexualization by men and you
can't avoid it like there's nothing she
can wear like there's nothing she can do
it's always just there I really
think I should take my top off no I'm
just going to do it
okay oh my God oh my
God oh
my she feels really it's amazing and
empowering it's the most empowering
thing ever I'd been anxious about taking
my my top off but it's so inspiring to
see this group of young women standing
up for themselves and whether we choose
to free the nipple or not it's about
giving girls a voice and the power to
own our own
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bodies today I got to meet some of the
most amazing women I've ever met they
were powerful they were strong they did
it for themselves it just made me
realize that the stripping world isn't
as black and white as society makes it
out to be