What’s so political about boudoir?

And what the hell does do politics have to do with boudoir and nude photos you may ask? Ahh but it has everything to do with it!

I have see multiple things from other boudoir photographers either refusing to talk politics as if boudoir isn’t inherently political. Every time I document someone who has been under represented and marginalized, it is political. Every time I tell a woman she is allowed to be a sexual being, it is political. Every time I ask consent before touching someone, it is political. Every time I acknowledge the power I have with my camera and do my absolute best to give people safe spaces, it is political. Every time I tell someone that they are worthy of being documented in all of themselves, it is political.

Because all of the diet culture that says we have to be thin and white to be worth anything, is a reflection of a politic that is hell bent on controlling women. Naomi Wolf wrote that “A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history” (Wolf, 1991). Women, and really all genders, who feel worthless because of what their bodies look like, are much easier to control. And conservatives (at least the current brand of), “prefer a system where men’s freedom is contingent on women’s servitude” (Penny, 2022). So any business that aims to give women and queer folks back some of their power, is, inherently political.

It is one of the reasons that I kinda hate the term ‘body image’. The term to me feels like it takes a super politically charged thing and simplifies to simply being about people wanting to be pretty. It ignores the racism and colonialism seeped into the definition of pretty. It ignores the power of who defines ‘pretty’. It makes it easier to dismiss both young and older women who struggle by easily saying that it is about vanity; it makes it a personal issue, not a systemic issue. I personally don’t have a better term at the moment, so I’ll continue to use it as it is what is widely understood. But if we could collectively come up with a better term that puts the blame on a society whose goal is to control and repress, rather than on individuals, that would be great. And I want a term that acknowledges the political implications of not fitting into that standard of beauty and the power dynamics involved. I want a term that acknowledges that we gain more respect the closer we fit that standard. So no shit it becomes something that so many of us tie our worth to. The whole fucking society ties our worth to it and acts accordingly. We need a better word. And we need a better conversation and understanding around how we fix it.

So yes, boudoir is inherently political. Because reclaiming what we define as beautiful and sexy and reclaiming our bodies as separate from the patriarchy is an act of rebellion. Taking some of our power back in a society determined to take it away is an act of rebellion. Creating spaces that are based on consent and embracing sexuality are acts of rebellion. And my goal always has been to create a revolution, one person and one piece of art at a time.

Penny, L. (2022) “Sexual Revolution” Bloomsbury Publishing.

Wolf, N. (1991) “The Beauty Myth” William Morrow and Company