The men in this Wrestlemania billboard, if you look closely, have no nipples. They were photoshopped out supposedly because of a law in Florida that prohibits the display of nipples.* Since men’s nipples are not sexualized in the same way that women’s are, the authors of the law were likely thinking of women’s bodies as they penned this ban. It may illustrate that it is women’s bodies that we think of when we think of bodies on display because of the adoption (by men and women alike in this culture) of a (heteronormative) male gaze.
Image and info found here via copyranter.
UPDATE: The interesting follow-up to the story (and I just realized a commenter caught this too) is that it turns out the mayor was wrong: his city actually doesn’t have a law against displaying nipples. It is unclear if he knew this at the time (i.e., was lying) or really thought there was. And apparently some posters in town DO have nipples.
What does this additional information add to an interpretation of this image?
