“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

‘Femme’ an interactive website documentary is a project that I feel very passionate about. It all started from a topless photo of myself on my personal Instagram account. Receiving attention I never thought would happen since there was no nipple on show, which is usually, what people rant and rave about today. But it still did and it shocked me when my own friends asked me “why post something like that? That’s not like you?” “It’s a little slutty don’t you think?” Of course I was offended and surprised they were so against it when I simply liked the way I looked in that photo.

In today’s society being a woman and showcasing your body in any way, shape or form through social media constantly gets its criticisms. In 2015 the ‘body positive’ movement really kicked off across social media platforms such as Instragram and Twitter. This topic of body confidence and how social media has the power to control what we see in others and ourselves is what scares me for the future. Women of today, and more importantly girls, have an ever growing warped image of what we are suppose to look like thanks to beauty campaigns and social media accounts posting unrealistic beauty and body standards.

The idea I have developed for my project ‘Femme’ is an interactive website that showcases the stories of a variety or women of all ages, shapes and skin tones in an intimate documentary format. From following such movements like “The All Woman” Project, Guerrilla Girls, “StyleLikeU”, RAW Beauty Talks and many more it has only fuelled my passion and desire to spread the message further and join the female body empowerment movement.

To develop my understanding of this movement and how it has a huge impact on women’s and girls lives I have watched multiple interviews with model Charli Howard who was personally penalised for her body shape in the modelling industry but has overcome that “shame” by co-founding AWP. On a trip to the Tate Modern last year I came across British artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and her piece Hermitos Children, the pilot episode (2008) an inspired piece from the film This Film Has Not Been Rated, which exposed the flaws in the film rating system, often unnecessarily censoring portrayals of female sexuality. Chetwynd a tutor on the Intermedia BA at Edinburgh College of Art hosted a workshop titled Female Sexuality in Media: Who Passes Judgement on Suitability which after reading about inspired me further.

“I don’t hesitate and I do what I want to do” – Marvin Gaye Chetwynd